E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP, WINDSOR NSW
SUNDAY, 7 APRIL 2024

SUBJECTS: Flood recovery and mitigation.

STATE MEMBER FOR HAWKESBURY, ROBYN PRESTON: With me I have Susan Templeman, the Member for Macquarie. We've got Commissioner York, Carlene York. Thank you for coming as well. Our SES staff are with us. Dean Betts is here from Resilience New South Wales as well. And it's good that they're all here because they can see for themselves, particularly the Minister, just what Hawkesbury has gone through again. We had six floods in 18 months, and this is our seventh flood. And I think it's important that our Minister sees what we're going through here. And I'd like you to say a few words to everybody now. Thank you, Minister Dib.

NSW MINISTER FOR EMERGENCY SERVICES, JIHAD DIB:  Well, thank you so much, Robyn, and good morning everyone. I want to thank first, on the outset, the amazing volunteers behind me, particularly Kevin, who leads an outstanding Hawkesbury unit. Thank you to local state MP Robyn Preston. Of course, Federal MP Susan Templeman, and commissioner Carlene York indefatigable, who's just been working incredibly hard over the past week, and Eddie Betts from Reconstruction Authority.

Look, I've been advised and the latest update that I've got and I want to go through that, is some of the current conditions that we're dealing with. But I do want to acknowledge even before I start, the 4000 up to 5000 volunteers who've given up their time over the past few days, while the weather has been quite horrendous to be out there for communities. Now they have performed nearly 5000 task jobs. That's a range of things, from fixing people's roofs, to making rescues, to supporting community, to knocking on doors, to making sure that the job gets done. Now let’s keep that in mind. It's 5000 people giving up their time to support their community, and I think it speaks to the best values of what we are as Australians, and the way communities come together and everything that's about the SES. 

Now, they also performed about 200 flood rescues. That's people who found themselves requiring rescue because they got stuck in floodwaters through a range of factors. Some of those also could have been because people had driven through floodwaters, which we again remind people not to do.

It's fairly blue skies behind me, but that doesn’t mean that the water danger is over. That the threat of flood is over. As we talked about yesterday, there's a thing called the blue-sky flood, where all of the water that feeds in from the tributaries, into the local catchment areas basically comes together. We've been quite fortunate in the sense that, today we can say that we didn't need to close the Windsor Bridge, which is a really fantastic thing for the local community, but also speaks to the volumes of what the flooding could have been. Where we're standing right now, I’m informed that in a major flood, we would have our toes in water. 

There's a number of things too that I want to address here, today in collaboration with the federal government, the state government has issued and agreed to declare areas of natural disaster. So there's a number of shires, a number of towns, and a number of local cities, where the impact of the flooding and the impact of the storms has now meant that we can actually address it as a natural disaster declaration. The reason that I'm really happy with that is because we've been able to do that within 24 hours. We can't control the weather and we can’t control the impact of the weather. But what we can do, and something that I'm really proud of, is the way that we've got much better and the way that we've learnt from past disasters to making sure that we are better at addressing the ways that we deal with natural disasters.

When we first found out that we were going to have an eastern low trough coming towards New South Wales and hitting Sydney and Illawarra fairly hard, the SES, under the leadership of Carlene York, quickly got under way in making sure that we mobilised our volunteers, that we started planning about what would happen, that we started to stand up all of our operational centres, and we also got the communications out to people. As I said yesterday, we can replace anything but people and we want to make sure that we get that messaging right.

Then, of course, once the storm hit, we had our pre-deployed assets, our high clearance trucks, our boats and our aviation and our volunteer crews ready to go so they can support communities as quickly as they can. We communicated it very well by making sure that the Hazards Near Me app was operational, and that we were able to get evacuations and prepare evacuation warnings as quickly as possible. We also, at the same time, set up evacuation centres so that if we ask people to leave their home because of safety issues, they had somewhere to go. That allowed the SES and the volunteers to be able to do all of the work they needed to do in terms of making sure that the community could be protected.

And then, of course, post that event, we've been able to establish a natural disaster declaration within 24 hours. And I want to thank the federal government for the work that they do. We have really worked an incredible relationship and looked at what we could have done better from the 2020 floods, the 21 floods, and built that into it. The reconstruction authority, our emergency services, our local government, our state government and all of our agencies working together with one goal and one goal alone. That is to protect, and best serve the community that we can.

What I might do is leave this out to hand over to Commissioner York to speak about some of the logistical things. I’m more than happy to take questions regarding this and, of course, other issues of the day, but I don't want to finish off without again, thanking the many volunteers, the 5000 volunteers, as well as the SES staff, as well as our other agencies that have supported them. Whether it's Fire and Rescue, whether it's the RFS, whether it's Marine Rescue, VRA, all of the different organisations, who have come together to make sure that we can do this quite well, today is a good day.

We're still assessing the damage and we'll work throughout and I'll answer some more of those in question. Finally, I want to also thank the community. I want to thank the community for heeding our requests, for listening to the SES and for being sensible and playing the important role that we needed to play. We've seen a number of evacuations that have been seamless. Well done to the community, and well done to our emergency services and well done to the leadership that puts this together for our emergency services.

I'm going to hand over now to Commissioner York.

COMMISSIONER CARLENE YORK: Thank you Minister. So today we've still got a lot of floodwaters around. We've still got over 60 warnings out to the community to make sure that we're keeping them safe. And there are some areas where the evacuations are still current. What we're moving to today is to assess the damage at those different communities across the state that have been affected by this significant weather event and working with our partner agencies to do that. And as soon as it's safe, we will be lifting those evacuation orders so that people can go into their houses and start cleaning up all their properties. So I'd ask people to be patient. If you do need help with cleaning up ring 132 500 and we can assist you. We'll be doing those damage assessments, and then where it's practicable, handing over to recovery to the Reconstruction Authority to assist the community. But we will still be there helping the communities and particularly helping with resupply for those homes and people that have been cut off because of road closures.

Those travelling around today, as the Minister said, blue skies. But there's still a lot of roads cut and there's still a lot of danger out there. And that obviously will worsen as the night comes, not with the rain, but with the ability to see what's on the road and to be able to assess the danger. So again, telling the community not to drive through flood waters. We've had way too many rescues required to go and assist people to get out of those flood waters, and there's been a lot of vision of people being on the roofs of their cars and some really dangerous situations where SES volunteers have been placed in danger. So again, make those good decisions about the safety for you and your family and other people around you.

I would also like to thank our SES volunteers. Obviously, we've got a team behind me which are just a sample of those teams that have been across the state helping the community as this weather event moved from the Queensland border down into the South Coast, and luckily, wasn't as bad as we thought down in the far South Coast. The significant event did move out to sea, which was a great saving for those communities down there. So again, be careful. Make sure that you make those decisions good decisions.  Wait until we've made those areas safe so that you can go back into your homes and communities. And repeating, I think what the Minister said, thanking the community because, all too often we put out these messages and people aren't hearing them or aren't abiding by some of those directions that we like to give to the community to make them safe and so on lots of occasions, people have listened, they’ve prepared, and they've done what we have asked them to, particularly if it is evacuation. So, looking forward to everyone getting back to their premises and things getting back to normal and cleaned up. But just a big thank you to everyone.

So with that, I'll hand over to Susan Templeman.

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MACQUARIE, SUSAN TEMPLEMAN MP: Thank you. This is not where we expected to be on a Sunday, because we thought this might be a much worse event than it has been, but it’s been made much easier by the incredible local SES people who are here today, who know what they're doing and have given great assurance to the community.

What is really significant about today is what the Minister said about the declaration of disaster. What that does in only 24 hours following a serious disaster is it triggers support for my community. It triggers support for our council to repair essential infrastructure, whether that's roads or sporting facilities. It triggers support for all the sports clubs we have down on Bensons Lane, who I've looked at this morning and they're completely underwater. It also triggers the initial support for our primary producers and for our residents who are affected.

I want to point out that our primary producers, our turf growers, our vegetable farmers, they are really badly affected by this flood. It might be called in some quarters, a moderate flood or a minor flood but the key word is flood. That's the bit that's bad. That means their lands are completely inundated, and they have only just recovered from a series of floods over the last few years to be getting a good crop, and now that work is all underwater. And so, while I absolutely am so proud to be part of a federal government that has worked closely with the state government to get this disaster assistance happening, I know I will be advocating for even more as we see the waters recede and are able to assess the damage that's there. I think our local producers know that both the state member and I will be in their batting for them to make sure they can get back on their feet, because that's what Labor governments do. We support people so that they can recover from disaster and get back on their feet.

There'll be a lot of things that we take forward from here, including things that hadn't been done in the last few years, like repairs of the Cornwallis drain. I know there's deep commitment to getting those things delivered fast. So, thank you again, Jihad, for coming out here. It's not the first time, it’s not even the second time, and demonstrating a real understanding of the need of people who are going through a disaster. I really want to thank the Commissioner and our SES and all the emergency services. But even more, I thank the community. We are a resilient community. I don't know anywhere more resilient than my community of the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains, and I'll be looking forward to this next period of recovery so that we can get back to thriving, not just surviving.

MINISTER DIB: I'll just add one more point. And of course, we’ve got a much more relaxed commander in Alison today. And to the public information officers who put out that great communication work, I make the point. We've heard the local MPs and the commissioner speak about this in terms of some of the changes. If you continuously look at how you can improve, then I think you develop public policy better.  And one of the things that we’ve worked really hard on, particularly over the past 12 months, and I'm not necessarily interested in what colour or stripe you are in terms of what you can do for local communities, is how do we get better at preparing? How do we get better at mitigating? How do we get better at responding? And then what do we do in terms of the recovery? And we’re now at that stage now where we're moving towards that recovery, and that's part of that state disaster mitigation plan that we'd worked on. But most significantly, what you see is the outcome here. And it goes back to that point that I made that we may not have control over the weather and the and what happens in terms of the natural disaster. But what we can control is our response to it and the way that we manage it, and the way that we support our communities and our people in terms of making sure that we get them out of dangers way, and also that once that hazard has passed, then we quickly help them get back on their feet.

As Susan Templeman has just said, the natural disaster declaration triggers an automatic release of money. It also triggers an ability to be able to say, we need support. So, from immediate support that's available, it's a great partnership between the state government and the federal government, with that one intention of supporting communities and I would encourage anybody who's been affected to get in contact with Service New South Wales. They’re ready to be able to support you, to be able to ensure that you can get the support that you need, whether you're a primary producer, whether you're somebody who's had to evacuate from home. We always said that we are going to improve things and we'll get better and better. We don’t walk this journey alone and we walk the journey the entire way. Happy to take any questions. 

JOURNALIST: Just in terms of the communities that are affected, have you got an update on the details of the areas where people might be cut off and under water?

COMMISSIONER YORK: Just in relation to that, there's around, over 20 warnings for this particular area, getting up towards 30. They're published on our website so people can have a look at where that is. We're not expecting the water to subside until later today into tomorrow. So we've got SES going around making sure that those areas are safe and allowing people to go back in. So that information will be again on our website, and we'll be putting it out, on social media about when people can go back. We've been putting out a lot of information about what's been affected. We've done the damage assessments for the Northern Beaches. We've done it for the North Coast as well. We're now going to start concentrating on here and down at the Illawarra, working with the significant areas that were affected by this particular event.

JOURNALIST: (inaudible)

COMMISSIONER YORK: Well we rely on the community to know. Obviously this is, as I said, a very, very resilient community. And we know that they've stocked up in preparation. They know they get cut off from these floods, and we are there to take any calls 132 500, whether it be medical assistance to get them out of their homes, across to ambulances or hospitals or medical appointments, whether it be resupply, we are there ready to help those communities with any supplies that they might want. They just have to call 132 500 and we'll be there to help them. 

SUSAN TEMPLEMAN MP: One of the things that has been really key in our challenges we've had in previous disasters has been a lack of access to the other side of the river. What was really crucial this time was that the bridge was able to stay open, because the roads on the other side were able to stay accessible, some of them, at times only one of them. But that has really made a difference in terms of people being stuck. It means that our evacuation centres haven't had a huge number of people saying, I'm stuck on this side, I need somewhere to stay for the night. And that ability to keep a bridge open is key.

People might be aware that the federal and state government have a project of duplicating the North Richmond Bridge, which is currently quite low and closes quite early. When that duplication happens in coming years, the funding is there, the work is being done now at a state level to deliver it. That will also increase the resilience and the ability of the community to be less isolated. But places like Lower Portland and Sackville and Ebenezer, there'll be places all around there that are still fighting challenges as well as not far from here, down on the lowlands, there will be people who can't get in or out. They spent a lot of Friday getting their horses out and they are probably back on their properties just trying to make sure they can keep the water at bay from their homes.

MINISTER DIB: What I’d say about today, and it goes to those things as well. Today is really about  making sure that we assess the damage. So during the day, members of the SES will be going through areas across New South Wales, particularly those that have been hit hard up and down around near Illawarra and further south, to actually make sure that once it's safe, get a proper assessment of the damage that's been done and the areas that are required.

Transport is also undertaking their own assessment. I understand that they'll be putting something out a little bit later this afternoon of an assessment about the condition of roads and rail, so that prepares people for work tomorrow. This is now moving into the recovery phase. That recovery phase is important to get started as soon as possible so we can support communities. So in terms of that assessment, we'll also get a clearer understanding of what local communities need. But having said that, we're pretty confident that at the moment all of the areas that have required support are getting that support. And one of the really good features as well, is that we're around 100 odd emergency warnings. We're down to the mid-60s at the moment, which is a really good thing, and it shows the work that the SES is doing in getting through communities and also in ways that the water is receding. And you can see that behind us in terms of just how quickly that water is receding back.

COMMISSIONER YORK: I just have a list of some of those areas that you're asking for. So, excuse me for having to refer to my notes. Parts of Sackville, Ebenezer, Lower Portland, Pitt Town Bottoms, Northern Pitt Town, Agnes Banks, Cumberland Reach, Leesville and parts of Cattai near the Riverside Caravan Park, Cornwallis and the eastern parts of the Richmond Lowlands, and particularly around the Colo River.

JOURNALIST: (inaudible)

COMMISSIONER YORK:  Yeah, as long as the SES know that they need assistance, we will send the supplies out. One of our responsibilities and we want to care for the community, is resupply and make sure that they're safe to last until those waters go down and they can get their own access worked out.

JOURNALIST: Some of the residents have just been asking here about the Warragamba Dam releases and whether that will have any impact on the  river height at the moment. Do you expect it to go up again or would you expect? 

COMMISSIONER YORK: No, we don't expect it to go up. In fact, we expect later today the spill-over will cease. But it's not affecting the river height. we've been informed that the river by the Bureau has peaked, and so it will start to be going down now. 

JOURNALIST: Do you have a time for when that occurs?

COMMISSIONER YORK: There's various levels of different peak depending where you are along the river, but here at the Windsor Bridge, it's peaked and we don't anticipate at all that the Windsor are bridge will go under.  

JOURNALIST: (inaudible)

MINISTER DIB: Transport New South Wales is looking at that at the moment, and they'll put information out later. They're assessing the road conditions and rail conditions. They’ve also of course, made sure that they'll have other public transport options to make sure that communities get to where they need to go, within the local area like the local organisations, and emergency groups. What we do is we all get together all of the different agencies and look at how we solve any problem that exists. I know that Transport is looking at the moment in terms of road and rail and what we need to do to be able to support communities. I would urge people to look at the websites and also the public transport apps that they have.

Thanks everyone.  

 ENDS