Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises the widespread devastation in Lismore caused by flooding associated with Cyclone Debbie;

(2) acknowledges the hard work of the state emergency services, rural fire services, police, fire brigades and Australian Defence Force and other emergency services in responding to the recent flooding and damage caused by Cyclone Debbie in numerous communities in Northern NSW and Queensland; and

(3) congratulates the Australian Government, in conjunction with the NSW and Queensland governments, on their swift response to this event.

At around 4 am on 31 March sirens wailed across the Lismore CBD. For over 20,000 people this noise signified devastation—for some the loss of livelihood, the loss of a home, the loss of a business. It was the first time since the levee built in 2005 was going to overtop. It was built for a 10.6 metre flood, and it overtopped nearly a metre above this.

A severe weather warning had been in place, with predicted rainfall totals from Cyclone Debbie of over 350 millimetres on an already saturated catchment. Nearly double this fell in parts of the catchment. By 12.45 pm on the Thursday a flood warning had been issued. Communities in north and south Lismore started to enact flood plans, some businesses began sending home people who needed to get home and those who stayed started lifting stock away from the predicted flood height. At 3.40 pm on the Thursday, the SES updated the weather warning, and the river was expected to overtop the levee. Businesses in the CBD and in north and south Lismore began to lift stock and remove valuables. By 5.30 pm the SES issued evacuation orders for the CBD. It was almost two days before people could get back into the flood ravaged areas to assess the damage.

The SES and the RFS had volunteers from all over the country. They were joined by the Volunteer Rescue Association and swift water rescue officers, and members of Fire and Rescue New South Wales and extra ambulance and police officers all arrived. Thousands officially volunteered their time to assist the community. Local organisations like the Red Cross set up and ran centres for people who had been displaced by the floods. The community and charities like the Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul and many others provided much-needed essentials. Support groups like CentreChurch, UnitingCare, the Anglican Pantry, Five Loaves, Winsome Hotel, Lifeline threw open their doors, despite many of them having been affected themselves. Many individuals who had not been affected began delivering food to those who working to restore normalcy to the community.

Other key organisations included the Lismore City Council staff themselves, who went far beyond the call of duty. A massive 11,000 tonnes of property damaged by the flood was removed by the council, to the extent that the council did not have enough room in the local tip and had to have it moved interstate to get rid of it. There was literally tonnes of rubbish lying around the streets, and the council did an amazing job picking it up as quickly as they could.

Southern Cross University, the local university, opened its doors to those who could not return to their home for a number of days. Lismore Helping Hands set up at the train station in South Lismore. Over 900 individuals were involved in this group, which coordinated volunteers across the region to help with flood-affected businesses and households. It was a wonderful example of a grassroots campaign for people to help other people.

I would also like to thank the Lismore Chamber of Commerce—an industry which became really important in the recovery and which spearheaded Lismore's Restart the Heart campaign. They helped me and others in making sure that a category C disaster was declared to ensure that grants were available not just to households but to businesses. We did this within two weeks, which required a lot of work. I would like to thank Deb Benyahon and Andrew Gordon and the whole team who helped organise that campaign and who also helped me organise community meetings to make sure that everyone was aware of the assistance that was available.

Our community is on its way to healing. There are shops opening and the initial damage is slowly being repaired. We are a resilient community and we will rebuild and recover, but this disaster has been a real blow. Many tears have flowed, and hugs have been commonplace. I would like to thank everyone involved. What we have seen with this great devastation in our community, which, as I said, has been a real blow, is the resilience and indeed the joy of the human spirit reflected most in those people selflessly helping other people, whom they often did not even know. We will come back bigger and better, but this will take time to heal.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to tell the House the story of Jim Ferguson, Claire Browning and Chris Holloway—three SES volunteers based out at Daisy Hill, which is around the corner from my place in Logan City. In the early hours of Saturday, 1 April, at Luscombe, they were in a tinny navigating by an app on their phone through the floodwaters when they came across a family stranded on the roof of their home. There was a mum, two kids, a grandfather and two dogs on the roof. They called triple 0, but nobody was able to reach them, and so instead these three SES volunteers and one other person took it upon themselves to pull this family to safety, literally moments before the house itself was swept away. Without Jim, Claire and Chris, it would not just be the house that was gone; it would be the family that was gone as well. I sat with them and the member for Forde at a volunteers breakfast a couple of Saturdays ago, where we got the opportunity to thank these volunteers and, indeed, all of the volunteers. We saw up close their humility. We saw their efforts to minimise their own contribution and to try and maximise the contribution of others.

That story about the SES volunteers is a really remarkable story, but in another sense it is not entirely a surprising story. It is how we roll in our part of the world. It reflects the professionalism of our first responders, the selflessness of our volunteers and the willingness of local people to look out for each other and to look after each other. I have said this before, Mr Deputy Speaker Mitchell. You have heard me say how proud I am to represent the community that I grew up in, live in and love, but I have never been prouder than in our response to the flooding of the Albert and Logan rivers.

What we saw early in April was easily the worst devastation I have seen in our community in my lifetime. A life was lost, an Eagleby man, roads were cut, homes were inundated and some were swept away. Power was lost, lifelong possessions were destroyed and mud and the smell of that mud hung around long after the water subsided.

In response, our community was flooded with kindness and our community was flooded with selflessness. I saw it in the offers of help that came flooding in even before the rain had stopped. I saw it early on the Sunday morning of 2 April as I was inspecting some of the damage just over the border into Forde. I looked up, and from the hills, people who had seen my car were coming down the hill to see how they could offer to help. I saw it in the briefing at the SES headquarters at Daisy Hill, where the firies from all around were working out how to coordinate their efforts with the SES.

I saw it in North Maclean, with Linus Power and Annastacia Palaszczuk, our premier. I saw it in the Scouts who were cleaning up the house that we visited. I saw it in Alf, also at North Maclean, who went out of his way to thank the firies who had bailed him out at his place. I saw it on Arthur Road, in the place that Linus Power and I hosed out and helped to clean up—Lynda and John's lifetime of possessions. We tried to make some sense of order as we carried their possessions out of the house and onto the footpath for the council to pick up. Then, not long after, we were joined by the Ahmadiyya community. And I saw the Fijian seniors community—Surendra Prasad and his friends—make a donation to Lynda and John to help them get back on their feet.

I saw it on Bayes Road at Logan Village, with Bunnings, Youth Off The Streets and young kids delivering sandwiches and Easter eggs—all volunteers, hosing out houses and feeding other volunteers. I saw busloads of volunteers, with their boots and their brooms, leaving Logan Metro each morning, including a big contingent from Access Community Services.

I saw it when the Broncos visited Logan Brothers, supporting us just as we support them. I wanted to note while the member for Grayndler is here that the Broncos have not lost since they visited Logan City more than six weeks ago! I saw it when Bill Shorten visited. We got a briefing from councillors, who had been working around the clock—the emergency response team and the leadership of the mayor. I saw it at Logan Tree Farm and with the Logan House Fire Support Network—Ailsa's business there had gone under. I saw it at Beenleigh Multisports, I saw it at the Alan Wilkie Bridge and I saw it at the town hall meeting that Bill Shorten and I had at Eagleby, listening to people's concerns. I saw it in the leadership of our state members—from Linus Power, as I mentioned, but also from Cameron Dick and Shannon Fentiman. Shannon's own house went under and she still spent her time helping others.

This motion is a way to say thanks to everyone who pitched in, and an opportunity to say again that I am proud of our community and proud of our response to the floods.

Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to share the sentiments of the member for Page. The fact that the distance between the impacted electorates spans some 1,400 kilometres speaks to the extraordinary breadth of Cyclone Debbie.

I watched closely what happened in Lismore and share my condolences for the lives lost when the river peaked. I have also been looking at Lismore and the failed levy bank as media pressure rises for a similar construction in my own electorate of Rockhampton. In the weeks following the cyclone I was able to tour through the electorate to see the devastation firsthand. Hearing the stories of people, there were a lot of 'what ifs' that made me truly appreciate how lucky we were not to lose more lives.

There was one family in particular, canefarmers in the Pioneer Valley. Water had never risen into their yard before. The house was destroyed, the young family placed on kitchen benches and the kitchen table. They phoned triple 0 numerous times. Eventually, at 3 am came the sound of the rescue helicopter to save them. But it did not end there. The parents were harnessed out and the children were placed in body bags because they were so young. That image is always in their mother's mind, seeing her children rescued in that way.

It is thanks to the efforts of the community members, the SES, Ergon and government bodies, including local councils, that the 'what ifs' did not become 'if onlys'. The stories of bravery and resilience across Capricornia will become legend. In Eton, the volunteer fire service became a makeshift emergency evacuation centre. The men and women who volunteer their time got in and assisted the SES on the ground.

John Muscat, a local canegrower and volunteer, got out in his tractor to assist isolated residents. Mr Muscat even assisted a woman in labour, to get her to safety. I do not think they will be calling the healthy newborn 'Debbie', but they will be forever grateful to John for his selflessness.

The blow of Cyclone Debbie and the incredible rain event that followed could not be prevented, but the swift recovery ensured that the impact on lives and livelihoods was minimised. I would particularly like to commend the Ergon and SES crews. I do not think many places in the world could have restored electricity to such a large area in such a short time frame. The SES crews were working in extremely challenging conditions without access to GPS and without local knowledge. I fervently believe this speaks to the need to have state agencies working closely with locals. I also applaud the efforts of every level of government and the swift action taken by the Prime Minister to deploy the Australian Defence Force. These forces proved essential during Cyclone Debbie, and the speed of deployment to this event made recovery that much easier for people on the ground. We have had some practice, and we are getting very good at responding to extreme weather events.

The people of Central Queensland are resilient, and at times like these the best of us shines through. However, I do think it is important to highlight the comparisons between New South Wales and Queensland state governments during this event. I also wish to commend New South Wales on their professional handling of the extreme weather events. They showed utter professionalism between local, state and federal agencies to get in and get the clean-up done. Not for the first time, the Queensland state Labor government plays games with people's lives. After Cyclone Marcia, the state government created delays by not submitting the appropriate documentation to release cyclone assistance. At the time, they had not been in power for long, so this behaviour was understandable. However, more than two years on, they used the same tactic. They ran to the media to criticise the federal government for not releasing the funding, meanwhile failing to submit the appropriate assessments. In a much shorter time, New South Wales got in, made the assessments and activated the assistance without much fanfare. The Premier of Queensland had to be constantly asked to send in the assessments. A natural disaster is not the time to politicise; it is the time for everyone to band together and get on with the job of helping people get back on their feet. Fortunately, this has now been actioned, but these delays impacted everyday people wanting to get on with their lives, and it is simply not acceptable.

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion moved by the member for Page, and from the outset can I acknowledge that he, like all of us on the New South Wales North Coast, have truly felt the devastation and heartbreaking loss felt by the people in our region. It has been a very difficult time. Make no mistake: the flooding associated with Cyclone Debbie has been devastating. With so many homes wrecked and businesses destroyed, it is a very long road to rebuild and repair. And, of course, the tragedy of lives lost due to the flooding is extremely sad. I would like to express my condolences to all those families and communities that have lost loved ones in the floods.

I want to particularly mention the very tragic loss of mother Stephanie King and her children Jacob, aged 7, and Ella-Jane, aged 11, who perished in their vehicle in the Tweed River. Tweed police have said that Stephanie King was a hero who died trying to save her children. Stephanie King's eight-year-old daughter, Chloe-May, miraculously escaped the car to raise the alarm with local residents.

The massive weather event caused by Cyclone Debbie spread south from Queensland and caused the largest flood we have ever seen. The swiftness and the incredible speed and velocity of damage with which the rain and flooding came was in fact shocking and overwhelming. The record rainfall resulted in thousands of residents evacuated from flood affected areas.

I would like to strongly commend and thank our outstanding police and emergency services workers and our SES volunteers and council staff for their work and commitment throughout this event. I would also like to commend our community for coming together and assisting one another. Whilst locals welcomed the early decision to appoint a disaster recovery coordinator, we have rightly been critical of both the New South Wales state government and the federal government for their lack of substantial funding and commitment to repair and rebuild the North Coast. In fact, our community had to protest and campaign locally to force the state government to commit to category C funding, particularly for business assistance, and many smaller villages are still waiting for category C assistance. Some areas, such as the Byron shire, are still waiting for disaster relief payments. This is truly disgraceful.

I also want to thank both the federal opposition leader, Bill Shorten, and the New South Wales opposition leader, Luke Foley, for initially each visiting Murwillumbah and Lismore and meeting firsthand and listening to local residents, business and council representatives, and the SES volunteers and community groups. In fact, both held roundtable meetings with all of these community leaders. I note that New South Wales Labor subsequently released an 11-point plan to address many of these urgent issues that were raised at these meetings. To date, the New South Wales Liberal-National government have failed to lend support, let alone adopt the plan, despite the offer of bipartisan support from Labor.

I also thank the New South Wales opposition leader for returning again to the North Coast last week, meeting with locals in Tumbulgum, Murwillumbah and Lismore and continuing his consultations with business and community representatives. He also renewed his call on the state government to waive payroll tax for flood-affected businesses and to set up two separate funds: a local government infrastructure fund and a business assistance fund. I also note that last Thursday the Tweed Shire Council passed a resolution calling on the New South Wales government to waive the payroll tax. I thank council for their advocacy.

Whilst we have a very strong community on the North Coast, we need government to support us. I acknowledge both the Prime Minister and the New South Wales Premier did visit Murwillumbah very briefly soon after the event. But I call on them now to come back for a substantial period of time, sit down with our community and business leaders, hear their stories and hear about the action needed, and help us to recover and rebuild our region.

I also note that the Murwillumbah District Business Chamber have just last Wednesday written to the New South Wales Premier requesting that she visit Murwillumbah for a round-table meeting with both business and community representatives to update her on the continuing dire situation the community faces many weeks after the flood. The chamber said that they are happy to meet with the Premier at any time that suits her, but they want the meeting to take place soon. So I call on the New South Wales Premier to listen to our community and immediately commit to this meeting. To date, quite frankly, Premier, you have been absolutely disappointing when it comes to failing to provide assistance to our community. The fact is that we need comprehensive, long-term plans to address the mass destruction caused by the floods. We need much greater funds flowing to affected families, businesses, communities and local governments. We also desperately need more funding to address chronic homelessness issues. Just recently Murwillumbah as a community held a march and rally to highlight these issues. The fact is that we need our governments to help us and help us now. It is that desperate.

Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Page for bringing this motion to the House. It is nearly two months since the devastating floods in the Logan and Albert rivers devastated our communities. On the morning of 31 March 2017 we sat and watched as the Albert River rose at a record speed and devastated communities along the Albert River valley. Over the weekend we saw the flooding in the Logan River as the flooding moved downstream. In Forde and across most of the country's east coast we have heard comments from various of my colleagues. We have to thank the resilience and community spirit shown and the unwavering commitment to helping our fellow citizens.

Nowhere has this commitment been more obviously displayed than by the men and women who make up our emergency services. Today I would like to take the opportunity to recognise and congratulate our SES, our urban and rural fire brigades, our police force and our defence services, not only for their swift response to the crisis, but for going above and beyond the call of duty to save lives. An incredible example of such commitment played out in Luscombe on Friday 31 March. Our local SES controller, Jim Ferguson, received a call at 3 am from the Queensland police service informing him that three people, a mother and two children, were trapped on a roof surrounds by rising floodwaters of the Albert River. Jim wasted no time and sprang into action, meeting with fellow volunteers Claire Browning and Chris Holloway at the Beenleigh SES depot. They prepared the closest flood rescue boat and drove to the Stanmore Road bridge before completing a hair-raising launch into the raging Albert River. With Claire on the spotlight, Chris navigating and Jim driving, the trio steered the boat as best they could through the trees and floating debris, crouching to avoid power lines.

A journey that would normally take 10 minutes took significantly longer. Half an hour into their journey they were joined by local farmer Mick Pearce, who assisted them navigate their way through that part of the river. Shortly after this, their engine failed. They were able to clear the obstruction, a hose that was caught around the propeller, and resume their search for the now desperate family. They were joined by local man Sam Elliott, who helped them get as close as possible; he lived just across the road. As they pulled up to the dwelling, they saw the mum and the kids; they also saw the grandfather standing in deep water on the second story verandah. As Chris manoeuvred the boat alongside the verandah, Jim was able to jump out and begin the process of rescuing the family. He was able to speak with the mother, Helen, and assure her that she and her two children would be brought to safety. Jim first carried the daughter to the safe care of Mr Elliott before returning for the son. He then helped Helen down and turned his attention to the grandfather and also a couple of dogs. In the end, this brave trio saved the family in the nick of time; about 10 minutes later, there was a loud crack as the house broke from its foundations and floated down the river.

This is just one example of an enormous effort by our SES volunteers to assist those in dire need. Unfortunately, Nelson Raebel, from Eagleby, did lose his life in this flood event. I travelled around the electorate on that weekend and looked at the devastation in places such as Falls Road—where the rescue we have just spoken about happened—Albert Street, Old Mill Road, Beige Road, Arthur Road, Sharon Road and many others I do not have time to name here. A great number of our community helped those in very difficult circumstances. I would like to thank our community for their support, care and consideration for those in a most difficult time.

Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I acknowledge and thank the member for Page for this motion. Residents in his electorate and throughout Lismore were hit particularly hard by the flooding caused by Cyclone Debbie. I would also like to acknowledge my colleague the member for Richmond and the residents of her electorate in northern New South Wales who also came into hard times from the impact of the cyclone. Cyclone Debbie wreaked chaos and devastation for Australians all the way up the east coast. When it crossed the coast on Tuesday, March 28, and in the days and weeks following, communities have felt the effects—from Mackay and Townsville in North Queensland all the way down to northern New South Wales and beyond.

As we just heard from the member for Forde and the member for Rankin, whose electorate is a 15-minute drive from my local community, homes and businesses were inundated by flood water, including the famous Yatala pie shop, which was flooded all the way to the ceiling. The Logan and Albert rivers reached levels not seen in 40 years, and around 100 properties were evacuated. Further north, 650 properties were declared uninhabitable and more than 65,000 customers lost electricity supply as Cyclone Debbie brought torrential rain and gale force winds. Sadly, three Queenslanders lost their lives, with further tragedies in northern New South Wales through this terrible event. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families and their friends.

This truly was an awful event on any scale. However, as Queenslanders have shown before, it is through the worst of times that we show our best. Almost 5,000 Queensland government workers were deployed in preparation for and in response to Cyclone Debbie. Their work, alongside volunteers and charity workers, has made an incredible difference. I pay tribute to the emergency personnel, state emergency services, rural fire services, police, fire brigades, the ADF and other emergency service men and women who put their own lives at risk to save others. Led by Brigadier Chris Field throughout this disaster, your invaluable work and contribution does not go unnoticed, and we thank you for your tireless efforts.

I want to acknowledge the Palaszczuk government for their thorough preparation and swift response in the days leading up to Cyclone Debbie, throughout the disaster and continuing through today, helping Queenslanders recover. In this time, more than 100,000 grants have been paid out to Queenslanders in need following Tropical Cyclone Debbie, totalling more than $28.4 million. On top of this, the Palaszczuk government has committed a further $1 million to associated charities, including the Red Cross, to assist with recovery efforts. This support was matched by the Queensland business community, including companies such as BHP, Rio Tinto, Adani, QBE, Peabody, Shell, Tabcorp, Woolworths, Coles and IGA, who made significant contributions to the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

Following on from the recovery process, the government has released a two-year state recovery plan called Operation Queensland Recovery. Today I call on the Prime Minister to continue this good work and jointly fund the $220 million assistance package to further support Queenslanders that the Premier has proposed through the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements. This joint fund, of which the Queensland government will fund half, will be a $220 million package to provide additional assistance for communities, businesses, industry and the environment. We need this government and the state government to work together to make sure that the local communities receive the help they need and deserve. It was only last year that the Prime Minister was caught out dragging his feet to the table when $1 billion in disaster relief funding to Queenslanders was delayed by six months by the Commonwealth government. We know that there is an opportunity for this federal government to partner with the Queensland government. Today I call on the Prime Minister to work with the Palaszczuk government to jointly fund the recovery package. Our local communities have been through enough in Queensland. They deserve support from this Commonwealth government.

George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Preparations for Tropical Cyclone Debbie got into full swing in the days before it crossed the coast in my electorate of Dawson, which was directly hit by the cyclone. North Queensland is no stranger to cyclones, and many of the locals knew that they would be in for a tough, long week as it approached.

Radio announcers prepared themselves for days on air, because they are often the only means of communication with the outside world on what the cyclone is doing once the power and the telecommunications go out. Five announcers stayed on rotation at 4MK and Star FM, with Dave Perkins, Barry Hamilton, Rob Kidd, Emilie-Jain Palmer and Scott Linden getting very little sleep. At Triple M it was Jay and Dave, Ange and Joel, and Johnno and Miki manning the fort. Some veterans of quite a few cyclones—Meecham Philpott at Tropical North, with Tegan Philpott, Cathy Border and Loretta Ryan—also did a fantastic job.

Newspapers these days have the online front of 24-hour news coverage. We had the Daily Mercury, the Mackay newspaper. The team there—Campbell Gellie, Jacob Miley and Tara Cassidy—were pumping out community alerts all through that cyclone period. In the Whitsundays itself, at the Whitsunday Times and the Whitsunday Coast Guardian, both pre and post the cyclone we had Sharon Smallwood and her great team of reporters on the ground alerting people. That communication is vital for any community that is facing a natural disaster like this.

Doctors and nurses got themselves ready. I heard of one nurse who left her home at the beach to stay in town because she knew she would be needed at the hospital. Another nurse stayed with an elderly patient who was discharged from hospital before the cyclone, because she knew that patient would be scared and alone if the storm hit.

Before the cyclone had crossed, the Australian Army was already on its way to the affected area, and the day after the crossing I met with the State Recovery Coordinator, Brigadier Chris Field, and his team, who were on the streets delivering fresh water to people who had no water and no services. I have to say there was this really special group of volunteers on the ground. Their name is Team Rubicon, and they are made up predominantly of ex-service men and women, people who have served this country. They have done enough for this country, yet they are back home, in civilian life now, serving the country again in times of natural disaster.

Locally there was the Whitsundays volunteer group, led by Jo Sweeney and Andrew Sloane and so many others—hundreds of people who got together, helping out their mates. And the Lions Clubs all joined together to feed volunteers and to feed locals. The owner of a restaurant there went out of his way to feed something like 4,000 people across two days. The same thing happened on Hamilton Island, where the Oatley family went out of their way to feed everyone. I met with SES volunteers from the local region, from state and interstate, and Red Cross volunteers—people out there lending a hand to families whose homes were destroyed or damaged and were cleaning debris from yards and streets. In the days after the cyclone's crossing, the whole region was actually littered with the trucks of energy workers, many of them stationed at the Mackay showgrounds or up in the Burdekin. Teams from Ergon and Energex worked for a fortnight to bring the power back online. It was extremely quick, ahead of schedule, right across the Whitsundays and the Mackay region.

Our regions owe a great deal of gratitude to the many emergency service workers, health workers and volunteers for their hard work and lack of sleep during that ordeal. Many businesses and dedicated staff in the Whitsundays did an amazing job to get the region back to normal. We now have visitors from around the world coming once again to enjoy the beautiful Whitsundays. Many of them would have no idea that the cyclone had crossed there less than two months ago. While some island resorts have work to do and a few mainland businesses are still to get back on their feet, the speedy recovery to date should be applauded.

In the days after the cyclone there were many people stepping up to the plate, and I would love to acknowledge them all. But what I would say is that at the time of that natural disaster the people of Mackay and the Whitsundays showed their true mettle.

Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in this place today to speak about Cyclone Debbie. Cyclones present a very stressful time for a community. Having experienced cyclones such as Althea, Larry, Yasi and others that have passed down the Queensland coast, I have firsthand experience of the distressing impacts on a regional community. Watching people's homes being completely demolished and people living without power and basic services for weeks is very stressful for families. The loss to the economy and the often-forgotten mental health related impact on a community can be devastating, especially for the elderly, the frail and people living with disabilities. In my previous life I had to plan for services and support to be delivered to vulnerable people in our community before and after a cyclone, and I can assure you that it is incredibly stressful—not to mention the devastation where lives are lost. I pay my respect and sympathy to the families who have lost loved ones during extreme weather events.

But what is truly amazing in regional, rural and remote communities is when people come together and provide the most amazing support to each other, often to people they do not know, in what we would call incredibly challenging and difficult times. Luckily in Townsville we have great infrastructure and people on the ground to deal with such dramatic weather events: Lavarack Barracks Brigadier Christopher Fields, who was appointed to lead the state recovery activities; the Townsville defence forces, in particular the engineers; the police; the fire brigade; the SES workers; the Queensland government; the Townsville Health and Hospital Service; the local disaster management group, led by the Townsville City Council. They all did a magnificent job in what were extremely difficult and challenging circumstances.

Townsville was very lucky regarding Cyclone Debbie, but our neighbours to the south were hit very hard by this severe weather event. The impact on communities in terms of rising insurance bills as a result of a cyclone with the force and impact of Debbie is also staggering and often forgotten. In some cases, people are left in a position where they can no longer afford to pay their insurance bill and are left very vulnerable after extreme weather events.

I also speak on behalf of the Palm Island community, where I say they dodged a bullet. Palm Island is a community that is more than two hours ferry ride from Townsville. It has no cyclone shelter at all. This is a community that is reliant in some cases on generators for electricity, and there are numerous mobile black spots. A large majority of Palm Island residents do not live in homes that are cyclone proof, with some people living in tent-like accommodation. If Cyclone Debbie had crossed the coast and hit Palm Island, as it appeared to be predicted to early on Saturday morning, this would have devastated this community. Palm Island needs a community cyclone shelter. It is one of the barest necessities that a community should have during a natural disaster. We know cyclone shelters can and do save lives. I will fight hard for a cyclone shelter for Palm Island, because the community there deserves one and is in desperate need of a cyclone shelter.

With tropical cyclones being a regular occurrence in tropical North Queensland, the Bureau of Meteorology plays a vital role in Townsville. The Bureau of Meteorology provides lifesaving services for the North, and its work during disasters like Cyclone Debbie and, in 2011, Cyclone Yasi is absolutely critical. That is why whispers of this government potentially moving staff from the bureau are life altering for people in North Queensland. We need to have secure knowledge that the Bureau of Meteorology will be situated in the heartland of some of the worst natural disasters in this country. We need to know that we have that service provided to us. We must be able to keep their finger on the pulse. They liaise with the community. They sound the alarm bells when needed. Our community needs all of the staff and the Bureau of Meteorology to stay in Townsville.

I would also like to commend the radio stations. In a severe weather event such as a cyclone, the radio station is the lifeblood and the voice to the community. In our city, we had a number of extraordinary radio stations that went out of their way to seek contributions from members of the public. They then collected these contributions of food, water, shampoo, conditioner, soap and things of that nature, and they delivered those to the communities in need just south of us.

I call on the Turnbull government to commit to the fact that we will not just have our cyclone related staff in metropolitan areas.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next day of sitting.