Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for McPherson for bringing this motion forward. I thank the member for Solomon for his service to our nation, and I note his comments in relation to the Scott Palmer Services Centre in Darwin, a wonderful facility. I also note the fact that it will deliver services not just for our veterans—and don't they deserve it—but also for our first responders. I note the member's bipartisanship and thank the government for any funding that they can provide to veterans and to these wellness and wellbeing centres for first responders as well.

I note my disappointment with the fact that $5 million has been stripped away from Wagga Wagga for not just a veterans centre but also, in conjunction with that, a first responders support facility. This would have been a wonderful facility and amenity for the Riverina and for veterans, of whom there are many. There are nearly 1,500 in the city alone, but across the broader electorate there are thousands, Deputy Speaker Wilkie. I know you know how important our veterans are, and I know you know how important our veterans are in the Riverina, having had an association with the Kapooka Army base there.

This is about first responders—they are the brave people who run to a calamity, to a disaster, to a tragedy, when others are running in the opposite direction. When others are running away, our first responders—be they police, be they ambulance officers or be they people who work in firefighting—are the ones who are putting their lives at risk and putting their lives on the line. A huge number of state emergency services people descended upon Forbes, Eugowra and other Central West communities. Many of them came from flood affected communities, Mullumbimby and others, and gave up their time. I say thank you to their employers as well. Let's not forget them, because they are allowing the SES people, the volunteers, to give their time.

But it's not just first responders; it's not just SES; it's not just paid full-time or volunteer people. It's also those first responders who are just ordinary, everyday people, such as local Eugowra fitter and farmer Pat Welsh and some of his mates: John Augustin, Stephen 'Snow' Jones and Mick 'Sparky' Miles. They too put their lives on the line when, on Monday last week, Eugowra was absolutely swamped.

I was speaking to Max Gransden, a 70-year-old lifelong resident of Eugowra. He said he had water pooling around his ankles and he thought, 'Gee, this flood is more serious than I first thought.' He said, 'The next minute I was scrambling for safety because it was up around my chin.' There are stories of the bravery of so many people. Snow, Sparky and others commandeered a fire brigade vehicle and rescued not just a few people but dozens of people. I hope they receive the due recognition they've earned, a bravery medal, because each and every one of them deserves it.

Max told me that a disaster in the dark would have cost 150 people. It would have been a Grantham-style disaster, but, fortunately—in one sense, if you could use that word—it happened at around eight or 8.30 in the morning. Even though there has been a tragedy in town—Diane Smith, a loved local, lost her life and there are a couple of others missing—the death toll wasn't in the order of a national disaster. Yes it is a national disaster, because it is going to take a lot of time to recover and that community will feel the effects of this for years to come, but our first responders have done a mighty job in the electorate of Calare—I note that the member is away this week—and in the Riverina, which takes in the central-western town of Forbes, which has now had four peaks of the Lachlan River this year. Just think of that—four peaks—and yet we've got Rocky Walshaw; Ben Pickup, the SES Parkes incident controller; and Ken Murphy, the SES senior management capability incident controller for the Lachlan Valley, doing a mighty job along with all the other first responders.

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