David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Eighteen months on from the devastating bushfires, a wet Armageddon arrived into the houses, literally, of thousands of people in the Lyne electorate. The amount of flooding was of a staggering proportion. It was more than a one-in-a-hundred-year flood; it was the biggest flood on record, and records go back in some families who've been in these river valleys for five generations to the 1880s.

As the low-pressure system dwelled across the Mid North Coast, we saw towns and villages cut off, roads and bridges and even houses washed away, some of whom you may have seen floating down the Manning River on mainstream TV. But there were houses on the Pappinbarra River that were washed away—and on the Hastings—and it was absolutely devastating. Living on the Hastings River myself, I was isolated on a farm, fortunately about 20 metres above the floodwaters, but we couldn't get out for a couple of days at least.

Once the waters receded, the devastation was mind-boggling. Evacuation centres in Laurieton and Taree, at various clubs that popped up as emergency centres, had hundreds of people in them. People whose houses were on wheels in caravan parks or with low-lying houses were absolutely devastated. But many clubs and evacuation centres turned into medical centres, mental health centres, a roof and shelter with food. We also had all the support groups coming through—both people working in those clubs and volunteer centres as well as community groups and sets of individuals who gathered together to rescue people. I would like to acknowledge all of them and thank them for what they did spontaneously. In particular, I'd like to thank the councils, their staff and management, who worked across all the regions in the Port Macquarie-Hastings and MidCoast councils. I'd also like to thank the SES and the RFS and groups like the surf lifesaving clubs who, in their rubber duckies, were out rescuing people two farms across from me. The amount of help that came in after the floods was absolutely staggering. We had people coming down from Coffs Harbour, because there were so many people at risk all at once that all our formal volunteer groups couldn't cope with them all. There were 3,055 homes in the Hastings Valley that were flooded and 1,231 were seriously damaged by those devastating floods.

In the community of North Haven, for instance, on the Camden Haven River, street after street was inundated with water. I would like to particularly thank Mayor Peta Pinson and her husband, Craig, for being able to mobilise a number of trucks and bobcats from their own business and other businesses to help start the clean-up. I'd also like to thank the Governor-General and the Prime Minister for visiting my electorate to see firsthand the devastation and mobilise whatever Commonwealth support could be provided. Our government has been able to provide much support, in both the emergency response and the ongoing clean-up, and I think the federal, state and local government agencies are getting better at doing this together.

In Camden Haven, as well, there were a particular group of young men who, because the SES were overwhelmed and the surf lifesaving people were deployed elsewhere, got in their own tinnies and rescued about five elderly people. I wasn't there, I was stranded up on the Hastings River, but these young gentlemen deserve a medal. They just showed great initiative and foresight and got on and did it themselves. To the ministers involved in emergency services, all the admin and the people that you mobilised to come into our area to help was greatly appreciated.

It really was Armageddon for many dairy farmers on the Manning, the Hastings, the Pappinbarra, the Wilson and the Camden Haven rivers. Floods, by their very nature, are on some of the most fertile land, and some of the farms that have been devastated by this will take a couple of years, at least, to recover—both with the crops that feed the animals and with getting their dairy herds back into milk production. It will be a big effort. Our thoughts go out to them and our support continues. Thanks to everyone who helped.

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