Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 78, relating to the establishment of a Select Committee on Australia's Disaster Resilience in the terms circulated before moving the motion.

Leave granted.

I move the amended motion:

1. That a select committee, to be known as the Select Committee on Australia's Disaster Resilience, be established to inquire and report into the following matters:

a. current preparedness, response and recovery workforce models, including:

i. the role of the Australian Defence Force in responding to domestic natural disasters,

ii. the impact of more frequent and more intense natural disasters, due to climate change, on the ongoing capacity and capability of the Australian Defence Force,

iii. the direct costs and opportunity costs of Australian Defence Force high availability disaster recovery operations, and

iv. the role of Australian civil and volunteer groups, not-for-profit organisations and state-based services in preparing for, responding to and recovering from natural disasters, and the impact of more frequent and more intense natural disasters on their ongoing capacity and capability;

b. consideration of alternative models, including:

i. repurposing or adapting existing Australian civil and volunteer groups, not-for-profit organisations and state-based services, and

ii. overseas models and best practice;

c. consideration of the practical, legislative, and administrative arrangements that would be required to support improving Australia's resilience and response to natural disasters; and

d. any related matters.

2. The committee present its final report on or before the last sitting day in September 2023.

3. The committee consist of six senators, as follows:

a. two senators nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate;

b. two senators nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate;

c. one senator nominated by minority party or independent senators; and

d. one senator nominated by the Jacqui Lambie Network.

4. That:

a. participating members may be appointed to the committee on the nomination of the Leader of the Government in the Senate, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate or any minority party or independent senator; and

b. participating members may participate in hearings of evidence and deliberations of the committee, and have all the rights of members of the committee, but may not vote on any questions before the committee.

5. In the event that the Senate is not sitting and is not expected to meet for at least a week, the Leader of the Government in the Senate, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, minority groups or independent Senators may nominate any appointment or discharge of a member of a committee in writing to the President. The change in membership shall take effect from the time the President received the written nomination. At the next sitting, the President shall report the change to the Senate and the Senate shall resolve that membership of the committee.

6. If a member of a committee is unable to attend a meeting of the committee, that member may in writing to the chair of the committee appoint a participating member to act as a substitute member of the committee at that meeting, and if the member is incapacitated or unavailable, a letter to the chair of a committee appointing a participating member to act as a substitute member of the committee may be signed on behalf of the member by the leader or whip of the party or group on whose nomination the member was appointed to the committee.

7. That the committee may proceed to the dispatch of business notwithstanding that not all members have been duly nominated and appointed and notwithstanding any vacancy.

8. That the committee elect as chair the member nominated by the Jacqui Lambie Network, and as deputy chair the member nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

9. That the deputy chair shall act as chair when the chair is absent from a meeting of the committee or the position of chair is temporarily vacant.

10. That the chair, or the deputy chair when acting as chair, may appoint another member of the committee to act as chair during the temporary absence of both the chair and deputy chair at a meeting of the committee.

11. That, in the event of an equally divided vote, the chair, or the deputy chair when acting as chair, have a casting vote.

12. That the committee have power to appoint subcommittees consisting of three or more of its members, and to refer to any such subcommittee any of the matters which the committee is empowered to examine.

13. That the committee and any subcommittee have power to send for and examine persons and documents, to move from place to place, to sit in public or in private, notwithstanding any prorogation of the Parliament or dissolution of the House of Representatives, and have leave to report from time to time its proceedings, the evidence taken and such interim recommendations as it may deem fit.

14. That the committee be provided with all necessary staff, facilities and resources and be empowered to appoint persons with specialist knowledge for the purposes of the committee with the approval of the President.

15. That the committee be empowered to print from day to day such documents and evidence as may be ordered by it, and a daily Hansard be published of such proceedings as take place in public.

Our days start to get long in Tasmania at this time of the year, and God bless that! We'll get sunset at nearly 9 pm by Christmas. It used to be that you would look forward to the long daylight hours. When I was a kid we'd count down the sleeps until December. We'd go on holidays from school and know we were in for the fun. I spent the days and nights roaming around with the other neighbourhood kids. Nothing was better than mucking about and enjoying late twilights and warm evenings. Our only fear was what we'd get under the Christmas tree!

I wonder what it's like to be a young kid in Australia during the summer these days. We've had three years of one-in-100 natural disasters: fires, floods, storms—you name it, we've had it, with three years of watching the news and seeing people pick up the pieces from disaster after disaster and having their lives turned upside down. That's what summer is for our kids these days; it's what they think is normal. It is their reality.

But it's not normal. This is not what our country is supposed to experience every year. We're not supposed to have one-in-100-year weather events happen every year. Regional communities aren't supposed to get smashed by floods, drought then floods again and again, but that's what we're getting and we've got to get used to it. I can say that Tasmania has copped it bad this month. Our rivers are getting pummelled; our office is full of talk every day about the roads that are closed, how to get into work safely and the bridges that can't be used anymore. All of us are wondering if this is what's going to happen every year from here on in. Will we be having these conversations forever?

These disasters keep coming and coming, and they're getting worse every year. The Tassie floods were so strong, they picked up giant concrete slabs and washed them away—concrete slab weighing tonnes and tonnes floated off just like paper boats. Our wildlife hospital was flattened, people have lost their homes again and family photos, furniture fences and gardens are all gone. Tasmanian businesses have had to close, and that's after months of closures thanks to COVID. And I can tell you, we'll be feeling this and cleaning this up for a long time, and Tassie hasn't even been hit with the worst yet.

Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland have taken an absolute hit—again. I have no idea what it does to a person's mental health to have their house flood every six months, to watch their paddocks get washed over and over, to watch their stock go up in flames or go down under the water. We've got farmers who have had to leave fruit and veg to whither on the vines because they can't put heavy machinery on flood affected roads. Heads of cattle have died in floods this year, and there have been thousands of them. My heart goes out to all of you. It must feel like your clean-up is never-ending. You're getting whacked again and again, and those floods are only getting worse, and it's so not fair.

The really crazy thing is that disaster season is starting earlier and running for longer. Those Black Summer bushfires in 2019? They started in June. The country was burning in June, during winter. The fires burnt for more than six months. I will never forget what it was like up here in Canberra when those fires were burning. The sky was a weird yellow-grey colour for weeks and weeks. The smell of smoke got into everything and you could not get away from it. It sunk into your skin. It was terribly hot, but you couldn't open a window, because that would mean more smoke.

My staff had family in fire zones. We were up here in parliament writing speeches and moving amendments while we watched the fire maps move, hoping the wind wouldn't change direction and send the front towards old childhood homes. We cheered at news of the tiniest little sprinkling of rain, and we held our breath when we saw the fires spark back up again. Australia lost 34 people to those Black Summer bushfires, and the fires burned more than 46 million acres of land. Nearly 2½ thousand homes were destroyed in New South Wales alone. Entire towns are still traumatised from what happened in those months. The Victorian town of Mallacoota will carry those scars forever; I have no doubt. So will the Blue Mountains, near Sydney, and East Gippsland's Hume and Armidale. Half of our country was on fire.

Massive-scale disaster like that is going to be our norm, apparently, and I hate to say it, but I think it's true. All of us are going to live through more disasters like that in our lifetimes, and I tell you what, it scares the hell out of me, and I'm sure that for those people who have been through it not once or twice but now three times it's starting to scare them as well. But we do have some things working for us. The thing I love most about regional Australia is the way we pull together when we have to. Where I'm from, you know your neighbours. If they're in trouble you help them; if you're in trouble they will help you. That's what we do. And as much as we might get on each other's nerves about someone's dog being a pain—usually mine, by the way—or early-morning noise or whatever else, we pull together when we have to.

That's what we've seen in Lismore. It was Lismore residents who got on with saving people when the floods first hit in February. The waters went up so fast that lots of people woke up to find that the levy had broken and they were already trapped. You couldn't get through to 000. The SES was way too stretched to get to everybody. On one morning they took 374 calls in less than an hour and a half—100 calls every 10 minutes. The normal processes were broken. If we'd played it the way the government wanted to play it, more people would have died. Instead, a bunch of guys and girls hopped in their tinnies and went to action and jumped in those floodwaters. The residents of Lismore did it on their own. Regular people went out and picked up neighbours in wheelchairs. They found elderly people stuck on their roofs and a mother and her three-year-old who'd been trapped in a kayak in their backyard for four hours. All those people could have died if the community in Lismore hadn't pulled together to fix those things themselves. I reckon that's pretty bloody amazing, to be honest with you.

I reckon that's the kind of bravery and loyalty we should look up to in this country. But I also reckon we can't keep dealing with disasters this way, just off the cuff. In the Army we have this saying called the six Ps: proper planning prevents piss-poor performance. And we keep getting hit with our pants down—let's be honest. We're not prepared. We know these disasters are coming. We know they're more frequent and they're more severe. It's not fair to leave it to the neighbours in regional Australia to figure out how to deal with a fire or a flood at the time that it's happening. That's not their job; it's our job. We're leading the country. We're not doing the proper planning. The six Ps tell us what our performance looks like and, I can assure you, it is not very good. That's why I'm moving this motion, hopefully today.

It's time for a conversation about how we deal with climate change in our own backyard—not the climate wars, not more bickering about targets and emissions reduction. We need to talk about how we look after our own people, our own backyard, because we are getting absolutely smashed. It doesn't matter if we hit net zero by 2050. We could turn off all our coal-fired power stations tomorrow and we'd still be up the creek in a barbed wire canoe without any paddles. The planet is warming. It doesn't matter if it's by one degree or 1½ degrees or two degrees. Things are going to get hotter and regional Australia is going to feel it most of all.

That's what this inquiry is about. How do we prepare? How do we fix our poor performance? What do we need to do to get more boots on the ground to protect our country and our people? Right now we're in nowhere land. We're flying by the seat of our pants. We send the ADF in every summer. We have cadets who have been deployed out to sandbag rivers every year. They're running evacuation centres, handing out water bottles to people who have lost their homes. Those guys are meant to be in training. Service men and women who signed up three years ago have had every summer disrupted by domestic deployments.

Defence is extremely worried about this, and so am I. They told the new minister they can't keep doing it, and they cannot. It's too much to put on them, especially when we have China breathing down our throats, especially when we have Russia threatening to use nuclear weapons on Ukraine. We need the ADF to be on their toes more than ever, right now. That's their job. Their job is to protect us and our allies from other countries that want to do us harm. We can't keep running to them when climate change hits us again and again, and we need to be better prepared for that.

The other problem we have is that no-one wants to volunteer anymore. How sad that the country has got to a point where we can't get volunteers anymore. Nobody wants to do it. We've become a country of selfishness. That is what we have become. It's all about self. It is really sad. It does not build community spirit, and neither will we remain the lucky country that we are if we're going towards that way of life, I can assure you. I will tell every Australian out there: you will always rely on somebody; you can't always do it by yourself. Volunteering Australia says the number of young people volunteering dropped by 10 per cent between 2019 and 2020. Nearly half of all our volunteers are 45 or older. Retirees are going into disaster zones to rake up mud. Little old women are making sandwiches for people who have lost their homes and to feed people battling fires and floods.

We need to build more resilience as a country. We need to pull together. That's what this inquiry is about. I have ideas on how we could do it; those views are on record. I reckon we need a national guard to clean up after disaster strikes. The guard would be formed as a standby force, similar to the Army Reserve. We'd train people up to go into disaster zones and do what the Army does now. That's all we're asking of you people out there who have never worn a uniform. We're now asking you to give back to your country.

We are all responsible for the floods and fires that are going on in Australia right now, and they will continue. It means all of us. Us in here, and no matter what age you are out there, we are all responsible for looking after each other and looking after this country. Logistics, emergency management and rescue—go in and help the states make it happen. Young people who want to give back to their country can do so. Here's your opportunity. Let's see what you're made of. Come on! Get off those games out there, and get out there and learn what it's like to survive in the real world. Give back to your country. I'll tell you what, it's the hardiest thing you'll ever do in your life. Take it from somebody who knows. It will give you bragging points. Veterans who aren't ready to end their service could keep a connection to defence, and the communities who have lost everything wouldn't have to organise everything off their own bat. That's my idea. I'm open to others. I don't have all the answers in this; I'm open to others. But it's going to take a whole nation to pull this together. That's why we have set this inquiry nice and broad; we've left it right open. If you think you can contribute to this inquiry and you can make a difference, when this country is in dire straits, when it is under flood or in fire, then, please, let's see what you've got. Put your hand up. Let's see you. I want to hear from residents who have lost their homes to the fires and the floods, and the community coordinators who pulled up their socks when the federal government went missing in action. They'll know better than I do about what we need.

The other thing I want to do is work closely with the government to figure out what we do over the next 12 months to get this done. Minister Watt knows what we need to do to make changes. I was glad to hear this week that he has asked his department and the defence minister to put some thought into this. Regional Australia deserves better than the suck-it-up-and-see approach we've had to natural disasters up to this point, and the ADF deserves better.

We can all sit here and talk about when we are going to cut down emissions, and all the rest. This is the easy work. The hard work, the grunt work, is putting your boots on. We've all got to be part of that. If that means at times we've got it happening in our own backyard, we need to be helping; we can't be sitting here, especially if there are two of us and only one can come up. That is what we've got to give back to this country. It is time for a nation-building exercise here. We've seen our kids' resilience through COVID. We've got to build this resilience up and we need to look after this country. If somebody has a much better idea than I do, please voice your opinion because I'm not hearing you. This needs to be done now. We need boots out on the ground. Please come and tell me how we, as politicians, make that happen. It's a whole-of-country contribution. Get off your butts. I want this to happen, and I'm happy to sit here and lead it. Let's move.

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to congratulate Senator Lambie on this proposed Select Committee on Australia's Disaster Resilience. The importance of making sure our country and communities are resilient is critical to the successful future of our country, and it's happening right now. We know that the disasters we face within this country, the natural hazards, are becoming more and more regular. As climate change hits us, it hits communities and hits real people. It hits the country and those within the country.

In supporting Senator Lambie's proposal for the Select Committee on Australia's Disaster Resilience, it reminds me of a very important point raised with me by some wonderful activists, community people, in the Cobargo area—like Zena Armstrong, who I met at Cobargo in the Bega Valley. In capturing some of the language Senator Lambie was using before, these are the first responders—the people taking a great deal of pressure day in and day out, making sure the community is not only responding but recovering. When others leave to go to the next emergency, the next response, they're still organising the resilience within their community. They're still organising the human recovery, from the humanitarian disaster, which happens after these events.

Zena is a fantastic local activist in Cobargo and the Bega Valley who rose up after the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires—and I'm sure she'd be embarrassed but I am very pleased to talk about her because she is such an activist and has been so involved in the community since then, and been very public about it. There are so many people like Zena who have been so active as well. I want to concentrate on Zena because she embodies a lot of that strength that's now permeating throughout not only Cobargo but also so many other disaster areas that have turned into humanitarian disasters around the country.

As a result of her being involved in 2019-2020 and being on the receiving end in her local community of the Black Summer bushfires, her town is now well underway to recovery. However, Zena told me that it helps to have a good stock of social capital before the disaster hits. I asked her what her view of social capital is, and Zena said: 'A community's capacity to face immense hazards and overcome disasters, however adverse the circumstances are.' She went on further to say, 'This is a capacity derived from community cohesion and an ability to adapt to quickly changing circumstances.'

When disaster strikes, who responds first? Who is it that you call for support? Who is it that you check in on? Often times, it's those in your very own community who'll be the first to support with immediate recovery. They will lend a helping hand and be able to talk about the events over a cup of tea once in a while—and for months and years onward. As we know, in mental health there is really a two- to five-year response when these natural hazards that turn into humanitarian disasters hit.

She went on say, 'Ongoing building these connections in relationships in advance sets a strong foundation for building social capital.' That was her description. To my mind, she couldn't have captured more beautifully the necessity of how we, as governments and as a community, approach the ongoing disasters that are occurring across our country not only as we speak but increasingly in the coming months and years.

When I visited the Hawkesbury, what stood out to me was the incredible sense of community spirit and camaraderie. There was an understanding of the local risks, which was exemplified by a story from Susan Templeman. Susan, who actually is a member of the Labor party, is a very active member of parliament and very active in her community, but I could also include in this those I've met in the Lismore area in the National Party, along with wonderful people, including the state member up there from the Labor Party.

The reason I'm talking about different political parties is that what binds us together is that sense of making sure we make a difference, which goes beyond politics. It's not just a question of areas where there's a degree of consensus, such as in national security or in defence. It goes beyond that. This is an issue that should also have that same sense across all political parties, whether it be the Independents or any other political party. We need to make sure that we get it right and that we build community resilience and understanding. Part of building that is also saying: 'There isn't a lack of desire to fix it straightaway. What are the steps we're taking as we learn together from each experience?' That is what makes resilience and capacity in the future so much more powerful.

Susan Templeman shared with me a story about a mum who was contemplating selling after the recent floods. And, Senator Lambie, I'm going to capture your spirit in this, because I think the speech that you gave was very powerful. I think Susan captured part of that in the story that she gave me. She said that, as she was talking to that mum who was contemplating selling after the recent floods, her 10-year-old son said, 'No, Mum, we can't sell, because, even if we do, we'll have to come back and help, because the next people will get flooded too.' And that says what I'd like to think, and what I'm confident, so many of us not only in this place but also right across the country believe.

That's why we need to be building back better and that's why we actually need to have build capacity within our communities. One of the things that has particularly struck me is that, whilst these natural hazards of floods, bushfires and violet storms are becoming more frequent and more severe, the humanitarian disaster is being met—I wouldn't describe it as being in a haphazard way, but it needs to be met in an even more consistent way, and that should be the desire of everybody here.

I'm not going to suggest that there are simple solutions, but there certainly are solutions. There certainly are answers, and an important part of the inquiry of this select committee will go to another aspect: the important answers to the challenges right across our communities. Again, I won't point the finger at any political party from the past or the present. I try to avoid that because this is a lesson for us about what we are going to do today, tomorrow and the day after that. I have only been involved directly in this space for 12 weeks now. There are a lot of experts out there. The experts are people like Xena. Susan relayed that story and many others to me from people across those communities.

But these aren't natural disasters. A disaster is by no means inevitably a natural disaster. When a disaster hits, when a flood hits, that doesn't mean it is a natural disaster. It can be a humanitarian disaster if we don't prepare our resilience for what is occurring. If we don't prepare our best selves to work out how to respond when those events hit our communities, whether it be flood, fire or cyclone, then we have to make sure, for the next round, the next occasion, that we do. I'm talking beyond the politics. I will hold out Queensland's response to disasters as a good example that we can all learn from right across the country. The unfortunate consequence for North Queenslanders from the consistent disasters they face is that they are battle-weary but battle-hardened. This is the message I was getting from Senator Lambie. We can be battle hardened as a community if we pull together and make sure that we find those answers, and this inquiry would be an important step in finding them.

The commitment to recovery and preparedness by all of us here and certainly by the government is critical when we are dealing with future fires. Look at Cobargo, with the Bega Aboriginal Land Council and the importance of cultural practices. There is low-hanging fruit, but we have to all come together and say, 'Let's make sure that our programs are heading towards an outcome that will make us battle-hardened,' because the battles are going to come more and more often, with more and more communities affected. We have to be able to listen to communities and strengthen our coordination and disaster prevention projects to ensure we are ready for what is to come.

By preparing for natural hazards, we can also protect lives and livelihoods and lessen damage. The Disaster Ready Fund is part of that program, but we're talking about something in addition to that, the real community response and capacity. When the Disaster Ready Fund is made available, there needs to be a real understanding of how that money is utilised to build up capacity, to make sure that we are not just putting in another bridge to be washed out 12 months later because it is the same.

The government are building back better so that communities can be connected, so that businesses can be connected. These are critical parts of the transformation we are doing across the government but are also something, I'm pleased to say, that are shared by many across the political spectrum and across communities that would describe themselves as anything but political but that are very outspoken in making sure that their communities are even stronger. We need to make sure that we have the capacity, for example, for Disaster Relief Australia. Again, I don't want to conclude these as the answers in toto because they are not.

As a parliament, as a government, as the opposition, as the crossbenches, as other political parties here, this is about finding the answers to make sure that we can build a more resilient community right across the board. But I will give a shout out to Disaster Relief Australia because a lot of us here share a lot of confidence in the great work that they do. Previous governments have supported Disaster Relief Australia, but I am proud to say that this government has also budgeted a grant of $38.3 million over four years, which will support and build the skilled volunteer workforce by more than 5,000 to help communities during a disaster. But I am saying more than that, which is why this select committee is so important to all of us in the critical areas, as has been pointed out in the select committee's terms of reference.

I am confident that I share with everyone on the committee that we have a great deal of confidence in the Defence Force personnel who in recent weeks have been doing such wonderful work across the east coast of Australia. Our service personnel do a critical job supporting communities in the immediate recovery period. Across disaster affected areas, in communities from Lismore to Cobargo to Windsor, I've heard firsthand the appreciation and support for the Australian Defence Force now, although it's so many years later. It's like it was yesterday. We all remember the scenes during the Black Summer bushfires when over 1,000 resident and holidaymakers were stranded in the East Gippsland town of Mallacoota. This town was devastated by bushfires and was cut off by an out-of-control bushfire. People started leaving the area by sea because roads in and out of town were blocked for weeks. Families were under stress.

There is a need for that capacity and that ability right across our communities not only to build on the fantastic work that's been done by defence personnel but also to look at what capacity and resilience we can build across the community. One thing that struck me as well was that, during the Black Summer bushfires, the ADF provided assistance across the period from 6 September 2019 to the 26 March 2020. This operation was known as Operation Bushfire Assist. Assistance included logistics, bases for firefighting aircraft, catering, recovery efforts, engineering assistance, evacuation operations, search and rescue and surveillance. These areas are going to be critically important in the future, but we also need to make sure that we are not just relying on the wonderful, powerful work the ADF has done. We need to build on those strengths and the strengths in our community to make sure that our capacity in these times of humanitarian disasters in this country are met.

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

I'd like to thank Senator Lambie for bringing forward this motion and this inquiry. I think it covers a lot of really important areas. I also want to take the opportunity to thank Senator Sheldon who, since he's taken on the role as special envoy in emergency management, has been out on the ground meeting with our communities. He's been to Lismore and he's been to communities in the Hunter region. He's been on the ground talking to people and he's really listened. I genuinely appreciate that because that's what our people in the regions want to see. They want to see that they are being heard. They don't want to see us playing political games and partisan games. They want to know that we are actually trying to ensure that we can make things better in the future, that we are learning from each and every disaster, because we will not always get it right. The expectation that somebody could have had a crystal ball in March and had the ADF out in affected communities a week before the rain actually fell is ludicrous. But we are learning, and it is in everyone's interests for us to work together to understand, from what we have done in the past, where we've gone wrong and where we've gone right. We need to develop the best systems going forward, and they must always be evolutionary because every disaster is different.

Thinking about my home area, I'm from the Deniliquin, in the southern Riverina. I moved there in 2010, and we had floods in 2011, floods in 2012, floods in 2016 and we are now flooded again, as we speak. Not one of those floods has looked the same and not one of those floods has had the same impact or the same results, other than that every single one of those floods brought the community together, with neighbours helping neighbours, volunteers coming out to fill, shift and stack the sandbags. We've seen it across the board. We've seen it in Lismore earlier this year. Unfortunately, Broke, in the Hunter, has been flooded five times in the last 18 months. In the Rochester, Shepparton, Echuca and Moama areas I hope the river has peaked and is now going down. And obviously it's flooded in my home town.

We've seen it before—we've seen it through bushfires and we've seen it through previous floods. One thing we are learning more and more is that once upon a time disasters were a regional thing—it was something that happened in Far North Queensland when a cyclone hit, and it didn't really impact us, and it was all, 'She'll be right'—but I think the flooding disaster in Brisbane in 2011 really brought home that natural disasters are not limited to the regions. This year we've seen it multiple times in Western Sydney. This is no longer a regional issue; this is an issue that impacts every single one of us. That's why it is important that we do look at how we address these issues and that we do look at how we respond.

I've been meeting with SES volunteers and SES coordinators in the various states, and they have told me there is no consistency in training and there is no consistency in call-out methodology. There are limits on what someone in one state can and can't do in their SES role compared to what someone in another state can do. One thing we are in Australia is good neighbours, and when there is a disaster in one state we do have volunteers from other states—other rural fire brigades or other SES services put their hands up and come to assist, but they're talking different languages. They're coming together for the same purpose, with the same good hearts, but they've got different training and different languages. They don't even use the same hand signals when directing vehicles, which is a real work health and safety issue.

One area where the ADF does have it over those other volunteer organisations is that in the ADF it doesn't matter whether you joined up in Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales or Tasmania—as Senator Lambie did—you are trained in exactly the same way. If you are in their transport unit, your hand signals are exactly the same as the hand signals of someone who joined NORFORCE in Darwin. That is why in times of emergency when the ADF are called in you know that it doesn't matter where they come from; they have the same level of high-quality training, they understand logistics and how to move it across state borders. They haven't got those issues because they are a federal force.

One of the issues is that responding to natural disasters is not the ADF's core business. Their core business is to protect Australia, but not from natural disasters. When I talk to my colleagues in the ADF they are so proud of what they do in times of natural disasters but they are concerned that it is becoming more and more common, and instead of it being the exception for them to be called out, it is now almost the rule.

I note that now Senator Watt is the emergency management minister he has changed his tune a bit. When he was on my side of the chamber, in my role as shadow emergency management minister, he never missed an opportunity to play politics with this. He never missed an opportunity to sit here and heckle and say, 'Call in the Army.' Now that he's on that side of the chamber he realises that actually there are processes that must take place and that it's not for the federal government to swoop in, over and above the sovereignty of the states, and declare martial law.

The Army should not be our first port of call. As much as we appreciate the Army's assistance and as much as I want to acknowledge that when our communities are in crisis and they see that uniform walk into their communities it is a morale boost because they see it, they recognise it and they go, 'Someone's listening.' So I want to thank the ADF. I am so proud of the ADF for having that reputation in Australia.

But let's look at when we have used them. Back in 2004, when Canberra was surrounded by bushfires, we didn't have a call-out for the ADF. A call was put out for volunteers in the reserve forces in Canberra, and many of them took up that call and came because they had the right training and they could come in. But it was not a call-out. Since then, we have had them called out during the Black Summer bushfires, we had them called out during the Lismore floods and we had them called out during COVID. We called on our defence forces during COVID-19 to knock on people's doors, for lockdown, to man border patrols and to staff aged-care facilities. This was at the request of the state because the federals cannot march in and say, 'Here's the Army; you will use them.' And now they are in hospitals. So we really need to look at what we're doing.

We also need to look at our volunteer organisations. If we continue to rely on a professional outfit like the Army, we are actually undermining the willingness of people to volunteer, and we don't want white ant these fantastic volunteer organisations that have fantastic volunteers. We also have to look at the charity models we have. I note in the budget that Disaster Recovery Australia has received funding, and I welcome that because they do really good work. There are similar charities out there, like BlazeAid, the Salvation Army and the Red Cross. These people man the recovery centres, they provide assistance, they provide advice and they help point people in the right direction.

But the one thing that I hear from them is that there is no coordination. They are often flying blind. They are using Google as much as anyone else to try and find out where to go for information. We hear that time and time again when we investigate natural disasters. Most recently, both the bushfire royal commission and the New South Wales flood inquiry pointed out the need for streamlined processes and consistency so that we do not have the double-ups, the duplication, but we also do not have the confusion. The ideal would be a single portal for all information, a single call-out mechanism and a staged call-out mechanism.

At what point do we say that we will call in the ADF? It should not be our first response. It should be our last response, because we do have the volunteer organisations and we do have the state organisations. This may mean that every state emergency management minister should get together around the table—and I would happily accept being your wingman, Senator Watt, because, as I said before, this is not about politics; this is about getting the systems right so that we do it better and we do it better for all of our communities.

I think it is fantastic that strangers, friends and families all work together. That will never change, particularly in the regions. If you see someone on the road with a flat tyre, you pull over and say, 'Do you need help?' That's effectively what we see. I actually don't like it when people say, 'Why was it left to the community to have their dinghies out and be helping people?' I don't want to live in an Australia where we don't help our mates. If they are the first people on the scene and they know somebody needs assistance, then I say, 'Thank you for getting in your dinghy and going to help.' I say, 'Thank you for not waiting for the wheels of bureaucracy to turn and for all the boxes to be ticked so we can have the call-out.' This is exactly why we have the volunteer organisations in situ. This is why we've got a Deniliquin branch of the SES and a Lismore branch of the SES: because you can't have an Army base in every single town, and you can't wait. Even though the Army is very efficient, and they can get things moving in a very short amount of time, those hours that you may have to wait could be the difference between someone getting off that roof and not. That's what it comes down to.

How do we do it better without white-anting and undermining the systems and people we have in place? We don't want to undermine our communities. We want to make sure our communities will always be there to pack the sandbags, to hold the hose, to drive the fire trucks and to support their neighbours. At the end of the day, this is what it's about. It's about neighbours, it's about communities and it's about doing it better. Thank you, Senator Lambie. Thank you for listening.

Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to stand here today and speak to this motion, and I thank Senator Lambie for bringing it to the Senate. I don't rise here and speak with the same authority or expertise as some of our speakers who have had the opportunity to speak today. We have our Special Envoy for Disaster Recovery, Senator Sheldon, who has been doing an excellent job since being appointed to that position. He has spoken with real knowledge of what is going on in those communities and is working very hard with our minister. The shadow minister also has a deep understanding of some of the issues that we are facing.

I know that we are having a real debate about the role of the Defence Force in dealing with these recurring disasters. I know, Senator Lambie, you have a working knowledge of and a real passion for our Defence Forces and a real understanding, from a mental health point of view, of the toll that participating in these types of exercises does take. So I quite humbly rise to speak in the context of people who are working in this space, but I do so as someone who lives in a state that has experienced natural disasters and continues to experience natural disasters. I live in a place prone to cyclones. It's a real, live experience for people living in northern Australia, particularly, about how we deal with ongoing natural disasters and the threat and the cost of cleaning up these disasters.

I think it's really important to point out that we have seen the climate change. We've seen changes to the way disasters impact our countries. I think the proposal from Senator Lambie to develop this select committee, importantly, comes at a time when there is a very different position from the parties of government on what we should do to deal with climate change and the cost of not dealing with climate change, particularly in relation to natural disasters. The government supports the proposal to establish a select committee on Australia's disaster resilience.

It would be remiss of me to not speak about this important topic without extending my sympathies to those Australians who are currently dealing with natural disasters. I know we can stand in here and have quite an academic debate, but there are real families, real communities and real businesses that are dealing with the impacts of flooding across the country right now, flooding that has seemed almost relentless in a new way, to which we are needing to come up with new ways to respond. Government is having to deal with new ways of preparing for disasters because, while it is important to be there when disasters occur, when families are cleaning up and when communities are facing the aftermath of a disaster, what we now know—and what I think was particularly important about the contribution from the then shadow minister Watt—is that being prepared for disasters is a real necessity and should be the emphasis of any government that holds itself out to care about communities. It is important to turn up the day after, but what were you doing six months before? I think that is the question and it's the emphasis of this government and, particularly, the minister, who has only recently taken on this role.

It feels as though there has been no end to Australia's incidence of natural disasters, and the frequency of these disasters don't dilute their devastating impacts. Every time we hear about another event, there are families, communities and workplaces contending with these terrible events. I express my deepest condolences to all of them. I also express my appreciation for the ADF, emergency services personnel and all volunteers who have put themselves, or are currently putting themselves, in harm's way in the service of these impacted communities. I know there are personnel particularly from the defence forces who are currently doing this work, and we could not be more appreciative of the contribution they make to our community.

As natural disasters become more intense and more frequent due to climate change, we need to think more seriously about what we can do to support emergency management workforce. When severe natural disasters hit, the ADF do play an incredibly critical role in responding to natural disasters. Speaking with the Guardian last week, Minister Watt said: 'You can't underestimate the morale boost that it gives communities to see those camouflage uniforms in there lending a hand.' Not only does their presence bring comfort and reassurance to communities but we've seen time and time again how they supercharge the recovery. In recent weeks, the Albanese government deployed Defence Force personnel across the east coast of Australia. Our service personnel do a fantastic job supporting communities in their immediate recovery.

The efforts of our ADF personnel on the ground are incredible, and I thank them for their sustained and tireless service. Still, we do need to acknowledge that our increasing reliance on the ADF may not be sustainable. Minister Watt has already flagged the government's intention to investigate how we can bolster Australia's emergency management workforce capability. A more coordinated response to more frequently occurring disasters, including the possibility of a standby workforce, is an important part of that as well. We're having this conversation at a time when there are skills shortages across the country. We will have political debates about who has been responsible for some of those skills shortages and for not training people, but we know that, certainly, where there were cracks in the system—and COVID created chasms—there is a real lack of skilled, trained workforce that isn't already completely exhausted and unable to participate in these types of work. The idea that there's this army of volunteers just waiting with nothing else to do—we all know that that's not the case. It's not a matter of there being a workforce that is ready and willing. There is a discussion that we need to have about where this workforce comes from, how this workforce is engaged, what this workforce is going to be required to do and what is the emphasis in terms of preparedness versus recovery of this workforce. Australia needs to be able to rely on a systematic response every time these kinds of events occur, instead of relying on ad hoc, last-minute arrangements.

I think the debate today has been very respectful and has really stayed away from too many political assessments, but it would be remiss of me not to comment on the previous government's response. It felt like, over a few years of disasters, there was a real reluctance to put in new systems that would allow there to be rapid response preparedness and mitigation. I am loath to say the 'M word'. I know the previous government didn't believe in investing in mitigation, as opposed to other methods. But this is all part of the conversation that we need to have, and it will be investigated by this select committee.

With disasters occurring more frequently, communities should be able to know what help to expect from government. I think there's definitely a case to be made that after a disaster there's an awful time period where people are waiting to see press conferences, to see what sort of help will be available. It would be nice to know, the day after a disaster, that the type of response and assistance available to you is going to be the same no matter where you live, no matter whose electorate you live in and no matter whether you live in a state run by a Liberal or a Labor government. If you live in Australia and you are affected by a natural disaster, there should be a federal response and a combined state and local government response that is the same no matter where you live.

Already, the Albanese Labor government is implementing these structural changes. In only five months of government, our government has established the new national Emergency Management Fund and a new resilience fund. I know that Minister Watt is very proud of these achievements in such a short time. I think this goes to some of the weather forecasts we've been getting and the high-risk season that we're heading into—or that we've already met. This has really exacerbated the need to get these things happening. That's why our government has been so quick to deal with these changes.

This is unlike the previous government, which focused on announcements and not delivery—even when it came to disaster recovery. We have every intention of ensuring that these funds and corresponding agencies are used. We don't want to have funding sitting in a bank when it could be spent on mitigation projects that would reduce the impact of natural disasters. That is not helpful to any community. A press release does not help you after a flood; a mitigation project that has been designed, planned, investigated and implemented is what communities want to see from a proactive government.

We have also established the $1 billion Disaster Ready Fund to support long-term preparedness and response to natural disasters. I'm sure there will be many submissions to Senator Lambie's proposed select committee for what this fund could possibly be used for and how this fund could be used to benefit preparedness and response. Just this week, with the handing down of the first federal budget under the new Albanese Labor government, we have renewed our commitment to a more proactive approach to disaster recovery, an important role that the Australian Defence Force and also Australian veterans play in this situation.

On Tuesday evening, the Albanese Labor government committed $38.3 million to the veteran led Disaster Relief Australia. This budget allocation proposes to enhance the existing operations of veteran led Disaster Relief Australia. This money was allocated with the concerns raised in the committee referral in mind. Adequately resourcing a range of groups will help to reduce the pressure on the Australian Defence Force when disasters hit. These funds aim to support 5,200 more disaster response volunteers.

I don't pretend to know about, nor have lived experience of, the lives of veterans, other than to have spoken to many communities and many people, particularly in North Queensland, who support and work very closely with the veteran community and who are looking for ways to deal, particularly, with veterans' ongoing mental health and also with their employment situation. The Oasis Townsville is one really good example. John Caligari, who I'm sure Senator Lambie and other ministers and other members of the opposition have had the chance to meet when they've been in Townsville, is really clear on giving veterans jobs that provide purpose and meaning, somewhere to go, someone to love, something to do. That is why we seek to engage veterans in this really important work. It's a two-pronged approach, and I think it's something that should receive support across this chamber.

Finally, the success of our emergency management system should not be a partisan issue. We'll all have a stake in making sure it's done and ensuring the full capacity of the Public Service provides communities the best possible support in their most difficult moments. That's why our government welcomes the intention to look into this issue through the Senate and work constructively across the chamber to deliver a more sustainable emergency management workforce capability. With the impacts of climate change on our doorstep right now, with communities across the country facing a high-risk weather season, with the reluctance of previous governments to invest in mitigation and preparedness, there could not be a more important time for this inquiry.

Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to stand here today in the Senate and express not just the government's support but my personal support to Senator Lambie's proposal to establish a select committee here in the Senate into Australia's disaster resilience.

Indeed, earlier today, I was standing here in the Senate making a short contribution in senators' statements about the floods that are impacting many of the eastern states, particularly my home state of Victoria. I talked about the amazing efforts of all volunteers, the emergency workers and our ADF personnel, both those who are engaged on a full-time basis in the ADF but also our reservists, who have a dual role—a role of not just working in their own private lives but also the other very important role that they play in assisting the full-time ADF officers when they're needed in some of these dark times. I really do take off my hat to the role that our reservists play when it comes to natural disasters. All these people do an amazing job, all working together on the ground, as we speak, to protect many communities and to begin the recovery efforts. Again, I want to thank them all for their courageous and essential efforts.

I also just wanted to briefly note the earlier contribution by a good friend of mine here, Senator Sheldon, especially in his capacity now as the Special Envoy for Disaster Recovery. This is a new position that was created by the Albanese Labor government since we were elected about five months ago. It really reflects on how seriously the government is taking this policy area, an area that does need reform, as noted earlier by Senator Davey and Senator Sheldon. He's been out and about, out there on ground zero, dealing with many communities, as has our Minister for Emergency Management, Senator Murray Watt, talking to those who've been directly impacted by the flooding, as well as those communities that have been preparing for some time, dealing with the various state and local government authorities about how they can best manage the flood situations at hand.

Natural disasters, as we know, devastate communities. They absolutely smash them to pieces, particularly in our regions. We've heard, and we no doubt will continue to hear, from many senators in this place who represent those communities. The devastation and havoc of disasters uproot lives, lay waste to homes and businesses, and often, tragically, result in fatalities. Sadly, there have been a few fatalities in my home state of Victoria from the recent floods. Thousands of people in Shepparton are currently homeless. There was an article recently in the media, which highlighted that a particular individual is currently living in a tent with her family of five children. She says it's unlikely that her family will be able to stay in that area. We could just imagine the situation that she and her family are going through right now. I really hope that all of the various local and state government authorities are offering all the support they can to this individual and to others in the community.

Beyond the economic damage that's been caused by the natural disasters, there is also this enormous and disruptive impact on the fabric of many communities. Families are forced not just to move but also to change jobs and change schools. It's not as simple as, 'We'll just wait for the water to subside, and then we'll go back to normal.' This has some real long-term impacts, not just on people but also on families, communities and the social fabric of that community. Neighbours have instead become distant friends, and connections to various sporting clubs and community groups are disrupted. This is what is at stake, and when we're talking about emergency management, it is so important that we get the reforms right.

It was really good to see Minister Watt earlier this year announce a new agency to deliver that support before, during and after those kinds of disasters. While we as a country prepare and respond and recover from these natural disasters, it was really comforting to know that the new National Emergency Management Agency was established on 1 September. NEMA brings the capabilities of Emergency Management Australia and the National Recovery and Resilience Agency into a single agency. This is the first time that has happened. This change is delivering a more coordinated approach to Australian government responses to emergencies and to preparing for future hazards. The minister said at the time that the new NEMA would lead Australia's disaster and emergency management efforts working in partnership—and I think it is important that it is in partnership—with state and territory governments and local councils right across Australia.

NEMA will provide informed strategic oversight and guidance on how we deal with and prepare for emergencies in this country. Previously, the Australian disaster response, while good, was in some ways very ad hoc and patchy. The work of the select committee proposed by Senator Lambie will no doubt look at those important issues—how are we going, in terms of how we are responding to natural disasters, to floods, to bushfires and to the other disasters that will, no doubt, happen in this country? It was comforting to see that there's been a much improved response from the Australian government in times of emergency, giving people in our community the support that they need to recover and to recover quickly.

NEMA will also drive long-term resilience and preparedness, which is increasingly important in the face of the longer and more intense natural disasters that are due to climate change. I think also it would be great to see NEMA considering the costs for our economy—and the livelihoods that are affected—due to floods and other disasters. It is claimed that these cost around $38 billion a year. It is important that we consider the economic impacts and the livelihood impacts that this has for many people around the country.

I've touched on our regional communities, but let's talk about the farmers. We see on the nightly news—calves being washed away, farmers breaking down in front of media crews when they are interviewed, entire harvests being lost—the devastating impact disasters are having on the agriculture industry in this country. That will no doubt play a role in increasing our food costs, and also in reducing the supply in the economy. Everything that we've heard so far indicates that there is a real threat to our food security. Despite those concerns, and it's important to stress this: I would urge people not to rush to our supermarkets and not to panic-buy, because our agriculture industry is very resilient. But it is important, with the reforms that Minister Watt indicated earlier this year, that we look at and inquire into other areas of improvement. There is no doubt the contributions by Senator Lambie and others in this place will play a pivotal role in ensuring that we have a system in place where Australians are confident that the Australian government, in partnership with the state and territory governments, can manage these disasters in the best way they can and provide all the support that people expect when things go wrong.

Of course, these disasters are deeply traumatic for communities around Australia. But I also want to highlight that the awful events bring out the very best of many Australians. I know many of us, particularly senators from the south-eastern states, have been glued to the news about the floods. For every story about another town that has been impacted, there is another story about communities that are coming together to help each other out. Whether it be the local churches, the local sport clubs, community groups or charitable organisations, they're all doing an amazing job. They are acting as relief centres, distributing food and providing shelter for those who need it. They're also coordinating volunteers, acting as a base camp for those in the community who are putting their hands up to help out their neighbours.

I was recently reading about the local football and netball club in Skipton in Victoria, whose clubhouse had been acting as a base of operations and providing a barbecue lunch with the Lions club every day for volunteers. They're also a source of relief for families who have tragically lost everything in their lives. Australians all over are providing such great comfort and great support to one another. Our great country has been incredibly generous with the donations to flood relief efforts from those who were touched, as I'm sure we all were, when we saw those reports of floods in communities across New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and now Queensland. This charitable reaction was so immediate and so generous that state governments had to scramble to point donors in the right direction to ensure that their donations were actually going to help communities affected by the floods. It would be great to see if the committee does look at that aspect of support that has been offered by many Australians. Whether it is the volunteers in Skipton or donors from around the country, these are just some of the great examples of the Australian spirit, demonstrating that we are always willing to lend a hand, whether it's by picking up a sandbag or by digging into our wallets to help out our fellow Australians.

While these efforts should be celebrated, and the government's response to these floods has been swift, continuing to respond every day to the evolving situation on the ground, that does not mean that we should not review Australia's ability to respond to disasters. Our emergency management systems cannot rely entirely on the abundance of the Aussie spirit. Indeed, the generosity of the volunteers can be made necessary by a lack of sufficient resources from governments. I really think this goes to the heart of what is being put here today. What then happens to communities that don't have enough volunteers? What happens when all the people who would have volunteered are instead occupied defending their own families, homes and businesses? We cannot rely on ad hoc arrangements or on the hope that volunteers will be able to just plug gaps in government responses, as we do from time to time. We're constantly relying on the ADF and our reservists to somehow fill that short gap in times of need. The stakes are far too high, when bushfires are approaching properties or flood levels are rising, to rely on the generosity of Australians who may not be in a position to help.

We know that when we formed government our country's ability to respond to events like the current floods was far from perfect. Unfortunately, these events seem to be getting more frequent, not less. Too many communities hadn't recovered from the last disaster before they were hit with another one. The announcement by Minister Watt of the $1 billion Disaster Ready Fund to support our long-term preparedness and responses to natural disasters is a significant investment. We have made that in the last five months since we've come to government.

In the budget that was handed down this week, the government also committed $38 million to veteran led organisation Disaster Relief Australia. I hope that the role of veterans and the role that many veteran led organisations play in how we handle disaster resilience in this country is also looked at. I know there's a group of fine veterans in Victoria who are currently helping out with the resilience efforts up north in Victoria. They have sent a delegation of people there, former veterans who are helping other fellow veterans who are in need of help at the moment with the floods. But it is also comforting to see that the government has come to the table, providing financial assistance to those who have been affected in council areas, offering $1,000 per adult and $400 for every child. In addition, there is the disaster recovery allowance, which is available in a wider range of council areas and works out to be a 13-week payment at the JobSeeker rate for people who have lost income as a result of these floods.

I would note that the Minister for Emergency Management, Murray Watt, has also flagged his intention to look at bolstering Australia's emergency management workforce capability, which is welcomed and, again, is another area that could be looked at by the committee we are dealing with today. So I want to thank the minister, and I want to thank Senator Lambie for her initiative in bringing this matter for the chamber's consideration. I really do look forward to the report the committee will hand down late next year.

Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We think about climate change as though it's nothing, as though it's something that's happening to someone else, far away, a long time from now. It's easy to get focused on the day to day, to kick hard decisions about things like climate and emissions down the road. But it's happening now; it's happening here, to us. We're experiencing the effects of climate change in Tasmania. We've had floods this week—homes and businesses underwater, literally in an instant. But these are the latest in a long line of climate related disasters. While the rest of the country faced floods at the start of this year, Tasmania faced droughts. Some parts of western Tasmania had their most extreme droughts on record. Droughts dry everything out, and when you get lightning like we had you get fires like we had. We had fires burning through old-growth forests, destroying trees that have stood for more than 1,000 years.

Tasmania's experience is a story told at different scales, because we're actually at net zero already, but we're a small state, so our climate isn't decided by us alone. We're doing our bit, but we're at the mercy of the rest of the country, too. And, like all of Australia, we're at the mercy of the rest of the world. That's not to say that we don't have a role to play; we do. We've got a growing economy and we've got net zero emissions. We're a model for the rest of the country. It's achievable. We should achieve it as a country. But even if Australia reaches net zero tomorrow, our emissions reduction will not end climate change, because this is a global problem, and it's going to require global action. Every country that drags its feet undermines the ability for us to fix this. We have to set an example, because it's what drags others into action. That's why it's so important that we take steps to reduce our emissions here, because we need to be able to apply pressure to other countries, to say, 'If we're doing it, you have to as well.' Tasmania is setting an example for the rest of the country, and Australia should set an example for the rest of the world. But, in the meantime, climate change keeps on happening to us.

Two weeks ago I sat down and watched helicopter footage from over Latrobe. Half the town and surrounding area was underwater, and it broke my heart. It made me think back to 2016, when we lost three people to the floods in Latrobe. Hundreds of houses were damaged so badly that they had to be rebuilt. Launceston, our second-largest city, was half underwater. It was a one-in-100-year event, experts said. But it's just happened again. These floods weren't as bad as the last ones, and we're thanking our lucky stars for that. We learned a lot from the last time. But we still had houses hit hard for a second time. We've got businesses that have lost pretty much everything, and they don't know whether they'll recover. People who have lived in Latrobe all their lives are now thinking about moving. They can't put themselves through this again.

Natural disasters are a kind of trauma that most people will never recover from. For the people directly affected, it's months of clean-ups and temporary accommodation. It's years of rebuilding your home. It's the photos of your children and precious sentimental objects that you couldn't grab before you had to evacuate. There are some things you just can't get back and you can't replace.

For those indirectly affected, it's the concern for family and friends, not knowing if they're okay because there's bad phone reception and they can't get back to you. My older son had to evacuate his home two weeks ago. We were lucky, his place was fine in the end. But I remember the moment he called me to tell me his area might be in the flood zone. As a mama, knowing your child might be in danger is one of the worst things that can happen. It's not a feeling I will ever forget. It's a feeling we're coping with across the country. The recent floods will have long-lasting impacts in ways that we couldn't imagine. Roads are warped and bent out of shape. Some have potholes so they're barely roads anymore. They won't be able to be fixed in a day.

One of the biggest battles in the north-west coast has been the damage to the Cam River bridge at Somerset. This bridge is the only access point for people from Circular Head and the west coast to get to Burnie and beyond. You can take the back roads around, but I wouldn't recommend it; it takes a long time. It can be a trip of an hour and a half for something that should take only 20 minutes. This bridge has heavy traffic all day, not just people heading to work and appointments but we're talking about school buses full of kids and heavy trucks delivering loads.

Because of the damage from the floodwater, the bridge is sagging. One lane is too dangerous to drive on, so they've had to close it. To say this has caused chaos would be putting it mildly. It's like trying to empty the ocean with a medicine cup. You can have a crack, but it's never going to happen. What was once a 15- or 20-minute drive is now taking people two hours and more. One person on social media said they flew from Melbourne to Wynyard and then drove from Somerset. Their mum left Burnie at the same time they got on the plane, and they got home before their mum. It was quicker to fly from another state than to drive across the Cam River bridge. That's pretty hard to get your head around.

Expecting mums don't know what will happen if they're go into labour. Women stuck on the wrong side of the bridge are scared they'll give birth on the side of the road. The state government is telling people to plan and allow for their trip. Good luck planning your trip when you wake up in the middle of the night having contractions. Emergency vehicles can't get through to help people on the other side. People are missing vital medical appointments because they were stuck in traffic. Some schools told kids to stay at home because it would take them too long to get to and from school. The north-west coast has been divided into which side of the bridge you live on because of floodwaters we weren't prepared for.

Managing natural disasters involves immediate rapid response work. That's an emergency, and then there's the clean-up. The longer that takes, the harder it is, the worse the damage can become. Finally, there's the prevention. That might not be emergency work, but it's constant because it requires constant work to do what we can to disaster-proof the things that are most precious to us: the places, people and things that we love. To protect them, we have to do the work. It requires work all the time. It requires someone to do it, so who do we tap on the shoulder? Right now we're relying on emergency services, like state fire services, and in a pinch we call on the ADF, who do great work. But they do a lot of it. Don't forget: we relied on the ADF to help with the vaccine rollout. We deployed the ADF into aged-care homes. Every fire and flood, they are there too. We keep deploying the ADF over and over every time, but it's not their core business.

The recent royal commission into natural disaster responses found that the ADF does not have the capacity or capability to fight bushfires. It found there is a public perception that the ADF is always available and always has the resources to help with natural disasters. It found that neither of those perceptions are correct, but we do what we can with what we have. The ADF do an incredible job. This is not to criticise that work, but Defence itself acknowledges that what we're doing right now is unsustainable. We need a new approach. Like every other department the Department of Defence has to put together an incoming brief when there's a change of government. It is a lie-of-the land summary of what's going on, and a bit of an 'around the grounds'. Defence's incoming brief warned the newly elected Labor government it was under intense pressure due to the need to respond to near persistent natural disasters. Defence has pointed the finger of blame at the impacts of climate change as where this strain is coming from.

This is not core business; this is what we need to fix. We need to get organised and we need to get real. If what we're doing is unsustainable then we have to do something different. A permanent standby capacity of well-trained disaster relief workers would take a huge strain off the ADF, not to mention state emergency services. It could be deployed wherever it's needed and whenever it's needed. That's what we want to look at in this inquiry. Senator Lambie and I have ideas about how it could work—those are on record. We're keen to hear what everyone else thinks too. Let's get everyone in a room and thrash it out. Let's find a way to start doing disaster relief and to clean up better after fires and floods.

Minister Watt was right this week, when he said that our current system isn't going to work in the long term. Climate change is here; it's happening. That's not a question anymore. The question is: how do we learn to live with it?

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

The government supports Senator Lambie's proposal for the Select Committee into Australia's Disaster Resilience, and I congratulate the senator for her passion and drive on this critical issue.

We know how devastating the impacts of fire, flood and drought can be, both in terms of the economics but also in terms of the impact on people's lives. Losing a home, your school or your workplace; being unable to find your pets; and losing your favourite photo and the memorabilia from your family and your lifetime—items that cannot be replaced—is tragic. And while communities pull together in these situations, which is excellent to see, the impact that it has on their lives is tragic.

In my home state of South Australia, we're holding our breath at the moment—waiting, but not knowing, how the floodwaters are going to come down. How will they impact on us? How high will the water go? We had a report today that it's going to be much higher than we thought it was going to be last week. People wait, and prepare and wait. It's a terrible situation and a terrible fear about what is going to happen next. The modelling shows us that it's going to be the highest flood since 1975, and everyone's concerned.

What we've seen in other states in the last couple of months is that we rely on the herculean efforts of our emergency services personnel and our Australian Defence Force personnel. They work to support our communities when they're at risk and when they're in crisis. In recent months the ADF has stepped in, responding to natural disasters, as they always do. For those communities, seeing the ADF roll into their region is a welcome sight—it's a sight that tells them that help is there. It is a relief to know that there's someone there to help prepare, to help clean up and to help protect their community. At the moment, as we're all in here, the ADF personnel are supporting the local authorities with flood related tasks across both those areas that are waiting for floods and those areas which are currently in flood. They're also in those areas where the floods are now receding. They're assisting with flood preparations, relocation support, community engagement and sandbagging. They have helicopters assisting with reconnaissance, and the evacuation and relocation of communities are also on their list. They're lifting and moving heavy equipment, and they're providing support to locate and deliver supplies. They're filling sandbags and they're supporting those communities. They're supporting our farmers with provision of feed for livestock and also relocation of livestock, and the other critical issues that need to be covered on a farm that's looking down the barrel of a flood.

Earlier this week I was talking to some farmers who were telling me what the impacts were on their properties. I spoke to one who said they were looking at a bumper crop—I know this, I've heard this for months from a range of farmers telling us that this was going to be one of the best crops they'd seen in a very long time. They were saying that they had lost everything and that the only thing for them to do now is to plough that crop into the ground and start again next year.

We have to acknowledge that our increasing incidence of fire, flood and drought are placing a corresponding increase of pressure and reliance on our emergency services and the ADF. As these things happen more frequently, a one-in-100-year flood happens every 10 years.

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Excuse me, Senator Grogan. I draw your attention to the time. We've reached the hard marker of 5.30.