Finniss Electorate

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (15:37): I rise to thank the community in my electorate for the wonderful work we saw over the weekend, when we had some very severe weather conditions go through. We have seen reports, particularly up here, of wind damage and power issues, but communities that were probably the hardest hit, which certainly has not necessarily been publicised as much, have been those that were hit by stormwater going through their properties.

I estimate that about 20 homes in the town of Middleton had at least a foot of water through them. There were also 28 permanent residents of the Middleton Caravan Park who had their caravans or their cabins inundated with water, up to two metres deep in some cases, absolutely decimating those properties.

We also saw significant damage and water through businesses in the town of Middleton. The General Store had all its fridges destroyed. They have only been open two years, and it took them six months to order those fridges from overseas two years ago. They are not sure how long it is going to take to get fridges back to be fully operational going forward. We also saw them lose the bottom two shelves of stock right across the shop, with quite significant damage to the buildings and mud through everything.

Alongside them was the chemist shop. They were not quite as badly damaged. Luckily, their structure was able to hold out most of the water, and they probably had about six inches of water actually in the shop, as well as significant mud and things to clean out.

Across the road is Big Surf Australia. Many of us grew up hearing Big Surf Australia, with Andy Inkster giving surf reports on SAFM for many years. The business was bought by Tom and Anna Vincent many years ago, and they have been running it ever since. They had water go through their shop that did enormous amounts of damage. On Sunday, my wife and I, along with other members of the community, helped them do a stocktake of all the damaged items. It was certainly great to see how many people came out to help not just them but all the businesses.

Tom's brother, Andrew, owns the caravan park with his wife, Cash, and the park had enormous damage. The cabins floated out of the ground, taking their concrete footings with them, so significant repairs are going to be needed to get it back operational. Basically, the only solid building that did not go under in the caravan park was the office itself. There was quite extensive damage to their facilities.

The Mill House Medical Centre in town had a foot or so of water through their building; it damaged all their computer and phone systems and they are not operational yet. They are doing everything they can to get back up operational, but they have no records of appointments or quick access to anyone's files, so they are working through that challenge at the moment. Some bed and breakfast businesses were significantly hit in the old mill itself, and we also saw the landscaping business across the road also have water damage go through their property.

I have complete admiration for the community. On Sunday, it was actually near impossible to get a park in the town, as there were so many people helping out. People just brought their brooms down and were sweeping mud out of the shops. It was absolutely amazing to see the community come together and work together to actually address those issues.

I thank the Minister for Human Services and Minister for Emergency Services for touching base and helping, making sure that people were looked after. It is important that we look after our communities in these difficult times and, as I said, it was so pleasing to see the community out there helping. It gives me faith in the people of my electorate.