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

It's with great pleasure that I stand to speak and celebrate once again the tremendous efforts of our local SES heroes and volunteers. In South-East Queensland recently we've seen a series of heavy storms, and my electorate of Forde was one of several areas that were hit with extensive power outages and storm damage. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the local SES crews as well as Energex's response crew for doing such a fantastic job in helping all of those in need. In the Logan City area alone SES received calls for more than 200 jobs, of which about half were for trees that had been blown over.

We've also seen that this particular storm knocked out an enormous swath of our electricity network, with more than 40,000 people left without power. Energex took it on themselves to get in there and get these power supplies restored as soon as possible, and they did a fantastic job.

I'd like to reiterate how grateful I am for the men and women who have helped so many constituents in my electorate of Forde. From downed power lines to trees over roads to storm damage to the home, we have amazing people in our community who will respond to calls for help. This follows on from the tremendous work they did last year with Tropical Cyclone Debbie. My thanks to the SES and Energex.