Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) Townsville has experienced the worst floods in recorded history;

(b) Townsville received a year's rainfall in nine days, with 1,134 millimetres recorded up to 9 am on Monday 4 February 2019, reaching over 1.65 metres;

(c) the Ross River Dam reached a record breaking 244 per cent capacity; and

(d) more than 22,000 homes and 110 roads in Townsville were affected by this extreme weather event;

(2) acknowledges the:

(a) professional and skilled work undertaken by the Townsville Local Disaster Management Group;

(b) dedicated and collaborative work undertaken by the Australian Defence Force (ADF), Emergency Services and State Emergency Services (SES) in rescuing stranded residents in dangerous circumstances;

(c) commitment and hard work of the ADF in the massive recovery clean-up process; and

(d) amazing work of the SES, Ergon Energy, Townsville City Council workers, businesses and the thousands of community volunteers for their efforts to assist the many people whose homes were inundated; and

(3) calls on the Government to end the confusion related to the disaster recovery payment and assist the thousands of distressed Townsville residents during this difficult time.

This has been a very difficult time for the people of Townsville. Just imagine a wall of water about the same height as me coming towards you and your home. What Townsville has experienced is truly unbelievable. We've gone from a dam that was well down to a dam with record-breaking 244 per cent capacity. People's livelihoods, their belongings and their homes have all been destroyed.

Last week, the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, and I visited the Townsville RSL. I was shocked to see the extensive damage to one of the largest RSL clubs in Australia. Around half a metre of water had rushed through the lower level of the building. The carpets and many of the club's awards, historical memorabilia and artefacts had been destroyed by the water and/or mould.

Before coming to Canberra for the past week of sittings, and over the weekend, I visited many residents, assisting in the clean-up and helping people to access disaster relief funding and make their insurance claims. It was heartbreaking to visit residents whose household goods and belongings had been piled up on the footpath because their houses were covered in water, mud, mould or sewage. On top of that, I heard one consistent message: people had been denied the federal government disaster recovery payment. This shocked and angered me, because I could see the devastation of people's homes. I could smell the mud and the mould and the sewage. I walked across muddy floorboards. I asked myself the question: how is it that Townsville residents are being denied assistance when they need it most?

The more people and homes I visited, the more complaints I heard, and they were from people who lived in the red zone. Their homes and possessions had been destroyed but they were denied federal government assistance. I am talking about people like Cherrie Vitali. Cherrie lives on Queens Road in Hermit Park. The water came up and into her home. There was mud everywhere. I saw her damaged washing machine and other whitegoods on the footpath. If the LNP government doesn't believe me then there is plenty of evidence to show that this is a fact. Cherrie was so angry that she used one of her flood-damaged tables to express her outrage at being denied the LNP government disaster relief money that is rightfully hers.

Cherrie is just one of many. I visited Elaine in Railway Estate. She lives in an old, two-storey Queenslander. Her pool was full of mud and sewage. Her entire bottom floor was covered with water. Her irreplaceable family antique furniture had been ruined. Elaine has also been denied the disaster recovery money, because this LNP government has put restrictions on the principal place of residence. Because Elaine's bedroom and kitchen were on the top level, the damaged ground level was not recognised as part of the house and Elaine was not able to claim the federal government assistance.

I also visited an Aboriginal family in Roberts Street, Hermit Park, and this was very distressing. The family of two parents and four children, who had relatives visiting from Normanton, were renting a Queensland Housing flat. One of their visitors was blind. The water had come up past their windows and they'd had no power for six days. The mud smelled and the mould was growing. They had lost everything. The Salvation Army had delivered beds, and the family were waiting to be relocated. They had a very small esky with some ice and soft drinks but very little food. They were denied assistance because they reported that the water came through their window. Unfortunately, they did not understand what 'inundated' meant.

What sort of nonsensical and nonsense response was that? Why were they not entitled? It shouldn't matter how the water came in—through your front door or back door, through the roof or through the window. The fact remains that the water came into their home and they lost everything. Surely, if water comes in through a window, it has come in through the doorway first in a flood situation. In this case, clearly, it is not so for the LNP government.

There was then Theresa and Tony at Kirwan, who have three times been denied any federal assistance due to the water not being deemed as 'rising water'. There is Tarnie of Cranbrook, who was also told she was not eligible. That was even though she had water coming through her windows, her carpets were flooded and she had lost her furnishings. She was told that she was ineligible because she was not in one of the marked flooded areas. Well, here's a thought: water doesn't always follow flood maps. There was Brett in Stuart, who has described having a waterfall through his house; but he was not eligible. He has no idea why he was ineligible.

During a time of natural disaster, people are stressed and they need help immediately. Just to help this LNP government understand that, there are people in my community who have no home, no food and no electricity—they have nothing. This disaster relief funding is not there for the government to be stingy; it is there to help people in distress immediately. These restrictions are not the fault of Centrelink staff. These restrictions are purely the fault of the federal government. Labor understands that when you experience a natural disaster and you lose your home and belongings then you need immediate assistance. That is why, under Labor in 2011, after Cyclone Yasi, we made it easy for Townsville residents to be able to access the help that they needed immediately. Labor's disaster relief funding was simple to access. If you were locked in or could not access your home for 24 hours, you received vital assistance. If you had no power for more than 48 hours, you received vital assistance. It was just that simple.

This LNP government set out the following restrictions for the people of Townsville: you had to be seriously injured; you or an immediate family member had to have died; there needed to be major damage to at least 25 per cent of the interior of your principal place of residence; your principal place of residence had to be breached, exposing at least 25 per cent of the interior of your residence to the elements; or your principal place of residence had been declared structurally unsound. That is a very stingy set of criteria.

After a massive backlash, the LNP government decided to make some changes, but the criteria were still completely unreasonable for flood affected victims. Townsville residents still have to prove that floodwater has covered the interior floor of their principal place of residence—and this is a problem when you live in a two-storey building—even if their principal place of residence has been declared structurally unsound, which is why Elaine in Railway Estate is still excluded because of the government's strict eligibility requirements. How does someone not eligible when she lives in the worst affected area, her pool was destroyed and her entire bottom floor and all her belongings in it were destroyed?

This LNP Prime Minister was making updates to the eligibility via Twitter, leaving Townsville residents frustrated and confused. The Department of Human Services' staff were also confused. I am angry on behalf of my community. So far, 17,466 people have signed a petition against this government's ridiculous restrictions, which hurt Townsville's residents during our time of need. There is then the LNP's out-of-touch requirements regarding proof of eligibility. Under Labor in 2011, residents were just required to show their Medicare card and their driver's licence. Under the LNP government, you must provide evidence of damage, including photos. This is very difficult for some people who had no power, no access to power recharge their batteries to take the photos on their mobile phones or no access to cameras.

If you are a Townsville resident, you cannot walk into one of the Centrelink offices to ask for assistance with processing. That's because we only have a line to Melbourne to ask for assistance. This is an absolute joke and an absolute slap in the face to the Townsville Centrelink staff, who do a remarkable job every day. But those staff have been forced to make decisions for residents that are not at all helpful to the people in my community.

I am asking the LNP government to, please, not kick us when we are down. Townsville survived 1.65 metres of water. We don't need the LNP's ludicrous restrictions. What we do need is an LNP government to take immediate action to remove the restrictions and employ more Centrelink staff. Labor has committed to 200 more Centrelink staff for Townsville, and now is the time for the LNP government to match Labor's climate and get the resources and staff on the ground to help the people of Townsville who have been affected by these devastating floods.

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