Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes the devastating effects of extreme rainfall that caused extensive flooding across areas of New South Wales in March 2021, resulting in disaster declarations in 63 local government areas by the NSW Government and causing more than $1 billion in damage;

(2) acknowledges the work of emergency services and other groups in assisting throughout the emergency and subsequent clean-up, with particular reference to:

(a) volunteer-based organisations such as the NSW State Emergency Service, NSW Rural Fire Service, Rapid Relief Team, and various charities;

(b) supermarket operators that loaded supplies on to helicopters and barges to restock shelves at stores cut off by flood water and landslides; and

(c) community members who assisted with distribution of supplies and relief efforts during and in the aftermath of the floods; and

(3) calls on the Government to:

(a) provide the support needed to allow businesses reliant on working waterways such as the Hawkesbury River (including turf growers, vegetable farmers and caravan parks) to get back to work;

(b) act to fix the disastrous environmental damage by announcing specific funding to help address silt and debris build up, erosion and collapsing riverbanks; and

(c) immediately access the $4 billion Emergency Response Fund, announced two years ago but never spent, for this recovery which can provide up to $200 million per financial year to be spent nationally on natural disaster recovery and mitigation.

The impact that the March floods have left in the Hawkesbury is as psychologically and economically as brutal as the bushfires we faced a mere 18 months ago. This is my first opportunity to place on the parliamentary record my thanks for the extraordinary efforts of so many people, from the SES and emergency services, who worked tirelessly as the waters rose and fell—airlifting or boating people to safety, getting food and medical supplies across the river—through to the initial clean-up, where the RFS and ADF led their teams into war scenes at caravan parks and inside homes, and the volunteers at Rapid Relief Team, Hawkesbury's Helping Hands, members of Lions and Rotary clubs and people who flew their own supplies to the marooned north-west of the river. I am reluctant to single out individual people because so many made a huge effort, from shopkeepers to elected officials, neighbourhood centres like Bligh Park. Anglicare, Red Cross, Samaritans all did what they could to support hungry, evacuated and scared people.

But I am grateful to Karen Stuttle from the food charity, Mountain of Joy, who messaged me to highlight the sense of panic gripping the community when supermarket shelves were unexpectedly bare on her side of the river, when every bridge was closed and a landslide on Bells Line of Road cut off the last road access. Her message ultimately led to Coles and IGA recognising that the only option was to work with the SES and local residents to load up helicopters and barges with supplies. Seeing a steady flow of food made a really big difference for those stranded communities.

All of this was part of a huge operation of neighbour helping neighbour, and I have seen that in every single community I have spent time with since the floods, from Windsor up to St Albans and everywhere in between. What we're left with is a lot of distress and financial stress. When insurance jumps from $30,000 to $50,000 to $80,000 a year, it becomes absolutely unaffordable for homeowners, and renters are also affected. The amount of money charities have received so far pales into insignificance to the bushfire donations.

While there's been enormous generosity by individuals and local businesses and there are grants for agriculture and directly affected businesses and community groups to replace equipment and structures, unfortunately, many people, sporting clubs and community groups slip through the criteria cracks, and the scale of this disaster means that much more is needed. I'll continue to support Turf Australia, vegetable growers, caravan parks and other property owners who were left with extraordinary damage to their riverbanks. This is an environmental disaster as well, and everyone has a common interest in wanting to ensure that the next flood doesn't have an even greater impact.

I'll also support the residents of Greens Road in Lower Portland, whose road is washed away. They face a 30 kilometre detour indefinitely while Hawkesbury Council decides what to do. They need fast, interim arrangements so that they can get on with their lives. Right now, they've had about nine weeks of limbo, as have parts of Cornwallis, where the road has gone. Residents of Upper Colo, whose community is now divided by a destroyed historic timber bridge, need a short-term measure. One example of the impact is that, instead of popping across the bridge on a 20-minute drive, NDIS carer Alice now has to drive an extra 100 kilometres to provide support to her client, Pete. It's hard to see why providing temporary access for this often-forgotten community isn't an absolute priority.

I'll also continue to push for support for the businesses indirectly hit by this flood. The indirect small business grant I argued for for bushfire affected communities allowed many small businesses to hang on, and there are some who need it in this flood because of the significant fall in local trade and a drop in tourism, especially the more than two dozen flooded caravan parks on the river. I'll also push for improved phone and internet services because lives were at risk due to their failures.

So it isn't over. As people look at giant horseshoe-shaped gouges along the riverbanks, their land gone and old trees alongside the river washed away, it can feel overwhelming. The best psychological support we can give is to support the New South Wales government and the Hawkesbury Council to move fast with clear guidelines for landowners about what they can do to stabilise their banks. But it will come at a high price, and the federal government needs to be willing to step in. Many of us are left wondering why, when we voted in this chamber on a $4 billion disaster fund two years ago to fund $200 million of natural disaster recovery and mitigation each financial year, not a single cent had been spent, including in the Hawkesbury where this flood was always only a matter of time. (Time expired)

Trent Zimmerman (North Sydney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded? Is the motion seconded?

Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Hawkesbury River communities in my electorate are unique—places like Wisemans Ferry, Lower Portland, Leets Vale, Sackville North, Cattai, Laughtondale and Singletons Mill. Although these communities are small, their spirit is great. The area is characterised by turf farms, orchards, caravan parks and water-ski parks. In these areas, many residents can trace their family connection back to the beginnings of European settlement. Since time immemorial, the Hawkesbury has been a major water and food source for the people of Sydney. But one of the challenges of living on the Hawkesbury is that, from time to time, the river floods. This is well understood by the residents, who acknowledge that it's one of the great risks of living on the banks of a great natural treasure. In fact, there've been over 130 floods since European settlement.

In March this year, the Hawkesbury River rose to levels not seen for 35 years, as a volume of rainfall across New South Wales led to natural disaster zones across the state. I want to acknowledge Assistant Commissioner Leanne McCusker from New South Wales Police, Hills RFS Superintendent Matt Smith, Michael Lathlean from Hills Shire Council, Malcolm Liston and Andrew Turner from the Hills SES and Major Mark Whitfield from the 5th Brigade Infantry Company of the Australian Defence Force for their leadership of the rescue and recovery effort.

The force of the river was so great that pontoons and wharves were twisted or washed away and fully stocked fridges turned up at Brooklyn, at the other end of the river. Sadly, the floods were not without fatalities. At Cattai Creek in Glenorie, my electorate, Ayaz Younas, a 25-year-old Pakistani, passed away as his car sank in the floodwaters. We send our condolences to his family. I saw firsthand the force of the river going out on a fireboat with Stan Montgomery and Ian Francis from the Wisemans Ferry RFS to personally deliver supplies to residents who were cut off and running out of essentials. RFS volunteers continued to work hard to clear debris and clean up after floodwaters receded. Australian Defence Force personnel were deployed to the Hawkesbury River region as part of the federal government's response, providing much-needed assistance to our community. I was able to meet and thank some of the members of the ADF who were helping our community.

I was also able to bring Minister Littleproud, the federal minister for emergency management, and the Emergency Management Australia director-general to survey devastation and understand the needs of our community firsthand. We visited the St George caravan park at Lower Portland, which looked like something out of a scene from Cyclone Tracy. Caravans had been flung into the air and sliced in half, and there was debris everywhere, with a solitary Australian flag standing in the rubble as a beacon of hope.

As the Hawkesbury rose, I heard of acts of heroism, care and support. In a number of river communities people have made their homes in caravan parks. As the river rose, vulnerable people living in those parks faced particular danger. During the night of 21 March, the water had risen unexpectedly and was waist deep in parts. Residents were under the impression that they still had 24 hours in which to evacuate, but that wasn't the case. In the early hours of that morning, Wisemans Ferry policeman Senior Constable Bill Andrews checked on a group of permanent residents in the local caravan park who he knew were vulnerable, some of whom had particular disabilities or were really frail. Constable Andrews assisted the residents to evacuate, moving them safely to dry ground. His initiative to check on these vulnerable residents at approximately 2 am almost certainly saved their lives. Many in the community are calling him a hero.

At times like this we see our community at its best. Many local organisations helped with the provision of food and essentials to those in need. The Wisemans Ferry Bowling Club coordinated donations of food and groceries coordinated by Margaret Pratt. Glenorie Public School, led by Andrea Pateman and Olivia Solomon, coordinated a food and clothing donation drive for their Wisemans Ferry and Lower Portland neighbours. The Wisemans Ferry Pharmacy and GPs at the Wisemans Ferry medical centre worked hard to ensure appropriate medical supplies were made available and delivered to those trapped by floodwaters for many days. The Glenorie Bakery arranged a series of significant food drops to the other side of the Hawkesbury, arranging helicopter charters from Annangrove. Hundreds of kilos of baked essentials were provided to the community centre in North Richmond. Unfortunately, some of the community organisations suffered significant loss. The Wisemans Ferry Men's Shed, one of the best in my community, was particularly waterlogged from the flooding. An organisation which does so much to serve our community, especially with the mental health needs of isolated men, now needs our help. Their president, Adrian Acheson, is appealing for donations as they attempt to replace tools and equipment lost in the floods. They should be eligible for some of the federal government's disaster assistance. The flood also highlighted the parlous state of telecommunications in my electorate, with many residents cut off by Telstra's inadequate service to those most vulnerable.

The Morrison government has provided assistance to flood affected communities and individuals through disaster recovery payments and disaster recovery grants for businesses, not-for-profits and primary producers. The government and I will continue to support our Hawkesbury communities as they get back on their feet and recover from the recent floods.

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise enormously grateful to be able to speak on this resolution that was brought before the House before the member for Macquarie and that I'm very proud to have seconded. I want to recognise and put on the public record her enormous work with her community, which suffered so much. They've had their trials in Macquarie through bushfire and flood, and she has been indefatigable. She was there with her community, providing support and working. I know and she recognised in her contribution that the lion's share of the work was done by so many in her community to help others in need. It is important that the House have these moments to reflect on what we've gone through. We don't get to have those opportunities if people like the member for Macquarie aren't putting these resolutions forward.

These floods caused a billion dollars in damage and affected 63 local government areas, including Blacktown City, in which the federal seat of Chifley resides. They were massive. Sustained rainfall resulted in a once-in-50-years flood. Many Chifley residents had a nervous few days waiting to see how high the floodwaters would rise. Some of us were lucky that the floodwaters didn't reach our homes, but others weren't so fortunate. Residents from Shanes Park through to Mount Druitt and elsewhere across the LGA were hit very hard.

I pay my sincere gratitude to the men and women of the Mount Druitt and Blacktown SES, who gave up much of their own time to help others deal with this situation during the floods. For example, Blacktown SES received roughly 170 calls for assistance, conducted three flood rescues and sandbagged 50 premises, preventing further flooding, while Mount Druitt SES received 90 calls for help, carried out swift-water rescue in Shanes Park and helped with 79 leaky roofs and with countless reports of fallen trees, some of which were dangerously close to power lines.

Our SES volunteers didn't just help out people in their immediate area; they helped crews across the Hawkesbury with doorknocking, rescues and then helping late into the night. I want to thank SES Local Commander Alan Rollinson, and, at Blacktown, the Blacktown Unit Commander, Barry Wademan, and his unit which included Matthew Elliot, Terrence Siriwardena, Jonathon Giddey, Andrew Mottershead, Emily Zarb, Adrian Apalakis, Daniel Groom, Ryan Rewi and Anthony Featherstone, all of whom volunteered at least 90 hours each over the course of the floods. And, in Mount Druitt, I dropped in recently to personally extend my thanks to the Commander there, Sue Flynn; her Deputy Commander Jeff Hickson, who helped rescue two children from a capsized boat in the Hawkesbury; Sue's other Deputy Commander, Daniel Scavles, who led the unit when Sue was stuck in floodwaters; Patrick Lockman; Katrina Staples; Derek Read; Nathan Pearse; Wilkanya Burke; Anthony and Kellie Jarvis; Hannah Staples; Lyall Watts; Brad Bruen; Brad Wilson; Lamilo and Natalie Tauveve; John Alofi; Kevin and Cheryl Wing; and I'm sure there are a lot more—please forgive me if I've overlooked anyone. You all worked tirelessly. We all extend our thanks to you for what you did.

Now the waters have subsided, the recovery option is still ongoing—and was underway from the moment that things started to clear up. Obviously businesses along the Hawkesbury and the member for Macquarie's electorate are still reliant on working waterways to get back to work, but the damage to the environment through the debris build-up and corrosion has been prohibitive for businesses and residents living along the Hawkesbury.

In my own backyard, in particular what struck me was the number of leaky roofs in public and social housing dwellings. I think this has been unacceptable. The local state members' offices, both for Edmond Atalla and Prue Car, received a record number of calls from people in Housing NSW properties whose roofs couldn't hold up against the rain, and this shows you if the money's not there for maintenance people pay for this at times like this and this stuff needs to be sorted out. And what does it say about a New South Wales Liberal government? That those most vulnerable in our community didn't have a safe roof above their head at the time they needed it most.

Having said all that, the floods did remind us of the true force of nature. We do need people to be there at that point when it hits us, and the courageous actions of our SES and others in the community and what they did to help those most vulnerable will not be forgotten. And, if anyone in our area is still affected by that—we've been sorting out some issues as we've gone along, but—please don't sit back, please contact either myself or your local state members, and we'll be more than happy to assist.

David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Eighteen months on from the devastating bushfires, a wet Armageddon arrived into the houses, literally, of thousands of people in the Lyne electorate. The amount of flooding was of a staggering proportion. It was more than a one-in-a-hundred-year flood; it was the biggest flood on record, and records go back in some families who've been in these river valleys for five generations to the 1880s.

As the low-pressure system dwelled across the Mid North Coast, we saw towns and villages cut off, roads and bridges and even houses washed away, some of whom you may have seen floating down the Manning River on mainstream TV. But there were houses on the Pappinbarra River that were washed away—and on the Hastings—and it was absolutely devastating. Living on the Hastings River myself, I was isolated on a farm, fortunately about 20 metres above the floodwaters, but we couldn't get out for a couple of days at least.

Once the waters receded, the devastation was mind-boggling. Evacuation centres in Laurieton and Taree, at various clubs that popped up as emergency centres, had hundreds of people in them. People whose houses were on wheels in caravan parks or with low-lying houses were absolutely devastated. But many clubs and evacuation centres turned into medical centres, mental health centres, a roof and shelter with food. We also had all the support groups coming through—both people working in those clubs and volunteer centres as well as community groups and sets of individuals who gathered together to rescue people. I would like to acknowledge all of them and thank them for what they did spontaneously. In particular, I'd like to thank the councils, their staff and management, who worked across all the regions in the Port Macquarie-Hastings and MidCoast councils. I'd also like to thank the SES and the RFS and groups like the surf lifesaving clubs who, in their rubber duckies, were out rescuing people two farms across from me. The amount of help that came in after the floods was absolutely staggering. We had people coming down from Coffs Harbour, because there were so many people at risk all at once that all our formal volunteer groups couldn't cope with them all. There were 3,055 homes in the Hastings Valley that were flooded and 1,231 were seriously damaged by those devastating floods.

In the community of North Haven, for instance, on the Camden Haven River, street after street was inundated with water. I would like to particularly thank Mayor Peta Pinson and her husband, Craig, for being able to mobilise a number of trucks and bobcats from their own business and other businesses to help start the clean-up. I'd also like to thank the Governor-General and the Prime Minister for visiting my electorate to see firsthand the devastation and mobilise whatever Commonwealth support could be provided. Our government has been able to provide much support, in both the emergency response and the ongoing clean-up, and I think the federal, state and local government agencies are getting better at doing this together.

In Camden Haven, as well, there were a particular group of young men who, because the SES were overwhelmed and the surf lifesaving people were deployed elsewhere, got in their own tinnies and rescued about five elderly people. I wasn't there, I was stranded up on the Hastings River, but these young gentlemen deserve a medal. They just showed great initiative and foresight and got on and did it themselves. To the ministers involved in emergency services, all the admin and the people that you mobilised to come into our area to help was greatly appreciated.

It really was Armageddon for many dairy farmers on the Manning, the Hastings, the Pappinbarra, the Wilson and the Camden Haven rivers. Floods, by their very nature, are on some of the most fertile land, and some of the farms that have been devastated by this will take a couple of years, at least, to recover—both with the crops that feed the animals and with getting their dairy herds back into milk production. It will be a big effort. Our thoughts go out to them and our support continues. Thanks to everyone who helped.

Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In March this year, the entire New South Wales coast was drowned by between 200 and 400 millimetres of rainfall. Floods across New South Wales have put a renewed focus on the need for all levels of government to be proactive when crisis strikes. We must work fast and collectively to ensure the safety of our communities and to minimise the loss of property and livelihoods.

These once-in-100-year floods were chaotic and left many communities with damage and loss, but none were so incredibly impacted as those in the electorate of my friend Susan Templeman, who has worked so hard. She really was just incredible. If you want to learn something about Susan, have a listen to her first speech. She came to this place, and the first night I met her she said, 'I'm here; I've lost an election, my house has burnt down and I turned 50.' I knew instantly that I liked her. Not only has Susan had exposure to personal crisis; she works so hard for her community. It is remarkable what she has endured. We were both elected on 2 July, and since that time Susan has endured bushfire, drought and crippling flood. One of the most poignant images I've seen of Susan is not of her in her beautiful jackets, looking as on point as she always does, but of her in her jeans and her sloppy joe, boxing up groceries and loading them one by one into a helicopter to have them sent to members of her community. You would not get a harder working local member than Susan Templeman, so it is with great delight that I am speaking on this motion today. If we had more Susan Templemans in this parliament, there'd be a heck of a lot of work done.

My own community was also terribly impacted by not only drought and fire but also these recent floods. Across New South Wales we've got some terrific agencies, including the state SES, police, and Fire and Rescue. I want to take a special moment today to send my deepest condolences to Fire and Rescue New South Wales Station 454 Tarro. We lost the station captain very unexpectedly this weekend. Ian Smith joined Fire and Rescue back in 1982, and he has held the following positions: engine keeper, deputy captain and captain. He had been captain since 2017. He passed away very unexpectedly and very suddenly over the weekend. I send my dearest and deepest condolences to his friends and family and to his workmates and volunteer mates at Tarro. We didn't see it coming, and it's just a terrible loss. Ian was a terrific firefighter, a terrific leader and a great mate. As the people at Tarro have said, 'You will always ride with us in that truck,' and I am sure he will. It's people like Ian and those workers and volunteers at Tarro 454 who make such a difference in times of flood and in times of emergency.

I also want to convey my deep thanks to the members of our community who helped their neighbours. You'll never forget the stench of floods after about a couple of weeks. The smell in the thick of that mud is absolutely revolting. But thank you to everyone who lent a hand and who went that extra mile not only for people but also for our animals, trying to rescue cattle, horses, sheep and our wildlife. It has such an impact on every part of our lives and community, particularly when you see loss of life and livelihoods. So thank you to those people.

I also want to thank my state colleagues Kate Washington and Jenny Aitchison. As soon as this event happened in our community, the three of us worked together. We had an emergency declaration put in place so that our local councils, who did an enormous amount of work too, could set about cleaning up and getting things back on track and were able to know that they would be recompensed by the state government. They didn't have to wait and try to figure out how they were going to pay for all of the mess and the clean-up. Again, to Susan Templeman, I say thank you. To my community, I say thank you. Natural disasters are a terrible thing, but, when we all work together, we can clean up the mess.

Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to acknowledge my neighbour the member for Macquarie and everything that her community went through during the floods. We were both away from parliament that week. Both of our communities—particularly, I must say, the Hawkesbury—were damaged, and the work that Susan did is to be commended.

I was standing with my community on that Saturday, watching those floodwaters rise along the Nepean River. It was really quite a terrifying thing to see. A lot of new families had moved into the area. The people that had lived there for 50-plus years hadn't seen anything like this. At that time, we were talking about a one-in-100-year possibility of a flood, so people were packing their bags and their houses and getting ready to evacuate. On the Penrith side of the Nepean River, homes were already impacted. I visited those homes after the floods. Thankfully the worst of the damage was in the downstairs rooms in the backyards, and the river didn't peak at the levels that at one stage we thought it may.

There were other parts of my community that were really impacted around the Londonderry area. I acknowledge, again, the member for Macquarie. She would know this well, because it was due to the water that was backing up from the Hawkesbury. In these low-lying areas were families that had lived there for 40-plus years. Unfortunately, some of them didn't have insurance, so they were really impacted and they remain impacted now. So we have to ensure that we are doing our very best to support those families as they rebuild. Again, as the member for Macquarie also knows, coming from families who have been severely impacted by fires and losing everything, I know how long it takes and what an emotional journey it is to recover from events such as floods and fires.

In my community, as I said, we were standing on the river, but there were other people that were already working really hard in our community to secure it, and they were our local Penrith SES. I went up and visited them, and at that point in time we were running out of sandbags. There was a bit of a panic because the river was rising so fast, so we did a call-out to some local businesses and they were on board straightaway, finding sand and sandbags. Local volunteers came on board to pack those sandbags, and that continued throughout the week. The Rapid Relief Team also jumped on board to help out in packing and delivering sandbags across the community. Our SES did a tremendous job during that time, as did our RFS, in supporting the recovery efforts, particularly around Londonderry.

After I had an SES briefing at Silverwater, I came back to the community, and at that time Nepean Shores was being evacuated—the 144 residents there. I was speaking with those people and making sure they had everything they needed, with their families coming to picking them up or going to the evacuation centre. I want to again commend our local emergency services personnel, and the staff at Nepean Shores, for successfully getting everyone out of Nepean Shores so quickly and safely. Everyone was able to return over the next couple of days. It was really great to go back and see the residents there, with the Prime Minister and his wife, Jenny, a few days after and speak to the residents about their experiences. They were grateful that they were home and safe at Nepean Shores. One couple were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. It was a wonderful moment for them after such a stressful week.

I want to acknowledge the families that did lose their homes, and one family, which was one that I visited with the Prime Minister, is the Magnisalis family. I want to read a quick story from online:

Nick and Irene Magnisalis lost the home they built with their own hands more than four decades ago.

The Greek Australian couple, both retirees in their 70s and 80s, managed a last minute escape when flooding waters engulfed their property.

It goes on:

In the face of adversity, the family has remained true to their values. When visited by PM Morrison and wife—

along with me, the member for Lindsay—

in the aftermath of the flood devastation, they treated guests with a Greek hospitality welcoming.

They gave us lunch that day, with everything that they were going through—a beautiful family.

That really is the spirit of our community. We're there for each other in our times of need. We're there for the people who are still suffering now—I want to give them that message—and we'll be there for you every step of the way through this recovery.

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

What a great private member's motion moved by the wonderful member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman. I've known the member for Macquarie for many years, but, since coming to this place, we now share another bond—that is, our communities have both been through the most horrific disasters we could imagine. There were the bushfires and there is the ongoing bushfire recovery that will take years. Then there were floods—many floods. In fact, four different floods were disaster declared in my electorate, and there were seven flood events in the Eurobodalla. Then there was COVID. It's perhaps easy to say that, but the reality is that drought, bushfire, floods and COVID and the ongoing bushfire recovery are having a long-lasting impact on my community.

Take the last flood declaration in the Eurobodalla Shire Council area. It was just five months earlier that a previously disaster declared flood had occurred in 2020, causing massive damage to Araluen Road, just west of Moruya. This road, which has been hit by flooding again in May 2021, has very steep and difficult terrain, has suffered multiple significant landslides and is proving extremely difficult to fix. It has impacted and continues to impact local residents and businesses, who either are unable to access the road or have to take alternative routes that are significantly longer or just not feasible. It's a really difficult situation, and I am thankful community members have been contacting me to voice their concerns. I also want to thank Eurobodalla Shire Council for their efforts in investigating both temporary fixes for this road and examining a longer-term alternative route. I can assure residents that I will continue to advocate on this issue. But, given the gravity of the situation, I ask that the federal government extend the time available under the National Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements, so that Eurobodalla council can deal with Araluen Road and the now very real problem of secondary tree death from the bushfires along our local road network.

During the floods and, before them, the bushfires our emergency services volunteers and workers are simply our heroes. Our SES and RFS volunteers were working locally, contending with local flooding. But they were also sending teams to assist around New South Wales. They did this quietly; that's just what they do. Wherever there is disaster, our local HMAS Albatross Australian Navy members are never far away. They were there during the bushfires, rescuing people and dropping supplies. In the 2021 floods Defence members from 816 Squadron at HMAS Albatross at Nowra were providing aerial search and rescue support further north in the state, when and where needed. Our frontline workers, our supermarkets, our pharmacies, our charities, organisations—everyone played their part, and today I say thank you. Of course, to our local community members who assisted with the distribution of supplies and relief efforts during and in the aftermath of the floods, thank you.

I commend part (3) of this motion. The federal government does need to step up and provide more support where it's needed. The alternative fix for Araluen Road will not come cheap. I implore the government to assure adequate financial assistance is provided to Eurobodalla Shire Council for both temporary work and a proper longer-term fix for Araluen Road. I also implore the government to do more to provide funding to fix the disastrous environmental damage caused by flooding to our riverbanks, lakes and waterways. A few weeks ago I was knocking on doors and talking with residents at Lake Conjola, in the Shoalhaven local government area. Conjola Park, just up the road, lost a devastating 89 homes in the Currowan bushfire. Not long after, at Lake Conjola, there was a massive flood. The lake flooded again. The contrast between bushfires and looking like a bomb had gone off and then a massive flood is just too much to take. But residence at Lake Conjola have been faced with this for many years. Residents were angry. They didn't have any problems telling me how it really was.

Sometimes I think governments at all levels can lose perspective and forget what it's really like to live on a day-to-day basis: bushfires and flood over and over, they take their toll. So I ask the government again: where is the $4 billion Emergency Response Fund, announced two years ago but never spent? This fund can provide up to $200 million per financial year to be spent on natural disaster recovery and mitigation. Now is the chance for the government to provide residents, businesses and communities the disaster mitigation they so desperately need.

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Macquarie for bringing forward this motion. A number of us in this House have forged a very common bond through bushfires and floods. This is the second time in the past six months that my electorate has been through devastating floods, the first ones up north and most recently the ones down the southern end in the Port Macquarie-Hastings area. Mr Acting Deputy Speaker Gillespie, I acknowledge that you are in the same position as there were perhaps more devastating floods at the top end of your electorate. It is important that we acknowledge not only the volunteers but how difficult it is for our farmers. Having been through the drought, then the fires, then the floods and coronavirus, and then floods again, we do lose perspective sometimes. I was at an evacuation centre—I won't say which one—and I was talking to an older farmer, a man in his eighties. He said he'd lost 33 head of cattle. Obviously, to a farmer, they're like children. He said to me, 'Pat, the rifle in the corner was looking pretty good over the last couple of days.' That really hit home. How tough. This big, still strapping tall man, crying over losing his 33 head of cattle and also half a kilometre of embankment on his property. So I sat down with him and had a long chat, and I made sure that the people from the mental health team came over and chatted with him, and I've followed him up since. But we do lose perspective on how tough life is as a farmer.

I went around the electorate, and this indeed was one of the worst floods in 100 years. I was talking to Phil Morton up at Rollands Plains, and he showed me a stretch of about 600 or 700 metres in diameter, and you could see 2½ to three metres in the trees where the debris was. He said: 'Pat, a wave came down there, 700 metres wide and three metres high.' It lifted the silo—I don't know how many tonnes that is—and shifted it downstream. It was just incredible. I'd like to acknowledge all the locals of Rollands Plains, Telegraph Point and North Shore, where they just got in and cleaned up and did such a wonderful job.

I will mention Dinesh Thakrani, who is the owner and operator of the Telegraph Point Service Station. He said that the water came so quickly in the front door that he had to go to the back room and smash his way through the fibro wall with a fire extinguisher to get out. He was telling the story and it was just remarkable. But two days later he had the store back open and was helping the locals to get through the recovery effort.

There are so many people that we should thank, not just the locals but also the thousand extra boots that ended up in the electorate through the ADF and extra SES. The clean-up happened almost instantly. Whilst I'm not a huge fan of insurance companies at times, I have to commend them. There have only been a couple of complaints that they haven't followed through with their payments. The assessors were on the ground very, very quickly. Those assessments were made and people are receiving their payments. So I do thank the insurance companies for doing the right thing.

I attended the disaster centre every day when I was up there. Commander Shane Cribb ran a seamless, faultless command centre there. All of the agencies—SES, RFS and indeed Surf Life Saving—did just a fantastic job. Matt Field from my office was out in a rubber duck making rescues for two days. So hats off to Surf Life Saving; Marine Rescue; the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment; the Department of Communities and Justice; Fire and Rescue; New South Wales Ambulance; Transport for New South Wales; and Public Works—fantastic job. Thank you for all your efforts.

Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today in support of the motion moved by my good friend and colleague Susan Templeman, the member for Macquarie. My electorate—like those of Susan, Fiona, Ed, Meryl and many others in this place—has been hit very hard by concurrent natural disasters for years now. According to data from some of the local councils in my region, we've been impacted by at least 28 declared natural disasters over the last few years. In the Bega Valley, there have been 13 in the last three years, with eight of those being floods since February 2020. There have been six floods in Eurobodalla since July last year, three floods in Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council in the last year, three in the Snowy Valleys in the last year and a couple each in the Snowy Monaro and Yass Valley regions.

Every three to four months over the last few years, constituents in parts of my electorate have had to stop whatever they were doing and prepare for what was coming. They've had to sandbag properties and evacuate themselves and their livestock, often making painful decisions during evacuations about what to save and what to leave. And recently they have had to do all of that during a pandemic. These events take an immense toll on communities. Concurrent natural disasters have left us with no time to process the physical and mental toll that the events have on us. I regularly visit communities across my electorate that are still yet to recover from these disasters. Fires after floods after droughts after pandemic have meant that, when our communities are meant to be coming together, we have sometimes had to come apart.

The pain and the pressure that we've all been under for so many years are yet to be healed; yet some of our calls on this government have fallen on deaf ears. It was only two years ago that the government announced a $4 billion mitigation and recovery fund, which meant that $200 million a year was to be released for recovery and mitigation projects. Two years on, not a single dollar has been spent. In those two years, we've seen at least 20 declared natural disasters across the electorate of Eden-Monaro. We can only imagine what some of that money would have done in helping our communities. The announcement was great, but what we actually need is the follow-up, because our communities can't continue to be left behind and forgotten.

These local government regions do a lot with very little money. The national disaster recovery and relief time frames are too small to allow councils to actually get decent work done. The guidelines around them are too strict. What we know now, from all of these natural disasters, is that more assistance needs to be given to our local government areas. They are already pushed and have to scrape for every last cent. They only raise three per cent of taxation in Australia, yet they're responsible for over 85 per cent of infrastructure across Australia. When we see floods and fires, they're the people we're relying on to assist us to get our infrastructure back up and running.

In the Bega Valley, the upgrade of the Towamba and Burragate roads has long been a project held dear by many people and it's now in the process of being sealed. But, with this latest flooding disaster, all of the work that has gone into getting it sealed has now been washed away and they have to go back and start again with bank stabilisation before any of that sealing can take place. The member for Gilmore's talked about Araluen Road, which has had a number of landslides on it. We actually need to see work done, including on some of our major highways. The Snowy Mountains Highway over Brown Mountain has experienced landslips and is now only open two nights a week. For the other five nights of the week, it's closed for 12 hours. So let's see some money put in to major transport routes that actually allow people to get in and out. It was one of the only east-west corridors open for a small amount of time during the bushfires.

We have got communities that are struggling and businesses that are struggling. All of our regional communities are resilient—but, in some cases, they are over being resilient. They need some help, they need some extra money and they need this government to listen. We shouldn't have to be resilient out of necessity all the time.

Tony Smith (Speaker) 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 sitting.