Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to update the House on the devastating floods that hit the Kimberley region my electorate of Durack. I was recently briefed by the department of fire and emergency services about the ongoing recovery efforts. It is clear that this is a continuing crisis that will require a significant amount of resources to manage. Roads, bridges and other key infrastructure have been destroyed. Many of the residents living in Fitzroy Crossing and the surrounding Indigenous communities were displaced. Small business owners have watched on as a lifetime of hard work literally washed down the drain.

The flood is one of the worst catastrophes the Kimberley has faced in recent times. If it were not for the hard work of DFES; the main roads department; the ADF, whose personnel travelled from all parts of our nation to lend a hand; together with the hard-working local community organisations the result could have been far worse. The fact that not one life was lost during the flood is a testament to the hard work of the boots on the ground in the Kimberley. Seeing our troops in the many different uniforms working across those affected areas certainly boosted community morale.

During my travels to Fitzroy I met with local leaders and received updates on how the recovery efforts were progressing. We all acknowledge that although great work is being done there is still such a long way to go. It is still raining in the Kimberley. DFES have continually advised that the Fitzroy River is dangerous because the water is moving fast and can rise quickly. It also has rubble and dangerous objects in it that may not be visible.

The Department of Communities are still working to get people back to their homes and communities. It is important to recognise that up to 80 per cent of the homes in Fitzroy Crossing are owned by the WA state government. Mining dongas will be used as the first step in providing temporary accommodation. Recently, additional temporary accommodation has been announced in the form of humanihuts. These repurposed, climate controlled shipping containing like structures, with folding insulated walls, will be placed into Fitzroy Valley communities for people to live in whilst their homes are being repaired or rebuilt. Rebuilding may take some time, but my hope is that we can rebuild Fitzroy Crossing and the surrounding areas to suit the community needs and to avoid future flood damage.

We are talking about some of the most vulnerable Australians here, people who need our ongoing support to help rebuild their lives after suffering from this natural disaster. I must stress that the economic recovery from this devastating flood event will be prolonged and challenging. An example of the flow-on effects from these floods is the very valid concerns regarding current workforce shortages. We are seeing this all around Australia. This is not a new topic of conversation. Local industry stakeholders are concerned existing shortages will be exacerbated by the floods, and rightly so.

The East Kimberley Chamber of Commerce and Industry have submitted a request for a deed of variation to the designated area migration agreement, know as the DAMA, to extend this service across the whole of the Kimberley. I fully support this request, knowing that even prior to the floods we desperately required more workers in the Kimberley. I have spoken directly to the immigration minister on this issue in support of this extension.

I want to acknowledge the current logistical nightmare that's being caused by the recent flooding in the Northern Territory. This is not the flooding of Fitzroy Crossing, but this is the recent flooding in the Northern Territory which has impacted people on both sides of the NT and WA border. The wet season in the Kimberley is always a time of both heat and heavy rainfall. As we expected, river levels have risen once again. Intense rainfall and bad weather have disrupted the supply of goods into the region since the start of the year, with many Kimberley businesses impacted.

Kununurra is experiencing a severe food shortage, after being cut off by this recent flooding. The East Kimberley's sole freight route has now been locked, leaving the town's supermarkets battling with shortages and panic buying. I am pleased to hear that the ADF is going to provide aerial support and that DFES will provide food via Wyndham. Coles has a supermarket in Kununurra. Being one of our largest national supermarket chains, it has a continuing responsibility to ensure food supplies to the vulnerable residents of Kununurra and surrounding areas. So I say to Coles: please, please treat the East Kimberley with respect and do everything you can to ensure a consistent supply of food into Kununurra. That will help curb the panic buying and go some way to normalising the town and this wonderful community. Coles, please do better.