Perin Davey (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, rise to speak on the report from the Senate Select Committee on Australia's Disaster Resilience, Boots on the ground: raising resilience. It was an honour to be part of this committee and to hear from the many passionate, committed Australians who participated in the hearings, sharing their experience and sometimes sharing their trauma. I thank the chair, who listened to the suggestions from all of the committee about where public hearings should be held, what topics we needed to examine and how the committee would be run.

We heard from a range of witnesses from right across Australia and also New Zealand. The fact that we had 174 submissions from individuals, government agencies, not-for-profit volunteer organisations and charities demonstrates the wide interest in this issue and the communities' desire to find better solutions. We held 17 public hearings throughout Australia, hearing from councils, volunteer organisations, mental health groups, country and state fire brigades and emergency services, state and federal government departments and agencies, the Australian Defence Force, and universities and service clubs.

We travelled to areas impacted by severe flooding, such as Lismore and Ballina, where we heard of the significant burden on local governments of dealing with community trauma while also commencing the repair and recovery and rebuilding vital infrastructure. In Fitzroy Crossing, we heard of the challenges of dealing with very remote and Indigenous communities, that can often be cut off for a significant time, with the challenges of managing evacuees and their needs, as well as the resupply of isolated towns.

We visited the James Cook University cyclone testing centre to see how the independent research authority tests and reviews the performance of buildings and infrastructure in cyclones and other high-wind events. We also toured the Townsville regional emergency management centre, which is an example of absolute best practice in local, whole-of-community emergency management.

At the end of the hearings and the visits to disaster affected areas around Australia, I came, along with the committee, to the inevitable conclusion that there is no one single solution. There is no silver bullet and certainly there is no one size that fits all. Disasters vary in their delivery and their impact. Communities can and do respond in the most amazing ways, unique to their needs, while showcasing the Australian compassion and desire to help their mates. However, what's also evident is the physical and mental toll that the increasing numbers of floods and fires are having on the most willing and committed of people. Equally, we know we can't keep relying on our Defence Force to bail us out of every emergency. We must better equip and prepare our communities to help themselves.

One of the most common themes we heard, which my colleague Senator Lambie touched on, was the need for local councils to be included in every aspect of disaster preparation, recovery and rebuilding for their communities. At the end of the day, they are the ones on the ground; they are the ones receiving the phone calls and the calls for help. We need to make sure they are supported with preparation training and, post the disaster, are compensated in a timely manner. Byron Bay council suggested that local communities be given training in emergency coordination and risk mitigation, management and identification, to assist in preparation. We also heard from Disaster Relief Australia, who Senator Lambie spoke about, with their ability in preparedness exercises. We have recommended that Disaster Relief Australia be incorporated into our national disaster response arrangements.

We also heard that too often local councils were left with the job of repairing roads and infrastructure quickly, ensuring services were up and running as fast as possible, but they were also expected to meet the costs of doing so upfront in the hope that the compensation would eventually flow through. To be fair, it usually does, but the time lag between the two examples cannot be met all the time.

We heard about the floods in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales in 2022, and Lismore's mayor, Steve Krieg, told the committee that Lismore council was required to repair the main road to Nimbin, a community that had been all but cut off. But the upfront repair bill actually exceeded the amount of debt the council could carry. This issue has led to one of our recommendations: to allow a certain portion of disaster recovery funding to be apportioned upfront, or paid out upfront.

We also recommend that councils be allowed to build back better, because often we're going out and repairing the same road, flood after flood. But sometimes, just by allowing them to install a box culvert at the time of repair, that means we wouldn't have to go back. What a godsend that would be! We have recommended that the DRFA guidelines be tweaked and improved, and I wholeheartedly support that recommendation. I note that there is currently a review going on into the DRFA, and I would hope that that review makes the same recommendations.

Senator Lambie spoke about a serious concern, one that's not easily fixed: the declining number of volunteers across Australia. I thank every single volunteer that currently works with state emergency services, country fire authorities, rural fire authorities and similar organisations, including our charity organisations. We have a time-poor society, and often volunteering doesn't easily fit in. But we know that there are measures we can take.

There were some recommendations put forward to the committee about things like potentially looking at tax rebates or funding for professional development training that isn't met by a volunteer authority, or maybe someone upgrading from a general drivers licence to a medium rigid drivers licence will enable them to drive one of the Rural Fire Service trucks. We urge the government to look at those sorts of suggestions because, as the report says on page 62, 'Getting boots on the ground is important.' But we also acknowledge that so too is the mental health of our volunteers and our first responders. That is why we have made several recommendations to address our concerns about the ongoing toll of natural disasters on the mental health of our first responders and our volunteer service workers.

Again, I want to thank the committee—all of our committee. We worked exceptionally well together. We were very respectful in the way we went about this because emergency response is beyond politics. Emergency response is something that we need to do better, noting that there is, as I said earlier, no silver bullet. I want to thank the committee secretariat, who did an outstanding job getting us to some very remote areas of Australia and making sure that none of our time was wasted and that we heard from the right people in the right places.

We know that natural disasters will happen again, and we know they will always be a challenge, but the evidence we have been provided and that has been captured in this report does provide a platform that, if adopted, means we will do better next time. Thank you.