Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ex-tropical cyclone Marcia swept through Flynn and left behind a path of destruction. Hundreds of kilometres of fences are down. Crops like cotton, mung beans, sorghum, lucerne and herbs all went under water to about one to three metres, depending on where you were, and were lost as water rushed through the paddocks. Homes were flooded and cultivation was severely washed. Machinery was swamped. The damage bill is approximately $100 million to date, and that figure could go higher as the damage is further assessed. I would like to thank the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott; the Minister for Human Services, Marise Payne; the Minister for Justice, Michael Keenan; and the Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce, for visiting the electorate and assessing the damage and talking to the people affected. We would like to see our electorate recategorised from B to C under the NDRRA scheme. Furthermore, telecommunications were found very wanting in this trying situation.