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

I can only imagine the experience of living through a one-in-5,000 year event as the residents of Eugowra did 12 months ago, on 14 November 2022. I can only imagine the horror of living through the speed and the noise of that event. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the two residents who lost their lives.

Having visited the region a couple of times at the invitation of Cabonne Council, I am always heartened to see the community spirit and the resilience. I was told about the hours of the crisis, the mass evacuations by boat and helicopter and then, in the days, weeks, and months that followed, the effort to clean up and rebuild. I was told about the local Catholic school that was absolutely devastated but then very quickly cleaned up, with temporary classrooms built and students back at school; about a pop-up cafe that was operational within days of the floods so that people could come together, swap their stories and rely on each other; and about farmers who lost everything—crops, machinery, fencing and livestock—but are back on the land.

The one question, though, that didn't get answered at the time was: why did the Central West of New South Wales get treated differently to the Northern Rivers? The Nationals asked this question of the Prime Minister a few months ago, not once but twice, and it was only this last week that further funding for the Central West Recovery and Resilience Package was announced. I welcome that funding, but I urge the government to progress the housing consultation program with priority so that the people of Eugowra can also have a home resilience package.