Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the ongoing floods affecting my electorate of Lingiari and my old hometown of Katherine. Intense and sustained rainfall has caused widespread flooding throughout the Big Rivers region—the worst of its kind in over 20 years. The Aboriginal communities of Wugularr, or Beswick, Palumpa and Jilkminggan have been significantly impacted, and the people of these communities need urgent assistance. The Katherine community has also been greatly impacted. Homes have been severely damaged, people have been running out of food, many people's finances are stretched to the limit and businesses along the main street of Katherine have been flooded. The community of Daly River, or Nauiyu, had to be evacuated to Darwin for the second time this year, with evacuations also taking place in Palumpa and Jilkminggan.

I want to thank the emergency services workers, NT Police Force and the amazing volunteers who are helping people navigate what is an incredibly difficult time. They have done an incredible job. I have heard how the community is also rallying together. I want to say a big thank you to all of the essential workers who are bringing food and supplies into remote communities which are currently isolated, and helping keep the shelters in Katherine open and shops running.

The Commonwealth government has supported the NT government through the disaster recovery funding arrangements, which are now available to impacted residents in the Katherine Town Council region. It is critical that the Northern Territory chief minister also extend this to those impacted in our remote communities in the Daly and Roper River regions. They are in serious need of support, and the NT government must work quickly to provide this. I want to quickly mention that people have spoken to me and to Minister McCarthy of the need for more food and a greater level of information. My thoughts are with those members of our community who have been evacuated and are away from their homes during this very stressful time.

I want to quickly take this moment to say this to our mob: floodwaters are incredibly unpredictable and dangerous. Crossing floodwaters is simply not worth it. If it's flooded, forget about it. Don't try and cross it. As the police have been saying over the weekend, there are crocs everywhere, and everyone needs to make sure that they are taking heed of the police and emergency services and doing the right thing. In times like this, it is easy to take risks, but, when you take that risk, it could be your life. I say to our communities and to everyone affected by the floods, yes, it's frustrating, but we all just need to work together to try and overcome this once-in-a—it has been a huge amount of rain that's fallen, but let's work with our police.