Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's been 12 months since parts of my electorate were devastated by floodwater. The Goulburn River catchment received significant rain along with the Broken River, and houses and properties were rapidly inundated in Seymour. Then it was a slower watch to see the water creep up on Shepparton and Mooroopna. There was great damage to properties across that area. Echuca received two threats from the Murray and the Campaspe River. The Campaspe River inundated 90 per cent of buildings in Rochester, and that community has suffered deeply. It was great to go for a run through Rochester with my friend the member for Wannon. He bought up big at the butcher that's trying to get back onto their feet, so thank you for that, Member for Wannon.

Twelve months on, the communities are showing great resilience, but they're still struggling. They still need our support. The insurance companies have been too slow to act in many cases. The Insurance Council of Australia data shows that 60 per cent of claims in Rochester have been settled, but too many are still waiting and there are too many disputes still going on. On a positive note, we are looking at future efforts to mitigate against floods into the future, and I thank all of those in this place and in the other place for their constructive work on that. We hope we can help these communities into the future.