Senate debates

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

Adjournment

Victoria: Natural Disasters

7:30 pm

Photo of Bridget McKenzieBridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I rise to reflect on some issues arising from the natural disasters which are currently affecting my home state of Victoria. As I speak, families are moving back into their homes in Nathalia, a small town in central north-east Victoria. After almost a week of uncertainty, the evacuation order hanging over the town of about 1,000 people has been lifted. The makeshift levee that held back the flooded Broken Creek is being dismantled and many of the elderly residents and children, who also missed two weeks of school when they were evacuated, have begun returning. As we sit in our comfortable offices, these families will be scrubbing the grime off their walls, their floors and furniture and doing their best to assess the damage and get on with their lives. Many of these people continue to need emergency financial assistance, emergency shelter and temporary accommodation, food, water, clothing, bedding and other personal materials.

I would like to recognise the efforts of volunteers in Victoria, emergency services, businesses, professionals and individuals who selflessly helped during the floods, and the many resourceful and spirited Victorians who rallied to help families and communities and assisted with rescue and recovery efforts. I have been heartened and moved by the way in which Victorians have rallied to provide moral and practical assistance, even when those who helped were also the people who had been devastated. Many Victorians built strong bonds in the midst of calamity during these floods, and a lot of those strong bonds are a reflection of the strong relationships that are developed and maintained in regional communities. Victoria's devastation reminded us all that our communities and people are strong and resilient in the face of adversity and that Victorians have amazing strength of spirit.

We do, however, also need to ponder the role that the Commonwealth can play in improving the lot of Australians who find themselves in this very difficult position. The heavy rain started on Sunday, 26 February and it led to significant flooding in parts of central, northern, north-eastern and eastern Victoria. The next day, Castlemaine, Campbells Creek and Chewton experienced flash flooding, followed by further flooding in the Shepparton area and Moira Shire. The most significant flooding occurred in the Upper Murray River system and a number of townships including Nathalia, Numurkah, Katamatite, Tallygaroopna—my personal favourite—and Yarrawonga were severely affected. Wangaratta and Myrtleford have also experienced flooding. But it is the Moira Shire that was the most severely hit. We had emergency centres set up in the Shire of Campaspe and in Greater Shepparton as relief centres, but the devastation was most significantly felt in Moira, with initial recovery estimates of more than $15 million. I would like to congratulate the leadership of Mayor Alex Monk and our local members, Tim McCurdy and Sharman Stone.

It is estimated that approximately 250 homes and 2,055 rural properties have been damaged and 1,000 households displaced due to these floods. A large number of businesses, approximately 40, have been affected. There is significant damage to services and infrastructure in towns across the state. The Victoria State Emergency Service received more than 3,640 requests for assistance. The figure I would really like to bring to the Senate's attention is that whilst there were 250 homes inundated in the towns themselves, 2,055 rural properties were affected. As you fly over the flood-affected areas, you can see that the towns are not as bad as seeing the water all over the north-east of Victoria and thinking about the significant economic impact that will have on our regions going forward.

Almost 350 roads were closed or flood-affected and currently more than 160 roads, most of them local, remain closed or covered by water. Flood damage will cost border councils more than $33 million, but the damage to roads and bridges will be far greater. VicRoads at present is unable to fully assess the extent, because it is flat irrigation country and what makes it great for irrigation makes it harder for the water to drain away, so the area is still under water. The rail-freight lines have been closed and pressure has increased on roads due to the displacement. Detailed engineering assessments of rail and road infrastructure is being conducted.

I congratulate our emergency service personnel whose response to this event has been prompt and well coordinated. Integration across agencies has been effective. Financial arrangements are in place until 15 April to ensure those who need support receive it. Natural disaster relief and recovery arrangements personal hardship grants—relief assistance of up to $1,200 per household and re-establishment up to $30,000 per household—and low-interest loans to small businesses, primary producers and not-for-profit organisations are available from the Victorian government. Personal hardship grants and low-interest loans are available through local governments. There is an equity criterion for accessing the low-interest loans, and this is of particular interest given that the Goulburn Valley has gone through 10 years of drought. It is a horticulture and dairy area where we have seen a lot of water buybacks. The equity criterion for assessing the low-interest loan is a particular issue. Property owners need $250,000 of equity in their properties to apply. As a result of 10 years of drought few farmers have that much equity, despite being excellent primary producers. It is a function of the circumstances of the last 10 to 12 years.

The Victorian and Commonwealth governments have agreed to activate clean-up and recovery grants for small businesses and primary producers. The Prime Minister agreed on 9 March to activate these grants for the Greater Shepparton and Moira local government areas. I congratulate the Commonwealth for fast-tracking its February round of financial assistance grant payments to flood-affected councils at the Victorian government's request. These communities have been affected by flooding several times over, so the state and federal governments need to stand beside these councils to help them recover and rebuild. I took the opportunity last week to host the shadow minister for agriculture and food security, the Hon. John Cobb, so that he could see firsthand the extensive damage to roads and to the agricultural and horticultural industries. I would like to thank the local member, the member for Murray, Sharman Stone, for coming with us and giving us the local perspective. The long-term effects for these communities and our Victorian regional economies will be ongoing and significant. Our growers are innovative, they are soldier settlers and they have seen hard times before. They are very proud and very productive, but it was obvious that the severe inundation by these floods on the back of the drought will have long-term effects.

Dairy farmers are already seeing loss of production in their cows, and their recovery could take up to a year. Paddocks that they would normally sow for grass for their cattle to eat in order to harvest the milk are under water. Cattle cannot eat wet or rotting hay. The Victorian coalition government and the Victorian Farmers Federation are working together to ensure emergency fodder supplies are made available and that farmers left without sufficient feed as a result of the floods have access to good quality, locally donated fodder.

Recovery will be longer for the horticulture industry. Some fruit growers still have water lying around their trees. That is particularly an issue for peach trees. Peach trees can only be under water for 48 hours before we start to see long-term significant damage. Pears can handle it for a bit longer. We have had trees under water for up to a week and we will not know whether they are going to stay alive until spring when we see the first shoots. Those primary producers will need assistance, and understanding the long-term impacts on their ability to produce will take some time. Some orchards north of Numurkah are facing losses of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I particularly appreciate Ivan and Andrew Routley, who showed Hon. John Cobb, Sharman Stone and me through their flooded horticultural farm in Katunga. Andrew explained: 'Our drain was switched off to minimise any flooding downstream and, unbeknown to us, that caused the damage.'

Although the clean-up efforts have begun in parts of the state such as Nathalia and Numurkah, they will remain inundated for many weeks. In Numurkah more than 34 hospital patients and aged-care residents were evacuated to other hospitals and health facilities due to the floods. The hospital was flooded.

An event like this reminds us that local communities need to know that government will assist them and that they will be able to access the very support that they need to begin the clean-up and recovery phase. They need adequate service delivery by federal, state and local governments, and adequate funding needs to be provided by emergency grants. We need to be sure about every aspect of flood mitigation management, emergency management arrangements and recovery, and we need to identify the best way to manage major flood events in the future.