Sandbags

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (14:52): I have a supplementary to the Minister for Emergency Services. Noting you have ordered 500,000 sandbags, when will they arrive, and have the previous 300,000 been fully utilised, or are there still sandbags available for river communities?

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS (Cheltenham—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services) (14:53): Thank you, member for Hammond. I can advise that there is no tapping out or, as would be foreshadowed, any exhaustion of sandbags. The 300,000 have been deployed and continue to be deployed. I can also give the member and the house an update on the most up-to-date strategy for sandbags as I have received it from the SES.

Starting from Friday 18 November and running through to 21 November, strategic sandbag deployment will be rolled out into affected communities by the SES. The strategy with the rolling out of these sandbags will be twofold. The first will be to work with local residents to educate them and support them on how to adequately and properly utilise sandbags.

It is not that there is a one-size-fits-all approach, so the SES will be deploying staff and volunteers into communities to work with members of the community who attend these sandbag locations to not only educate them on the best way to utilise and deploy sandbags but also on the numbers that would be used to appropriately secure their need.

I can advise the house that, from those dates that I advised, that is, Friday through to Monday, from 9am to 3pm, sandbag deployments will occur at the Blanchetown Sports Club on Onslow Terrace, Blanchetown; at the Mannum Football Club at 45 North Terrace, Mannum; at the Bowhill Community Centre at 88 Weber Street, Bowhill; at the Murray Bridge Showgrounds at 113 Old Princes Highway, Murray Bridge; and at the old Glossop High School at 535 Old Sturt Road, Glossop.

Further to the member's question with respect to the 500,000 sandbags that have been secured within the supply chain, I am advised that they will be progressively rolled out into communities on a needs basis. These sandbags will be deployed by the SES and our emergency services in a strategic way and in a way that they are operationally determined to be in the best place at the best time.