Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today is a really exciting day, and I'm so pleased to be able to add my support to the Emergency Response Fund Amendment (Disaster Ready Fund) Bill 2022. My electorate of Gilmore, on the New South Wales South Coast, knows a thing or two about disasters. We have had multiple droughts, bushfires and floods, all in the last few years. The bushfires were nothing short of horrific. They burned most of my electorate, destroying hundreds of homes and millions of animals, and devastating the environment and lives. We are still dealing with the aftermath of those bushfires today. People are still without homes, and they are still dealing with the trauma. The environment is still in recovery. Sometimes it is hard to see a silver lining, but, in this instance, I do like to think that the positive to our devastating experience is this Disaster Ready Fund.

In the weeks following the bushfires in early 2020, I took Labor's entire shadow cabinet to Batemans Bay so that they could see firsthand what had happened. I brought along Warren Sharpe, the then director of infrastructure at Eurobodalla Shire Council, to share his experience and thoughts on a way forward. Warren was a steady presence throughout the bushfires. He led and guided council's response and spent countless hours at the makeshift emergency operations centre. He lived and breathed what was happening around him. His speech to the shadow cabinet that day was emotive, raw and real. Many of the shadow ministers who were present that day have told me what an impact Warren's speech had on them and that it stayed with them. Many of those shadow ministers are now ministers in this government. Warren recently retired from council, an incredible loss for all of the Eurobodalla. I want to sincerely thank him for his years of hard work and advocacy, particularly in the disaster management space. You're an asset to our community, Warren, and you will be missed. I wish him all the best.

I also want to make special mention here of the Minister for Emergency Management, Senator Murray Watt. Murray is an absolutely fabulous emergency management minister and a great friend. What has made him a great minister is being on the ground listening to people impacted by so many natural disasters around the country for years. He knows his stuff. He's been there, and he is really passionate about it. The minister visited the South Coast in the wake of those bushfires on many occasions. He travelled with me through Conjola Park, one of the hardest hit areas of the Shoalhaven, very soon after the bushfires. As we drove down one particular street, we saw a group of people sitting on a picnic table out the front of what used to be their home, looking out over the blackened forest to the lake—an eerie sight. We stopped to hear their stories. Murray listened intently, as he did everywhere he went, to the owners of the bait shop in Burrill Lake. They were afraid their business wouldn't make it.

I want to thank everyone in our community who shared their stories with me and with the many shadow ministers who visited the South Coast over the last few years, because now we have this legislation. The stories we heard about the woeful state of the Eurobodalla emergency operations centre, being run out of a hall in Moruya and off tables from Bunnings, mean that we will now, through last night's budget, deliver funding for a new emergency operations precinct for the Eurobodalla, a dedicated precinct for all our emergency services to be based in one place in Moruya, with fit-for-purpose buildings, fit-for-purpose equipment and no tables from Bunnings.

I started calling for this after my very first visit to the Moruya emergency operations centre during the bushfires. The Shoalhaven has one of these precincts already. I have spent countless hours there since my election due to bushfires, floods and more. It was mind-boggling to me that the Eurobodalla didn't have a facility anywhere near that one in comparison. I could see the difference it could make and how badly it was needed. I walked out of that hall that very first day and vowed to get them a proper EOC. Thanks to the Albanese government, now they will have one. It is really exciting.

One of the other things that happened during the bushfires that has really stayed with local people is the loss of telecommunications and the loss of power. It left us all in an incredibly vulnerable and dangerous position. So, as part of the Disaster Ready Fund, we will spend $750,000 to fireproof the Mount Wandera transmission tower, something that Warren Sharpe advocated strongly for because it would make sure that local people don't lose telecommunications in an emergency. Mount Wandera is the main telecommunications infrastructure for the whole of the Eurobodalla, so this is a hugely important project.

Another fabulous local advocate, Trevor Daly from the Durras Community Association, shared his community's harrowing experience with me, with the now Minister for Emergency Management and with the now Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Durras has one road in and one road out. They lost power, they lost telecommunications and it was terrifying. Trevor wanted an NBN cable put underground so that it wouldn't be vulnerable to disasters. He also wanted the power poles that line the road into the town from the highway to be upgraded from timber to composite poles so that they could withstand fire. So, as part of the Disaster Ready Fund, we will spend $221,000 to do this. It doesn't sound like much in the scheme of a $1 billion fund, but it is so important for this community.

Many people may also have heard the stories about hundreds of people stranded on the Princes Highway as they tried to escape the bushfires. One other thing the South Coast is famous for—and it's no compliment—is our infamous mobile black spots. Many of those people stranded also didn't have mobile phone reception. Just imagine being in the middle of nowhere, with no mobile phone, stuck and knowing a bushfire is coming. It was horrifying. It was terrifying. And it should never have happened.

So we are working to make sure it doesn't happen again. As part of the budget announced last night, we will spend $5 million to fix the mobile black spots along the Princes Highway, from Ulladulla to Tuross Head in my electorate and right down to Eden in the wonderful member for Eden-Monaro's electorate. We will also spend another $3 million to fix mobile black spots in Jamberoo, Kangaroo Valley, Worrigee and Lilli Pilli. Making sure people can stay connected is one of my top priorities.

We must be more resilient; we must be better prepared. We won't let a dollar go to waste. These are the things that this Disaster Ready Fund can do—the difference that we can make now as the Albanese government. This is a $1 billion fund to mitigate potential disaster loss and damage. It is critical. It will save lives. It will make sure that our devastating experience during the bushfires hasn't all been in vain. I listened to the stories from our community. The trauma our community experienced and continues to experience because we weren't well-enough prepared cannot be overstated. It has had a lasting impact that can never be erased.

Along with everyone in our community, I too lived the traumatic experience that was the 2019-2020 bushfires. I've been right there on the ground with our community every day since as we try and recover. I've heard so many stories of tragedy, of resilience and of fantastic community spirit. It brought us together—bound us together in a way that is hard to describe. It was a shared lived experience. Listening to these stories, you cannot help but be moved into action. I took those stories back to the shadow ministry. They listened and they acted, and now the Albanese government has put real steps in place to build a better future. It will make a tangible difference in Gilmore and on the South Coast. It will make a tangible difference across the country. I am proud to be a part of that.

Thank you to absolutely everyone who contributed to this. I commend the bill to the House.

See this speech in context