Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In late January, many parts of remote and regional South Australia received unprecedented and record rainfall, causing widespread flooding across the Eyre Peninsula and throughout the outback. Some areas received up to 200 millimetres of rain, which is the total annual rainfall in that region. It caused severe problems, closing roads, washing away topsoil and damaging infrastructure. A 250-kilometre stretch of the Stuart Highway, between Glendambo and Coober Pedy, was severely damaged, and the rail link from Adelaide to Darwin and to Western Australia was also severed. Homes on the Eyre Peninsula were damaged and destroyed, and motorists had to be rescued from the area between Iron Knob and Kimba.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the South Australian Police, the CFS, the SES and other first responders for being there when the community needed them most. Thanks also to the men and women of the Australian Defence Force for the key role that they played in keeping our remote and regional communities safe and supplied while they were cut off.

Unfortunately, climate science tells us that we're likely to experience more intense floods and fires over the coming years. The government's own Productivity Commission has found that funding for reconstruction and recovery consumes 97 per cent of the disaster funding in Australia. That leaves just three per cent for mitigation and community resilience measures. That's why an Albanese Labor government will invest up to $200 million each year in disaster prevention and resilience. We need to plan and protect our communities, not just mop up after disasters that we can plan for and predict.