Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to bring to the attention of the House an injustice which is being perpetrated by the Rudd government on the people of the Coffs Coast. It is an injustice that highlights the very best and the very worst in our system of democracy. It is an injustice that the residents of the Coffs Coast will not forget quickly. On 25 May the Prime Minister addressed the House in relation to the recent flood situation in Queensland and northern New South Wales. He noted the width and the breadth of the destruction which occurred in this event. He noted that assistance was going to be rendered to victims of the flooding. His words were most welcome indeed: assistance to individuals, assistance to small business—very important assistance indeed. He mentioned there would be an Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment of $1,000 per adult and $400 per child and he said, and I quote from the Hansard of 25 May:

I have also today authorised this assistance for people affected by the earlier floods in New South Wales in late March.

I was delighted with this announcement. Not only would the victims of the most recent event receive assistance but Coffs Coast residents affected by the earlier 31 March storms would also receive assistance. The government had listened to my representations. They had finally come to their senses. When I asked the Prime Minister on budget day about assistance for victims of the 31 March storms on the Coffs Coast the response was devastating because the next day I received a letter from the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and I was stunned. The minister’s letter dated 12 May said:

Upon considering the impacts of the flooding in the Coffs Harbour and Clarence Valley areas, I concluded that these were predominantly damage to public infrastructure and some isolation from road closures.

I do not know what planet the minister was on. There were 2,500 houses affected, there were hundreds of businesses affected and the minister said that the damage was predominantly to public infrastructure. So I wrote to the minister and I gave her the facts on the degree of damage to private property. I hoped that armed with these facts the minister would review her decision, take on board those facts and that Coffs Coast flood victims and storm victims would get a fair go, but that was not to be.

I thought that the Prime Minister’s words of 25 May meant that the victims of the 31 March storm event would finally and belated be treated with some equity and received the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment. I regret that all we got from this Prime Minister and this government was nothing but excuses. After the first excuse that it was public infrastructure the minister had the hide to say, ‘Well, forget what I told you on 12 May that it was public infrastructure, the real reason we are not going to pay you is the storm event only affected four local government areas.’ So these victims were not deserving! What is so compelling about the number four? Could it have been three or could it have been two? Was it the fault of the victims that there were only four local government areas affected? Was it the fault of the victims that because there were only four affected they should not receive this assistance? I do not think that the victims saw it that way and I do not think that the general public on the Coffs Coast see it that way.

The minister’s office in discussions with the media have been attempting to hose down the story. They have been trying to spin the yarn that it is against the guidelines or that they cannot do it because of the guidelines. Well, I have to say that the people who have had their houses destroyed really do not care much about the guidelines. I have to say that the people who lost their very personal possessions and who have been in temporary accommodation in the weeks and months since are not really concerned about what the guidelines say.

The people of the Coffs Coast want equity. I have to commend the local paper, because it posed the question that it was time the PM faced angry locals who all wanted to know what the difference was between the later flood events and the 31 March flood events. It is a very important question that the Prime Minister needs to answer. What is the difference? There is no difference as far as my residents are concerned. On 28 May, the next day, in the same local paper, local man Tom Wainwright was furious about the government’s double standards on compensation. Mr Wainwright does not believe the spin of Minister Macklin, the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, that the damage was primarily to public infrastructure and that there is some reason, with only four local government areas affected, that he should not receive compensation.

More recently, the Coffs Coast Advocate printed a petition on the front page of its Saturday edition calling on this House to do what the government would not do, and that is to give Coffs Coast flood victims a fair go. I, along with the flood victims, commend the paper for its stand on this, and the Coffs Coast community certainly commends the paper for getting behind a very important issue of equity. The hollowmen who drive policy making and decision making down at stunt central in the PM’s office have not told him that even some of his own Labor Party supporters are absolutely devastated by his mean and tricky stance. A Labor Party supporter, who wrote a passionate letter to the Prime Minister and sent a copy to me, said in this letter:

It would appear that this decision is purely political.

I am pretty sure they have got that right. He said:

The area of Cowper is not Labor held and although I am a Labor voter, I have lost every bit of confidence in the Labor Party. Your party will do the right thing by the residents of Australia. Being an ALP electorate should not mean you get an advantage over non-ALP electorates in times of “Natural Disasters” … Finally I am not renewing my ALP membership. I have been wondering for some time what support I get from the Labor Party and this is the final straw that has clinched my decision as regional Australia always seems to be left in the lurch.”

Prime Minister, the message from this community is clear. The message from your own supporters is clear. It is time to do the right thing and give the flood victims of 31 March a fair go. It was you who said in this parliament:

I have also today authorised this assistance for people affected by the earlier floods in New South Wales in late March.

They are your words, Prime Minister. They are the words of the Prime Minister of this country. These victims need your help. They do not need the spin of the hollowmen in your office. They do not need the excuses of your incompetent minister. They need your help. It is time, Prime Minister, for you to govern for all Australians. It is time to you to give help to the people who need it most. I said at the outset of my contribution that this disaster has brought out the very best and the very worst in the political process. It has certainly brought out the very best in our local community—the very best in a community that wants to support flood victims—and it has certainly brought out the very worst in your government.