Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also take this opportunity to speak of the hardship that many Australians have endured over this summer due to natural disasters—particularly Queenslanders. Sadly, despite commentary from some political leaders, climate change is not complete faeces. The reality is climate change is occurring. Science is not a weather vane on this topic; the science seems to be clearly heading in one direction, and that is the reality that we will be having more horrible, horrific weather events in the future.

It pains me to say that, again, Australia has this summer not escaped the devastating effects of natural disasters. Sadly, fires still burn across the south-east of the country and floodwaters are still receding to the north. The people in Bundaberg North are, I know, doing it particularly tough right at this moment. In my home state of Queensland ex-tropical cyclone Oswald caused destruction right along the Queensland coastline, with damaging winds, heavy rain, flooding, tidal surges and tornados, and then moved down into New South Wales.

When I drove around my electorate on Sunday, 27 January, people were making preparations in my electorate in the suburbs of Yeronga, Graceville, Sherwood and Chelmsford—I particularly spent time talking to councillor Nicole Johnson, the independent councillor for that area—and also in my suburbs of Oxley, Corinda and, particularly, Rocklea, an area of my electorate that seems to flood every six months or so.

I would like to commend Cameron Crowther and the Annerley ALP branch who took time to go out and help people to move their furniture, an example of the Labor Party getting out into the community and doing what is right at the ground. I would also like to thank Jenny Goulburn, one of my friends in the Sherwood area, who pointed out some of the streets in her area that needed help. Thankfully, my constituents mostly escaped major damage. Sadly, those in Bundaberg, in Gayndah, in Mundubbera, in Gladstone, in Gympie, the Fraser Coast and many other areas endured extreme levels of flooding—some people are saying it was a once in 200 year flood—that will affect these communities for many years to come. Sadly, the water was about the same level as the floods of two years ago. So when you are talking about a once in 200 year flood things are changing. As the flood water recede, the massive extent of the damage is becoming clear with thousands of homes, businesses, roads, bridges and services inundated. Six people have died in this tragic crisis and my condolences go out to their friends and families. I would especially like to mention Yu-Kun Pan, a 25-year-old from Taiwan, who was here on a working visa. He was from the Taoyuan county, south of Taipei, and I especially pass on my condolences to his family. To lose a son so far from home must be truly heartbreaking.

The authorities are estimating more than 7,500 people are affected and 3,000 homes flooded, not to mention the power outages that affected so many people. I know it is not the same as losing a life, but I had no power for three days so I got to eat a lot of steak and ice cream to clean out my freezer. I know that some people are still having power problems. These troubles are obviously nothing compared to the many Queensland residents who are dealing with catastrophic flooding for the second time in two years. The impact from these floods comes as many people are still recovering and rebuilding their lives after those floods that seem so long ago. In fact, I had organised to send out a letter commemorating the two-year anniversary of the floods and, as you know, to send out a letter to 40,000 homes takes a bit of preparation. I wrote the letter, got the letter ready to go out and in between time the floods for 2013 came. So, some people received letters in mailboxes about the anniversary event two years ago while they mailboxes were under water. It was unfortunate timing.

Sadly, so many people of my electorate have had the insurance premium hikes that go with a flood event, and they have had to deal with those for the last two years. Like most of the people in Moreton, I well recall seeing water on my streets, water everywhere, and then after the water went away, the stink of the mud. Even at the end of my street, I remember the stench and how it affected the skate park, and then going to other houses in my electorate that were totally underwater in 2011, especially in Rocklea.

As we see time and time again, the volunteers stepped up. They came from everywhere to help their fellow Australians and Queenslanders in a time of tragedy. It is a Queensland thing to do and a very human thing to do, wherever you come from around the world. As I have a particularly multicultural electorate, it was heartwarming to see my varied and various communities working together to rebuild; neighbour helping neighbour, business helping business, stranger helping stranger, and I express thanks to those who have donated to the flood appeal, helping those in a time of great need. And more needs to be done.

I commend the volunteers who came together across the south-east of Australia during the catastrophic fires that have caused much pain and heartache for many Australian families, which previous speakers have mentioned. I would like to thank the hundreds of ADF personnel, especially the reservists, involved in the emergency response to the Queensland floods and storms. I would also like to thank the SES, the Rural Fire Service, the Australian Red Cross and all the many other community organisations involved in helping out over the summer throughout these devastating times, particularly the service organisations in Moreton. It was their finest hour for Moorooka Lions—where I live—Macgregor Lions, Archerfield and Salisbury Rotary to name but a few. There were also the Crescents of Brisbane—an Islamic group—and the Taiwanese communities many organisations.

Thankfully, as I go around the Moreton electorate, I see evidence that our community has worked hard to rebuild, and has mostly returned to normal and maybe dodged a bullet. I am sympathetic to the words of Premier Campbell Newman—please do not quote me on that—and his comments about rebuilding properly in a way that we will not be swept away in a year or two.

I would like to finish by quoting one of my local constituents, Martin Finbow from Graceville, who was talking about the priority infrastructure plan and what we needed to do. I would ask Campbell Newman and the Lord Mayor of Brisbane to bring in backflow devices in my suburbs—not just New Farm and Milton which are LNP electorates, but in my suburbs. Hopefully he is not punishing the independent councillor Nicole Johnston because she used to be LNP but has switched to become independent. My suburbs need to be considered in round four of the natural disaster resilience program. Some of that $10 million needs to come to my electorate. We raised $1.7 billion from the flood levy and the reality is that it cost the community about $5.7 billion to rebuild. I note that the Libs voted against that flood levy, but the reality is that there are going to be a lot of expenses. Campbell Newman—when he was the Lord Mayor—said that the state should pay when it was a Labor government, although now that he is the premier he says that the federal government should pay. It is a weird journey to Damascus that he has taken. Australians are pretty tough, but these natural disasters really put to the test. The nation's response shows the true sense of community spirit as we come together to clean up and rebuild. I thank my constituents particularly for their great efforts.

Question agreed to.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19 : 30

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