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

I want you to imagine that your home has been flooded not once but on three or four separate occasions and sometimes twice in a week over the last two years. Each time, as you finally see the water receding and you start the clean-up—throwing out the whitegoods, pulling out the furniture, lifting up the flooring, tearing down gyprock—you then have the BOM and the SES warn that more rain is coming, maybe not this week, maybe next week or next month or any time until early 2023. Do you repair and replace or do you wait? Or the bigger question: Do you stay or do you go? For many families in the low-lying most flood-prone streets and lowlands of the Hawkesbury, there is no point asking the question because there is no way out. Who will buy in such a flood-ravaged place right no and for what sort of price? Will it allow families who have worked hard to pay off a mortgage buy something in a less vulnerable area? Then there is people's sense of not wanting to subject others to what they have been through. As Jodie Saint from Windsor described to me a few months ago, her family discussed moving house after, in her words, their home was basically flooded every single time the Hawkesbury has been flooded. One of the youngsters said to her, 'If we sell, we will have to come back and help whoever buys this house because they will get flooded too.'

Ten days ago, I wrote to New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet welcoming the announcement of a joint state and federal funded buyback, retrofit and rebuild scheme for flood affected homes in the Northern Rivers. My question was: Where was the New South Wales plan for the Hawkesbury? Why had New South Wales not sought similar federal support for our region, one of the most repeatedly flooded areas in the country? Our situation is on a different scale to the catastrophe of Lismore and its neighbours but in fact that is why a buyback scheme in particular could have such a positive impact. We know which streets are the first to flood. In fact, most of us have a pretty good idea of which specific houses are the most quickly affected. In one street, I know there are half a dozen homes now for sale or for rent. People don't have the energy or appetite to bounce back yet again and some of them would take a fair way out.

Dave Young in Windsor and his family have suffered the trauma of multiple floodings and then the tragic loss of their wife and mum, Naomi. Since the 2021 floods, I have seen them, smiles on their faces, tackling the clean-up time after time. With lessons learnt with each flood, they created a more resilient home until the last flood, the largest since 1978, took its toll. Naomi's death, a real devastation for the whole community, came after they had been shuffling between hotel rooms while insurance was being sorted. Now rising interest rates makes the future look bleak for Dave, who wants a government buyout to give him a chance to get his family onto solid ground.

Then there are people like Darryl in Windsor, who has also been flooded multiple times but doesn't want to leave. He wants to make his home more resilient. Like many people, he has an upstairs and would like to be able to make the downstairs robust so that his large clan don't have to squeeze into a dining room and lounge room while the downstairs is being fixed. These are all very reasonable asks from people who have been through a lot. Dave and Jodi and Daryl's families are just three examples of many people in the Hawkesbury who need the New South Wales government to release a comprehensive plan for the Hawkesbury fast—buybacks, retrofitting and rebuild. My hope is that the New South Wales government is already working on a voluntary buyback and retrofitting plan. I would hope that an announcement is made soon so people's lives are not in limbo for any longer and so they have another option in front of them to provide a sense of hope for the future.

When my kids were really small, we were pretty much a one-income family, as my business was in it embryonic days. We had one car between us, were living in Winmalee with limited public transport and we were facing those challenges of paying a mortgage and car loan with high interest rates, not dissimilar to so many other families today, even though it was 30 years ago. The pressures were different but the result was the same—financial stress and anxiety about how to pay the bills. That is why our government's changes to make childcare cheaper and to reduce the cost of medicine are important now to help families make ends meet. Of course, cheaper medicines will also help older people, and we've gone even further for seniors, with the higher income test in place for the Commonwealth seniors health card, meaning more seniors will be able to access medicines at similar rates to pensioners. These are budget measures that have a deflationary effect because they reduce people's costs. They help the hip pocket without pushing up inflation.

My experience as a young mum is why I've been so committed to ensuring there are great local parks for families to use in my community and why I'm delighted that the budget contained funding for big upgrades for both Glossodia and Mount Victoria, areas that have often been left off the list for improvements. For Glossodia we're providing $3 million to bring alive the long promised upgrades to Woodbury Reserve. It's a community that has been waiting a really long time for some decent facilities. Like my time as a mum with kids in Winmalee, a long way from other facilities and with poor public transport, these kids and their parents and grandparents need a place close to home to enjoy. I note that the New South Wales government, in its pre-election benevolence, has followed my lead and contributed funds to this project as well. Hawkesbury Council now has more than $8 million to make this park and play space a real jewel for the people of Glossodia. I look forward to their consultation with the community and with me about what that funding will deliver.

At the top of the mountains, on the edge of the electorate which is so often overlooked, Mount Victoria, there is $1 million to double the bushfire recovery funding that Blue Mountains City Council received and has not yet used. The additional funding is designed to enhance memorial park and give it the love and attention it's missed out on for decades. We want to see an accessible and well equipped community playground that can be enjoyed by both locals and tourists alike. It's about great facilities close to home for locals but also about providing a good reason for those from further afield to stop and support local businesses. The community are already being encouraged to talk to Blue Mountains City Council about what they would like to see at memorial park. You can do that on Saturday 12 November from 2 pm to 4 pm and Thursday 17 November from 11 am to 1 pm at memorial park. I encourage people to start talking about their vision.

The recent budget guaranteed $1.8 million funding for the shared bike and walking track from Hawkesbury Heights to Winmalee, something that locals have fought for for decades and I have made commitments on over several elections. For some people who aren't local it might not seem like a life changer, but I well remember when the path was constructed along Hawkesbury Road in Winmalee when my kids were young, allowing so many of us to push prams and take kids on trikes, bikes and scooters, and allowing older people needing a steady surface to finally get out and walk. It can be a sanity creator and a life changer, and I'm very proud to be delivering it.

The budget confirmed that Glenbrook Oval's upgrade, which will benefit, among other groups, the Glenbrook Little Athletics, will go ahead, with $2.5 million to bring this facility into the 21st century, hopefully with a working PA system and a door wide enough for the high jump mats to be taken comfortably through so the mums and dads who volunteer can have decent facilities.

There's one more election commitment that is designed to help ease pressure on families, particularly those with toddlers. The budget provides $15,000 for a Blue Mountains toy library to help families manage the rising cost of living and help children reach their developmental milestones. We'll be working with Belong Blue Mountains, who will lead the toy library service. This will allow the purchase of safe and fun age-appropriate toys and equipment that can be lent out to families to vary the weekly play routine. These are the sorts of things that will ease cost-of-living pressures for families but still allow them to provide the richness to their kids that we know makes a difference. It's going to take a range of measures to deal with this, and I'm proud that we can put some of these in place straightaway.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:29