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Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Page: 6985

Mr HARTSUYKER (Cowper) (09:30): I rise to draw the attention of the House to the impact of the recent floods on the North Coast of New South Wales. The floods have impacted communities in the local government areas of Kempsey, Nambucca, Bellingen, Coffs Harbour and Clarence Valley. As with all natural disasters, the impacts of these floods varied from community to community. In places such as Woolgoolga there were falls of up to 400 millimetres, with 250 millimetres of rain falling within a 24-hour period. In other areas such as Red Rock, the community was shaken by a minitornado which ripped the roof off the local bowling club and damaged surrounding houses. In the south of my electorate some residents were evacuated from the Smithtown, Jerseyville and Kinchella communities, and the local newspaper, the Macleay Argus, reported that around 10,000 people were isolated as the Macleay River peaked. Thankfully the levies at Kempsey held and thousands of people were spared the impact of having the town inundated by the rising waters.

In my electorate there has been no loss of life as a result of these floods, but that does not mean that the week's events have not had an impact. Roads have been damaged, crops have been lost and, in some cases, homes have been severely damaged. Sewerage infrastructure has also been at risk of malfunctioning. Many residents in low-lying caravan parks have been particularly impacted. The Pacific Highway was also closed for a number of days and it opened again on Sunday evening. The state government has declared the five local government areas a natural disaster area. This will provide some level of assistance to councillors and primary producers affected. I have written to the Attorney-General offering my assistance to obtain any information which the minister feels is necessary to ensure that all appropriate Australian government assistance is provided to my constituents.

The people of the North Coast are resilient. The community's capacity to recover relies not just on the toughness of the local people who live in the area. The response has been significantly enhanced by the great work of our local emergency services workers. As in the case of every natural disaster that has occurred on the North Coast, our local emergency services volunteers have been fantastic and do a great job to assist those in need. I would like to take this opportunity to commend the work done by our emergency services personnel and their skill, professionalism and dedication to the people they protect. I commend their work to the House.