Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As the parliament comes to its last two weeks of sitting, I stand to offer my thoughts and prayers to those communities and individuals whose homes are inundated by floodwater as we speak, as the parliament goes about its deliberations—those communities who are isolated from their families and friends, those communities and individuals that are waking up in evacuation centres, displaced, knowing the work with the clean-up is in front of them.

I was first elected to this place in 2010. In 2010-11 the floods of the Lockyer Valley in Grantham hit my electorate. It was an enormously difficult time. Thirty-five lives were lost in my electorate. To this day some of those bodies have never been retrieved. So I speak from firsthand experience.

I want to acknowledge our first responders—the SES, our rural fire brigade and our Defence Force personnel who will be assisting in the clean-up. It is a harrowing experience for any family to go through, but as Australians they will be on the receiving end of some very generous Australian spirit. This parliament will stand next to them. We will help with the clean-up. We will provide assets to make sure they can rebuild their lives, and we will do it together.