Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over recent days Adelaide and much of SA has been lashed by severe wind and rain events, causing widespread public and private property damage, including extensive power disruptions. At one point, 163,000 customers were without power. The scale of damage to the electricity grid was such that, for some of those customers, the outage extended for days.

As is always the case when these situations arise, emergency service workers as first responders are always quickly on the scene, often at considerable risk to themselves, to restore services, reduce dangers, assist with temporary repairs and protect properties from further damage. To all of those emergency service providers, including the SA Power Networks crews, I say: thank you. Your round-the-clock efforts have made a difference and are appreciated by individuals and whole communities affected by the wild weather events.

I particularly thank the Salisbury, Tea Tree Gully and Enfield SES crews. I don't have the up-to-date statistics for call-outs, but I know the SES were out there responding professionally to call-outs by people in the Makin electorate and beyond at all times of the day and night. They provide an invaluable community service, which raises the question: what would we do without them?