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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-02-22 Daily Xml
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Motions

Riverland Flood Response

Ms HUTCHESSON (Waite) (11:23): I move:

That this house—

(a) recognises the immense efforts of the South Australian emergency service sector during the emergency response to the 2022-23 River Murray flood event;

(b) acknowledges the State Emergency Service, Country Fire Service, Metropolitan Fire Service, South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission, Volunteer Marine Rescue and Surf Life Saving South Australia for their service to the community; and

(c) shows its appreciation to the staff and volunteers who worked tirelessly to protect and support affected communities.

I stand here today wearing both yellow and orange in recognition of our CFS and SES emergency services volunteers. Whilst the colours clash considerably, and I apologise for those watching at home, I know that in action these colours work together tirelessly, helping, supporting and protecting our whole community every day of the week. There is no better example of this than the work that has gone on in our River Murray communities.

It is usual for these volunteers, along with our comrades in the MFS, Fire and Emergency Services Commission, Volunteer Marine Rescue and surf lifesaving communities, to respond to an emergency, whether it is in the middle of the night, on a hot and windy day like today or a cold and miserable one. It is often a short, sharp response: arriving on the scene, dealing with the immediate threats, often rescuing someone in trouble and then returning to wait for the next call-out. Their work in our River Murray communities, though, has been different. We had warning that the emergency was coming and time to prepare, but this has also meant that the effort has been long and drawn out. Yet they turn up when they are needed, and continue to do so, working hard in difficult circumstances.

In 2022, we saw the third consecutive La Niña event that resulted in record rainfalls across the upper Murray-Darling Basin in New South Wales and Victoria. This only added to what has already been a saturated catchment area. The result saw the River Murray water flows reaching major flood levels in December. Many areas of the flood plains saw floodwaters reach them for the first time in 70 years, and it is almost certain that changes to the river channel and flood plain in that time led to unforeseen and unexpected differences in flood behaviour.

Expectations of flood levels reaching 135 gigalitres per day were well exceeded due to ongoing rainfall in the upper catchment resulting in an eventual peak flow of 185 gigalitres per day. On 21 November, the police commissioner declared a major emergency that stayed in place until just two weeks ago; that is three months. For three months, various arms of our emergency services—paid and unpaid crews—have worked hard across the area, and they are still working. Whilst the peak has now past, areas of the flood plain remain inundated with floodwaters and are expected to stay that way for quite some time.

It is known that 3,295 residential properties have been impacted by the floods and, whilst the bulk of these are holiday homes and short-term accommodation, 103 properties are people's homes. Families now without their own home are having to relocate to other family, friends and crisis accommodation, always knowing that they will be facing a massive clean-up when they are finally allowed to return home.

Local businesses have also been impacted, including tourism hotspots such as caravan parks and camping grounds. Primary producers have also borne the brunt. Over 4,000 hectares of agricultural production land was impacted, including vineyards and other primary production. Our government is there to help these producers through grants available, to assist with the recovery and the clean-up, and they are going to need all the help they can get.

South Australians pull together in times of need, supporting each other in many ways. Foodbank have been supporting flood victims. In fact, I saw firsthand the work they were doing when I attended Foodbank headquarters in Edwardstown last year with several of my parliamentary colleagues. We helped pack some boxes that were heading to the communities. Foodbank, in conjunction with the RAA, had a mobile food hub that was delivering supplies to those in need—again, volunteers hard at work supporting others.

On Sunday, I along with many here took part in a charity soccer match in order to raise money.

An honourable member: Hear, hear!

Ms HUTCHESSON: I know. The match was organised by PIRSA. We were captained by the member for Gibson, a very accomplished soccer player—much better than me, for sure—and our team comprised the member for Davenport, the member for Adelaide, the Minister for Education, the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, and Justin Hanson MLC from the other place.

Like my orange and yellow outfit, whilst the colours clash, we came together with members opposite, including the member for MacKillop and the member for Hartley, along with members from the other place, public servants and members from our emergency services. Our opposing team was the South Australian Produce Market, Pick a Local, Pick SA! and Foodland team, comprising primary producers, SA local business owners and staff.

It was an absolute honour to play on the hallowed turf of Hindmarsh Stadium. Whilst the weather was hot, our performance was even hotter coming away with the victory, 5-2, and raising well over $150,000 in much-needed funds to reduce the distress and hardship of primary producers and small related agricultural businesses impacted by the floods. Sadly, one of our SES players took home an injury, and I wish him all the best in his recovery. This player had only just returned from the Riverland a few weeks prior, having been up there helping the community. He, like all our staff and volunteers, has worked tirelessly and they all deserve our thanks.

The work carried out was and continues to be extensive. It includes managing the incident at all levels, providing up-to-date information to the affected communities, engaging with community in the field, including street corner meetings, doorknocking and community meetings, often dealing with residents who are upset, worried and needing extra support. Surf Life Saving SA were on the scene with inflatable life craft, allowing them to doorknock properties that were inundated and also provide valuable intel. With their skills and abilities, they were an important assistance to the effort.

Sandbagging was an immense task, with over 493,000 sandbags distributed—that is a lot of man-hours filling those bags. Building levees and swiftwater rescue make up just a small portion of the work that was carried out. There were 5.28 kilometres of DefenCell levees that were installed across the river communities, trying to keep the water at bay. The effort was assisted by 220 staff and volunteer emergency service personnel from interstate, amassing 58,000 volunteer hours. Locally, more than 350 SA personnel were there to help, with a very conservative estimate of 66,000 hours contributed by the IMT and SCC personnel.

While these heroes were up helping our river communities, they were battling off mosquitoes with the knowledge that they could have been carrying disease, often walking in and around water of poor quality, not knowing what may lie beneath, but they continued to help. It is known that 1,188 kilometres of roads have been impacted during the flood. As waters recede, the full extent of this damage will become clearer, but our government will be ready to help and get these communities connected and up and running.

As you can see, the effort was immense, and we are forever in the debt of those who answered the call. In speaking to both SES and CFS crew who have returned from being out there, hearing about their experiences and understanding the scope of the work done and still needing to be done, I have nothing but the utmost gratitude to them all.

Whilst we are acknowledging our incredible emergency services personnel, who give so much to keep us all safe, I would like to take this opportunity to recognise the 40th anniversary of the Ash Wednesday fires, which was remembered last Thursday 16 February. On 16 February 1983, more than 180 fires broke out across South Australia and Victoria. In our state, over 200,000 hectares were burnt, 383,000 houses destroyed, and 28 lives lost, including three CFS volunteers.

Last Thursday, we paid our respects to Andrew Lemke from Lucindale, Peter Matthies from Summertown, and Brian Nosworthy from Callendale, who paid the ultimate price for protecting our community. Emergency services staff and volunteers such as these and all who attend the floods and all who answer the call head out with these risks in mind. To all of these staff and volunteers: we appreciate you, we thank you, and, like the colours I am wearing, it is when we all come together that South Australian spirit shines through, and you are a glowing example.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:32): I speak on the motion on the emergency response to the flood event and note:

That this house—

(a) recognises the immense efforts of the South Australian emergency service sector during the emergency response to the 2022-23 River Murray flood event;

(b) acknowledges the State Emergency Service, Country Fire Service, Metropolitan Fire Service, South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission, Volunteer Marine Rescue and Surf Life Saving South Australia for their service to the community; and

(c) shows its appreciation to the staff and volunteers who worked tirelessly to protect and support affected communities.

Certainly, another group we need to speak on today is the South Australian police force, who did so much good work during this event. It got interesting at times, but all our emergency services had to get involved. It was a major event that impacted the full length of the river, whether you were at Renmark or Milang or at the mouth. I salute all of the communities, whether they were registered volunteers or community volunteers, but also the tireless work of all the staff, whether they be earthmoving contractors, earthmoving operators, council staff—everyone who worked tirelessly to get the job done.

There were many thousands of tonnes of clay moved to put the levee banks in place. As I have said in this place recently, you go to Renmark in the member for Chaffey's electorate and you really see how it truly is an island. They built massive levee banks to get it above the 1956 flood level. It was a huge amount of work because the cost of Renmark getting wet feet would have been absolutely huge. It was a massive amount of work.

I remember talking to the council CEO about where he was getting his clay, and he said, 'Wherever we can'. They were putting in a dynamic effort, working with contractors, working with council, and getting on board to get the job done, but in doing that working alongside the SES, the CFS, the MFS and the police to make sure that that work could get done. That work flowed down the river, so to speak. I saw a massive levee bank being built in Cobdogla, saw many vehicles—whether they be trucks or earthmoving equipment—from other areas around the state that put their shoulder to the wheel—council trucks and other contractors who moved in to help out their contractor mates to do the job to protect river communities.

It happened throughout Waikerie, where work was done building a levee bank to save the recreation grounds down by the ferry. Works were done throughout Mannum, as we know, and that helped save Mary Ann Reserve. We had some interesting times with the back flow of stormwater coming in and the rowing club essentially had to be sacrificed because we could not get divers down, because the flow rates were massive, to help plug the stormwater pipes that were working in reverse: instead of running the water out to the river, the river water was running back. It will be a massive effort to support the Mannum Rowing Club to ensure it gets support to refresh and renew, and those discussions are ongoing with the Mid Murray Council.

Certainly with Mypolonga, the Martin family, Ash Martin—I know that Reece McArdle was on the grader when I was there one day—did a great job and shifted probably well north of 8,000 tonnes of clay in building a barrier about 600 metres long to protect the lower part of Mypolonga, including the school grounds. It was intriguing, and I have mentioned here before the work done earlier on when we identified there was a problem with protecting community pumps. It was not the big Central Irrigation Trust pump that pumped the water for SA Water for the town, it was the power infrastructure that was built on the ground, but the pumps were built above the 1956 flood level—it was a real dichotomy.

In a short time, pulling from the same burrow pit that was used in 1974, once we got those fast track clearances—and I have spoken here before of working with the departments: John Schutz from DEW, Con from SA Water, and others—we could make sure we could get the clay in. It is like an island, about 800 metres in from that other levee bank in Mypolonga.

In Murray Bridge, with the DefenCell—and I had a lot of communication with Chris Beattie from the SES to make sure we could get a DefenCell in place to protect not just the rowing club but also the community club in Murray Bridge—I attempted to get it in place to help support the pumps for a farming family that is just under the Swanport Bridge. People would have seen it many times coming across, but it is also where the racing club pumps are, and that got topped up with a volunteer effort with sandbags.

Certainly the kilometres of DefenCell that went in place was a real asset in completing works on Randell Street, the main street of Mannum, as were buttressing works around those big levee builds, which were about 10 metres across at the bottom to give a good solid base. They are a real innovation, and probably close to all of it is gone by now in Mannum—I was there the other day and it was nearly all gone—as recovery starts and there is a lot of work to do with places that went under water. I commend everyone who was involved. The SES had people come in to sandbagging stations from right across the city. I met people on various days who had come from various SES stations up here in the city.

The CFS did great work during this event, assisting communities with sandbag filling and protecting communities, making sure the water got pumped. I have never seen so many different versions of pump trucks in Mannum; there was always water we had to get to the other side of the levee. The MFS were involved as well, doing great work assisting communities.

The SES had their high clearance trucks there, and the Army was there with four trucks throughout the Riverland, two based up in the member for Chaffey's electorate and two based at Murray Bridge. There was also another helicopter that came in and I had the opportunity, with the Minister for Emergency Services, to go up in the SES helicopter with—

Members interjecting:

Mr PEDERICK: You have to ask; I was a bit cheeky and put in a request to Chris Beattie to see if there was an opportunity, and managed to go up with the minister and the member for Finniss. This was just after the peak, so I got to see the full impact right across the swamps that had let go. Speaking about the swamps, the contractors did what they could north of Murray Bridge, but a lot of those agricultural levees were always going to fall over at the 180 gigalitre a day level.

There was so much work done south of Murray Bridge, and the Jervois community. When the government said it was too dangerous to stay there, I had an interesting conversation with one of my staffer's friends, Jess, a policewoman. She said, 'We don't want to have politics about keeping people on the bank,' because they were going to say to people, 'You have to get off the bank', with the Emergency Management Act. I said, 'Well, we're just building a levee; that's all we're doing'.

To their credit, working with them and Scott Denny, the superintendent, and Chris Beattie and other authorities we got the job done. There were so many other people, individuals and families, who helped each other along those levee banks, putting sandbags in place. In conclusion, I just want to thank our emergency services for everything they have done with this flood event.

I also want to acknowledge that Surf Life Saving has lost their president. With your indulgence, sir, Kevin 'Brakey' Watkins died last week after his battle with a long-term illness. Kevin was an active surf lifesaving member for 55 of his 70 years, after gaining his Bronze Medallion in 1967. He was incredibly passionate about surf lifesaving, so it was only fitting when he became state president of the volunteer organisation. Vale Kevin 'Brakey' Watkins, and thank you to everyone involved in emergency efforts—not just with floods or fires but on our beaches as well.

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS (Cheltenham—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services) (11:43): I rise briefly to support this motion. In doing so I put on the record, as I and many other members have in other forums and times, my immense appreciation and thanks for the work, contributions and efforts of our volunteers and staff in responding to this major emergency across our river communities.

Members of this place have already, in this debate, spoken about their own personal experiences through this emergency. The member for Hammond, the member for Chaffey, the member for Finniss, are all local members who were supporting and advocating for their communities during this incredibly difficult time. I have seen firsthand the demonstration of the resilience of their communities and the absolute, unabridged unity of their communities who have worked to support each other during these times.

But today it is important, as it is on each and every occasion that becomes available to us, to thank the CFS, SES, MFS, Surf Life Saving South Australia, Volunteer Marine Rescue and our SAFECOM logistics functional support team, as well as so many others across a wide variety of government agencies who have stepped up, and continue to step up, in response to this flood, these generational floods that have had a profound impact on the homes, properties, incomes and livelihoods of so many people across these communities.

I think it is fair to say for all of us in this place that taking the opportunity today to thank those people for their contribution in no way minimises or underestimates the significant body of work that is still taking place, and that of course will continue to take place, in these communities. Recovery, even before the response to this emergency became apparent, was always the focus of government, the focus of members and the focus of agencies.

This was always going to be an emergency that was slow in coming but inevitable and profound in impact, but we acted also on the basis that the waters would recede and the damage would be there and the recovery phase would be absolutely critical. So many of those volunteers and staff that we thank today are still involved in the recovery phase.

I also want to acknowledge that there is a small, albeit not insignificant, number of individuals who have been volunteering as part of their service to our community or working for local councils or working for government who have had their own properties, their own assets or their own homes impacted by floods. Sir, I know that that is a story that you know only too well from your community, where you see service, more likely than not during bushfires, where volunteers may in fact lose their own homes or properties or assets whilst they are defending the life and property of other people.

Can I say, on behalf of the government and with my own pride and humility as minister, thank you to our volunteers. Thank you to our staff and to our agencies who have done such an extraordinary job—such an extraordinary job—in supporting, protecting and assisting our river communities in recovering from this flood that we have not seen for a generation.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (11:47): I rise to put overwhelming support to this motion. It is critically important that we do acknowledge our emergency service personnel, whether they be paid or whether they be volunteers, no matter what colour uniform they wear or what part of the river communities they come from. Everyone rallied, and they rallied exceptionally well.

Living on the edge of a river, we understand the vagaries of what high flows mean, and inevitably some of those high flows do turn into floods. When we do recognise that there is a flood event coming, we have to act, and the emergency services, the river corridor communities and their support bases all came together. I think it was an outstanding collaboration of all walks of life that came to the defence against what was the might and power of Mother Nature.

We have experienced this before, and we will experience it again. I am a little aghast at some people using a climate change explanation around floods. If it was climate change in 2022, was it climate change in 1974? Was it climate change in 1931, was it climate change in 1956, or was it climate change in 1870? We will have to find out one day, I can assure you.

I think it is important we recognise that the vagaries of Mother Nature and the weather continue to challenge us every single day. Whether living in the city or living in the country, there are those challenges and we have to rise up and prepare, just as those emergency services and volunteers did.

To put it into perspective, back in 1956 we saw 341 gigalitres and back in 1974 we saw 182 gigalitres. One thing that has not been definitive in this past flood is the actual number. There were vague numbers of 180, 190 and 195 coming into the border. It is very hard to measure those flows, particularly on the border because that is where it crosses over the border and enters a very vast and wide flood plain commonly known as the Chowilla flood plain.

That flood plain is about 12 kilometres wide and the significant amount of water coming into South Australia then spreads and we see those flood waters impact. It rose to about 4.2 metres. As it makes its way down the corridor, we have different landscapes and we have different flood plains. As it flowed into some of those more narrow landscapes, particularly below Lock 2, the river rose up to between 7.5 and 7.7 metres. That had significant impact on those communities, particularly the shack and smaller communities in that middle section of the river that could not put up levee banks. All they could do was move their possessions to first or second levels. The river height did pose challenges and every community had a different set of circumstances.

My electorate of Chaffey goes from the border down almost to the outskirts of Mannum. During the last six months of my travels around the electorate, I have seen the vast challenges to those different river communities. The first port of call of the high river into South Australia was not only the Chowilla flood plain but it was also the town of Renmark.

As the member for Hammond said, Renmark is an island. It is an island in the middle of a flood plain that is front and centre to Mother Nature. All that river wanted to do was run Renmark over. It wanted to continue on its merry way. We know that rivers and floodwaters like to go straight ahead; they do not like to turn corners.

I pay tribute to all my river communities, whether it be Renmark, Paringa, Berri, Barmera, Loxton, Waikerie, or moving down to Mid Murray. They did an outstanding job and they came together and learnt from one another. They rallied together to understand how they could best defend what was a raging river sent on its way from our eastern seaboard, the catchment of the Murray-Darling Basin.

Over a number of years, the landscape has changed. What was flood plain back in 1974 is now farming country. We have seen farmers and communities defending their turf, defending their properties, with the majority of them now building levees, whether they be permanent or temporary. But when levees are built, the water is then directed straight ahead. It is directed past their properties and inevitably it is all directed towards the Murray Mouth. Along the way we saw a lot of destruction and heartache, and through all of that we saw emergency service personnel not only managing communities and infrastructure internally but giving the leadership that was needed to keep those communities as safe as possible.

They were not the only ones to do that. There was also some great historical knowledge. Some of those elderly people had experienced some of those past floods. Particularly in the Riverland, we saw a lot who had experienced 1956, more who had experienced 1974 and they painted a picture of what happened in yesteryear, which gave us a much better understanding of what we needed to do and what we needed to do better. There were some vagaries, some problems and some mistakes made.

The forecast river flow events did not match historically what the river height was because we had seen more and more constraints put into our river corridor. The river corridor is very complex. What I would say to give anyone an understanding of what people had to encounter was that, over time, we have seen that those constraints have been put into the river corridor—whether it be environmental regulators; whether it be causeways, and roads, and bridges; whether it be housing development. We have seen a number of those constraints that have added to the height of the river, but they have also added to the complexities of being able to manage the flows and of course in relation to what the river height meant.

If we look upriver where there is a much more complex system in the Edward, the Wakool and the Lachlan, we saw river flows up there—as a number, about 180 GL—but the river was running at about 0.8 of a metre higher. To understand that, to better prepare, we did see a number of rejigged numbers out of the government departments that was very frustrating for people building levees, very frustrating for people moving pumps and very frustrating for those who were moving their possessions out of their homes, out of their shacks, because it was a moving target.

As a government, they did not get it quite right but, as we progressed, it became better and better. It became more accurate, just like South Australian Power Networks. They were very tardy in the beginning and I was very critical, but I commend them for responding and they became better as the waters proceeded through South Australia and the river corridor. When it really did matter and when the river came to a peak, they had got their act together and responded accordingly.

I must quickly touch on some of the levee systems. I remarked on Renmark, which had 36 kilometres of levee. They did a very good job not only of building it—the local businesses, the councils planning and monitoring and engaging the engineers—but also doing the ongoing daily monitoring so that we understood if there were any weaknesses, any erosion—particularly wind and high flow—and we were there to respond, and we did.

I think everyone who was part of that, particularly the CEO of the Renmark council, should be commended. All the council should be, but he was a leader in South Australia through local government in planning and making sure that we were best prepared. Moving along quickly, I must pay tribute to the two lives lost—one at Taylorville, one at Loxton—which is very, very sad.

We now move into the recovery phase: the clean-up, the roads and the ferries to be reopened. People must remember that they have to register for the clean-up because there will be a lot of homes, a lot of shacks, that will be demolished. There will be a lot of asbestos and a lot of waste. I would urge the government to make sure that they do put enough resources into the clean-up, they do put enough resources into the recovery, because this will be a scar if not dealt with properly; it will be a long-festering scar that the river corridor and communities will have to put up with.

I want to thank the emergency accommodation. The Humanihut that was brought up to the Riverland was outstanding work. Not a lot of it was used, but they did a great job. DefenCell, which is about eight kilometres, is worth its weight in gold. There are many, many more people I would like to thank, but from the border to the mouth, I think the South Australian emergency services should hold their heads high. They did an outstanding job in keeping people as safe as they could and as dry as they could, and we will prepare for the next flood because it could be next year.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson) (11:58): I too rise to commend this motion to the house and to thank all of our emergency services workers—volunteers and paid staff—and also other public servants across myriad portfolios who pretty much dropped everything and raced up to the Riverland to do what they could to help those in need.

I think it has been said before that the worst of times brings out the best in communities and in states. I was up in the Riverland with the Natural Resources Committee in November, as the preparations were underway as the flood waters were headed downstream towards Renmark and the rest of the Riverland. It was terrific to see all levels of government working together and local people and emergency services all coming together to brace for what we knew was going to be one of the biggest floods in the Riverland's history.

Every time I turned on the telly or saw social media over the period of these rising floodwaters and the devastation and the disruption that followed, I was really heartened to see the member for Hammond and the member for Chaffey sitting at times around the cabinet table, alongside our Premier and our ministers. Not only is it the right thing to do, it is also what communities want to see. They do not want to see politics brought into natural disasters. They want to see everyone working together on the one page.

There is no better person, in many respects, than a local MP in terms of knowing what the situation is on the ground and then feeding that into government but also hearing from government what is happening and then dispersing that information. So I want to congratulate the member for Hammond and the member for Chaffey for the way they went about things.

I remember driving along in the car and hearing the member for Hammond being interviewed, and thinking, 'This is sensational, that we've actually got everyone working together.' Unfortunately, it did not happen during the Kangaroo Island bushfires, with the exception of the member for Chaffey, who came and knocked on my office door over there and said, 'Let's go and have a bit of a chat.' He was the agriculture minister at the time. That is the way it should be done.

I think that there is still a lot of work to be done because, like a bushfire, once it goes through it leaves behind a trail of destruction, of damage and of mental health issues, and we need to make sure that we do everything we possibly can, as a government, to assist those people who have lost so much along the length of the river. I remember when we were up there in early November and people were being fairly optimistic about it. As the reality drew closer and the water level started rising, I think you could see a change in the response of individuals and of home owners, who could see that everything that they loved, this place so full of memories and everything else, was under threat.

I am sure the Riverland communities and those further downstream impacted by these floodwaters will be looking out for each other. It is a really important thing to do, that peer-to-peer response. What we know is that the more these people hear from leadership, which is local MPs, local government and state government, the better they will feel about things because they will know that they have not been forgotten. Sometimes, the worst thing that can happen is months or years after a disaster, when everyone else seems to have moved on while you are still wallowing in the fact that your home is not the home that it once was because of the destruction caused by the natural disaster, in this case a flood. I am sure that, from the Premier down and all of his cabinet colleagues, they have got that front and centre.

Again, I want to thank everyone in this place and in the upper house who played any role at all in this. The emergency services minister I think would have spent most of his Christmas and new year period in the Riverland, from what I can see on social media and in the media. They were up there, they were letting people know that they were there, that they were listening and they were ready to act, and I think always providing those updates so that people knew what was happening. I know in those early days it was hard because there was a prediction of X, and a week later—sometimes, as it got closer, it became a day later—X turned into Y. But everyone was trying to keep the communities as updated as possible.

To all the people from the emergency services, thank you very much. We look at the SES, the Country Fire Service, the Metropolitan Fire Service, the South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission, the Volunteer Marine Rescue and Surf Life Saving South Australia for the service that they provided to a community when it was in its greatest need, and it is to be commended by all of us here. I throw my full support behind this motion and all those who helped out in the floods.

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (12:04): I, likewise, rise to support this motion and to thank those volunteers from the SES in particular who helped the community of Milang and particularly the community of shack owners at Milang. They were the only really affected properties within my electorate. Most of the lake and Goolwa and the channel itself were high enough out of the water not to be a problem, but it certainly was an area that I was very concerned about as far back as November when I asked a question in this place around the likelihood of issues within this area.

I was very concerned, particularly understanding how the lake itself over summer regulates itself, that we see strong south-easterlies on a very regular basis blowing water from the eastern side of the lake into the western side of the lake. A great example of that was seen as we looked at the numbers for Milang versus Meningie. There were often days when there was a half a metre difference in the height of the water at those two points and that was just because the wind was blowing that water across the two lakes straight at Milang. It was certainly something I kept monitoring right through December.

We got to the end of December and we started to see lake levels rise at Milang up to 1.1 metres by the end of December, which was 10 centimetres above anything the previous estimates had forecast. Certainly, it started to concern me where that was heading, and I appreciated that when I reached out to the Minister for Emergency Services he engaged the Department for Environment and Water to have a look at that area and do some modelling to see where the predictions were and whether they were accurate. Sadly, we discovered they were not, and it was likely that the levels would reach 1.3.

Sadly, that all happened between the 3rd and the 5th and on the early morning of the 5th the water at 1.3 went over the bank and into the shacks themselves. Unfortunately, those shack owners had very little preparation done because they were not expecting that water. They were very much anticipating a lower level.

But the town and the SES on the 5th certainly banded together and had a massive working bee to fill sandbags that day to protect themselves from any further inundations. The interesting thing about Milang is that it was sheer wave action that forced the water over the top of the minor levee bank that sits in front of the shacks. The shacks probably sit at around 1.2 and the levee itself is probably about 1.4, but the 1.3 waves hitting it were enough to get over the top, so we saw quite a large amount of water go in on that early morning of the 5th.

That led to complications of the septic system being inundated with water. It led to the power system being turned off because of the amount of water that went into people's hot water services, etc., that were outside their shacks. SA Power Networks made the quick decision that it needed to turn that power off, which then further added to the effluent issues because they could not operate their septic systems and pump the water out, so it made those shacks uninhabitable for a period of time.

Not many permanent residents live in those shacks, but there are a couple. It certainly was a challenge for them not having power for a week or so and not having the facilities to use in their shacks for toilets and showers, etc., was also a big challenge for them. I must again thank those SES volunteers who were there many times. I made daily trips. On one day, I went three or four times from Victor Harbor to Milang in response to issues as they arose to try to help those shack owners with those issues.

I would like to particularly thank the Milang Marine Search and Rescue Squadron. They also had problems of their own. Their clubrooms facility is right on the lake itself. They, too, were battered by those waves. After the worst of it, I was talking to them, and they do see an upside. They now have a beach that they did not used to have, where they may actually be able to launch boats from just outside their facility. That was the slight upside that they saw.

There is also some work that will have to be done right across that foreshore to protect it going forward. There has been quite a lot of erosion into the bank. If we had another event like this for that length of time, it would be much more severe because there is no longer that protection of the bank sitting in front of the shacks and sitting in front of the rescue squadron's clubrooms as well.

I very much think it is fantastic to see that community spirit. On the fifth there was a call-out to the community to help—a working bee to fill sandbags. They had a pallet of sandbags sitting there on 29 December when I went across there, and almost none of them had been used by the afternoon of the fifth. There was a public meeting that evening. I think they had used three pallets of bags and had to get extra sand delivered to fill those bags. It was a great effort by the community.

I also particularly want to thank the Alexandrina Council for their efforts during that time. It was a challenging location to get bags to put in front of the shacks, because it was not wide enough to drive vehicles down. They found someone with a telehandler that was able to actually lift them through the shacks to make it easier to get them to the front, so it really sped the process up.

Thank you to all those people involved. This was very much a community effort and very much an important thing. It is amazing how these natural disasters bring the community together. It is always a credit to those communities in the work that they do to support themselves as well as have the SES come in and assist them. Thanks to all those involved, and hopefully it is a long time before we need to go down this path again.

The Hon. N.F. COOK (Hurtle Vale—Minister for Human Services) (12:12): I certainly would like to contribute to this motion recognising all the efforts of emergency service providers as well as all other staff and volunteers who have contributed towards the safety of the river communities. While locals talk of the floods of 1956 or 1974, this flood was unique in a number of ways. Compared with previous emergencies, we certainly had more people, more homes and more businesses in the affected areas.

If we talk about emergencies such as the Pinery and Kangaroo Island bushfires, for example, there was little notice as the catastrophe hit. That is the same for bushfires pretty much universally. With this one, the focus has to be drawn over a long period of time in planning, whereas bushfires are a quick activation and a focus on clean-up and rapid relief. With the flood, we did have time to prepare and we had more tools at our disposal to help people.

I have listened to the contributions of members, and I think there is definitely this theme of thanks. I wanted to pick up on one thing from the mostly excellent contribution of the member for Chaffey. I found it really easy to find the updated predicted flow levels. It was very clear. It is found at waterconnect.sa.gov.au. This has been the website where flows and anticipated heights have been posted and amended since about 2007. The 17 February flow rate was 42 gigalitres at the border. Further down the river, it is heights rather than flows. The anticipated flows that were given to us were between 190 and 220 gigalitres consistently. The peak landed at around 190 gigalitres on 23 December at the border, so I am very pleased that it was not at the higher level of anticipated flows.

While the SES, CFS, SAPOL and many others have particular roles in terms of responding to the immediate threats of floods or fires, I would like to talk a bit about the South Australian Housing Authority, or Housing SA, which takes a lead role in emergency relief, including the rapid activation of emergency relief centres—and we had three of those along the river.

As well as setting up emergency relief centres, they showed quick action for rough sleepers along the river, identifying very quickly the rough sleepers and getting them into accommodation that was safer for them. I know that happened with dozens of people along the river, and I thank them for that. The emergency relief centres ensure that people have a safe place to go and be supported with counselling, food and finances, amongst other things. In a time of crisis just a cup of tea is so much more, and I saw that every time I visited. Volunteers help by providing cups of tea, creating a moment to breathe and then space to work through various challenges people were being faced with.

Our first centre opened in Berri in late November and, as a flood worked its way down the stream, we opened two more in Mannum and Murray Bridge. I visited many times across the crisis and once I had established an itinerary I did my best to reach out to local members of parliament—Tim Whetstone, member for Chaffey; and Adrian Pederick, member for Hammond—and we had a really great engagement across the period of time that these flood relief centres were being activated and put in place. I thank both those local members for their response and their reception to what we were trying to achieve.

I will not go on about it for very long but I was disappointed with the federal member, Tony Pasin. He had been on the radio being critical of not being reached out to, being critical of not being communicated with. The one time I got an answer from him, I would just call it berating that he provided me with that made little sense. There was no contribution to being able to serve the community better—unlike our state members of parliament who did a terrific job. In fact, I had people apologising for his vacation of the space. He just did not contribute at all in a positive way, and that was disappointing. Local MPs were bipartisan and cooperative, and I tried to address things as quickly as I possibly could so that we could generally provide help.

I thank the groups for giving up their community spaces to allow emergency centres to operate. I visited the Berri Senior Citizens Club just prior to handover. It was really heartening to watch the community socialising together. They were very welcoming and supportive of lending their space while we worked through the floods. We have handed that space back now for, once again, cards, indoor bowls, afternoon teas and raffles. I look forward to popping up there and having a look at it in its full flight.

Sporting clubs are often the beating heart of the community and the Mannum Roos footy club, home of the mighty Ramblers in Murray Bridge, are no different. They facilitated space and, again, made visitors feel very welcome. They volunteered themselves, helping out around the building. Uniquely, the Mannum site also became a space for caravans and RVs for those people needing to be on higher ground. It created its own little community and demonstrates the resilience of locals who seem to work on the theory that if life gives you lemons you make lemonade.

All locations facilitated and worked with the department as we needed to be responsive and flexible. While the centres were open normally around the hours of 9.00 to 5.00, seven days a week, they actually were ready to respond 24 hours a day, and they did. There was an occasion where assistance was needed in the wee small hours as a levee was breached, and staff were on hand to open up the centre as required to ensure immediate action, and that happened within the hour.

In addition to emergency relief, the flood relief hotline for people to call was available if they could not get to the centre. Housing SA coordinates the centres but there is a range of people from a whole heap of government departments who come in to provide assistance on request. We had all levels of staff helping, from admin all the way to exec directors, who volunteered to relocate to the regional towns and help local communities.

They came from various departments, from DHS and Housing SA; AC Care assisted as well, which is an NGO; the Attorney-General's Department; DCP; Department of Treasury and Finance; another NGO, Uniting Country; and the Department for Environment and Water. We had the Salvation Army, Foodbank, disaster ministries and the Red Cross, whose beautiful volunteers knitted comfort teddies to provide to children.

The Lions Clubs were ever present. They are always there in times of need. We had rural business financial counselling and Good Shepherd giving advice on no-interest loans that were available, and I give a shout-out to Woolies and Foodland along the river, who provided vouchers. Also, Humanihut, as has been mentioned, were set up ready to provide accommodation.

Some of these staff had experience after working on the Pinery bushfires, but for others it was their first time doing emergency relief work. One thing was very clear: all staff I met had found the experience meaningful. They were motivated and felt proud to be part of helping with their own skill set. Every one of these people brought something special and unique to the space, and every one of these people deserves our gratitude and respect.

I would also like to mention that Sounds by the River, which was moved due to the floods from the Maryann Reserve up to the golf club went off really, really well ensuring that the community did not miss out on its much-needed tourism. They got through some initial hiccups, shall we say. Aware that moving the event would impact those who had made the Mannum Roos footy club their home, I understand that local people were provided with some free tickets to attend and were very, very pleased with the night.

We had families being displaced at Christmas. We had staff leaving their own families to support them. Thanks must be extended to those not just working in the centres but also to those who supported their loved ones to go and be useful to ensure their home ran in their absence.

I visited all the emergency relief centres numerous times, and my highlight was attending their handover meal when incoming staff would meet with the outgoing staff. They would exchange notes and talk about people who needed assistance, and often at the venues they would bump into those people who needed the assistance. It was really great.

The emergency centres were calm, organised and their applications for help were processed in a timely and compassionate way. This comes with the customer service experience and knowledge of how to assist with a variety of responses from those in stress. The emergency relief centres are now in a process of transitioning to recovery centres as we enter a new stage of our emergency management process. I would like just very quickly to give you the numbers:

emergency relief centres and phone lines had 3,500 contacts;

they helped with 493 personal-hardship grants worth more than $330,500;

144 accommodation grants worth over $250,000;

52 private rental assistance supports worth more than $170,000;

300 travel relief assistance packages worth $90,000; and

10 Essential Services Grants for nearly $20,000.

The help continues to be asked for and continues to be delivered. While I would not wish an emergency like this on anybody, what I would wish for is another team like I witnessed working through this flood.

Ms THOMPSON (Davenport) (12:22): I, too, rise to recognise the South Australian emergency service sector to whom we are very grateful for their incredible efforts during the recent and ongoing River Murray flood events.

The impacts of this flood are difficult to comprehend. More than 3,000 properties and businesses have been affected. There is significant damage to essential infrastructure, including more than 1,000 kilometres of road. Tourism businesses, like caravan and camping parks, the houseboat industry and hospitality providers have experienced major disruptions and closures. More than 4,000 hectares of agricultural production, including vineyards and other primary production, have been damaged or destroyed.

Then there are other consequences like mental health concerns and other health issues that come with risks to water quality and our wastewater systems. I recently joined Minister Cook on one of her many visits to Mannum to personally thank some of the hardworking staff and volunteers.

A huge percentage of the homes that were flooded were in Mannum. I spoke with the Mayor of Mid Murray Council, Simone Bailey, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mayor Bailey for her leadership and the hard work of her council throughout these floods. Mayor Bailey says that, when she took on the role as a new mayor in November last year, never did she expect to be heading into the worst flooding disaster that her community had ever seen.

She said that there would be few in her community who have not been impacted in some way through the direct flooding of their homes and businesses, the loss of livelihoods or the emotional strain of facing the unknown. But she also says that throughout the disaster, even in their toughest moments, the community has pulled together to look after their own, filling and stacking sandbags, supporting local businesses and donating food and accommodation. People were looking out for each other.

The hardworking emergency crews that have come from the local area, across the state and also around the country have been instrumental in responding to the crisis. More than 500 volunteers have given tens of thousands of hours of their time to help. Mayor Bailey tells me that just like the council staff and paid staff from other organisations, volunteers have worked like crazy, often putting in long hours in tough conditions.

She says if it was not for their support the communities would have been far worse off. She says there would have no doubt been more houses lost if it were not for their efforts. She spoke about their particular efforts rapidly setting up pumps to save the Mannum Rowing Club. She told me about the efforts of emergency services crews who saved a man who had fallen into the cellar of the local hardware store.

On New Year's Eve, these angels in fluoro were pumping water to save their main street. And it wasn't just the emergency services; it was community members and it was council staff. Mayor Bailey acknowledged the council CEO, who she jokingly refers to as a city boy, who worked the midnight to 6am shift on New Year's Eve keeping watch over a levee and the generators so that he could give his staff the night off.

The peak flow has now passed the River Murray, but areas of the flood plain will remain inundated for an extended period. There is a long road ahead to clean up and rebuild, but because of the efforts of good people and volunteers, the communities remain resilient, strong and connected.

We applaud the efforts of the staff and volunteers of the SES, the CFS, the Metropolitan Fire Service, the South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission, Volunteer Marine Rescue and Surf Life Saving South Australia for their outstanding service to the community. Thank you for your tireless work protecting and supporting affected communities.

The Hon. A. MICHAELS (Enfield—Minister for Small and Family Business, Minister for Consumer and Business Affairs, Minister for Arts) (12:26): I rise briefly to speak in support of the member for Waite's motion. As many people before me have said, we have been out to have a look firsthand at the local communities and the impact that this flood has had in that region.

In the last few months, I have been around Murray Bridge, Mannum, Waikerie, Blanchetown, Renmark, Berri and a range of areas along the river to see the thousands of homes and the hundreds of businesses that have been affected by these floods. We have seen land used for crops going under water, shops in the main streets being flooded, and also hundreds of businesses that have been impacted, not necessarily because they have been inundated but because of power cuts or lack of access, etc.

For businesses in particular up along the river, the timing really could not have been worse. As the peak of the flood waters snaked down the river, it hit families during Christmas time. It also stopped businesses in their tracks during what is usually their busiest time of the year. We normally have tens of thousands of South Australians and interstate tourists flocking along the River Murray during summer holidays, and it severely impacted their trade.

I want to thank all the local members for their support of their local communities, and local councillors. Mayor Simone Bailey also took us around a couple of times, and I want to thank her in particular. Local communities really did band together to support each other through this really hard time. While waiting for the peak to come, in that awful wait time, people along the river were incredibly optimistic, getting themselves ready for what they knew was going to be a very difficult time.

I know that lots of people helped each other moving caravans, moving stock in shops, etc. Those local volunteers were incredibly well supported by our SES, CFS, MFS and SAFECOM. I want to thank them for the work that they have done. There were countless selfless individuals who put their time and their energy into helping their local communities, and that was the incredible part of the floods, and that will need to continue as those areas recover.

I want to again just thank the local MPs for their efforts, the mayors, councillors and council staff, working on the ground supporting their communities and working in partnership with state government agencies throughout this disaster. Obviously levee banks being built have saved countless homes and businesses from being inundated. I have worked really quite closely with the RDA at Murraylands and Riverland who have done really well supporting their local businesses as well as other local chambers of commerce throughout the region.

I want to recognise the sacrifices made by dozens of staff from a number of government agencies, particularly over that Christmas period, who were at our relief centres in Berri, Mannum and Murray Bridge. That includes staff from SAHA, DHS, PIRSA and Services Australia, and we had staff from the Office for Small and Family Business as well at those relief centres. I want to thank those people. The Red Cross did an incredible job, playing a key role in disaster recovery and had some wonderful volunteers that I got to meet at the relief centres.

Mr Deputy Speaker, as you are aware, we did come in quite quickly with some plans to help in particular the businesses but also the individuals with support packages, rolling out a $194 million package with the federal government. That has included targeted grants, allowance payments, travel support, housing assistance, financial counselling and mental health support, which has been really important.

I am very grateful for everyone who has been involved in the rollout of the comprehensive support for businesses. That has included a number of targeted grant programs as well as free financial counselling. That has been really important through Rural Business Support and, as I said, representatives at the relief centres from the Office for Small and Family Business.

In terms of grant support, as of last Friday I am pleased to say that 96 applications were approved for the Early Business Closure Grant. That provided up to $20,000 for each business owner. We have had more than $1.5 million go out the door for that grant program. Two hundred and thirty applications have been processed through the Office for Small and Family Business for the generator grants. That has meant a value of $344,000 going out the door as of Friday last week.

We have recently launched the Small Business Industry Support Grant. That is where businesses can prove a reduction in turnover of 30 per cent or more. That is to support those businesses that did not actually necessarily need to close, like down the main street Mannum: on one side they were impacted directly by the floods; on the other side they had access issues rather than being forced to close because of the floods. That is a grant of $10,000. We have had 18 businesses be approved so far and many more to come. We also have the Small Business Flood Recovery Grants being rolled out at the moment. That will help businesses with clean-up costs of up to $50,000, which is really important for them.

I know some of these grant applications have taken a little bit of time to process. I know we added additional resources to the Office for Small and Family Business. Most applications have been processed within a matter of days; some have taken a little bit longer because of the complex business structures and waiting for information from applicants to be able to get that through the department. I want to thank them for working really hard in processing these applications as quickly as possible to help those businesses. We have got more than $2 million out the door to help those small and family businesses in the region. We expect many more grant applications to be processed in the coming weeks and months as well.

Like I said, even those who were not directly inundated with water have had severe impacts on their businesses, and those financial losses are significant, and we understand that. We are doing as much as we can to support these businesses as a state government and working with the federal government and, of course, working with local government, RDAs etc. to be able to offer those supports to small businesses.

On that note, I just want to thank the member again for bringing this motion to the house and commend her for that.

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (12:34): I rise to commend the member for Waite on bringing this motion to the house and at this time, early in the new sitting year and still in the course of what the member for Waite has described as the 2022-23 River Murray flood event. It is well to remember that, while levels have peaked and we are seeing now some reduction, a welcome reduction, as flows continue, the important work of recovery—both in terms of immediate aid to those displaced and to individuals and businesses as well as to the landscape—will be the work of the year and years to come.

It is indeed perhaps a singular achievement and reason for recognition of all of our South Australian emergency service sector that in the course of what has been described, at least by some voices, as the worst natural disaster in the state's history, we have not seen the kind of loss of life and injury that one might expect in such a natural disaster, certainly in those that we have seen elsewhere. Indeed, when one compares to the last and perhaps most significant natural disaster to affect our state—the 40th anniversary of which we recognised last Thursday, 16 February, the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983—that comparison stands in stark contrast.

But what we have seen is a day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month steady and dedicated commitment of South Australian emergency services volunteers working alongside local members and government response to what is an event that many residents and businesses will not have seen in their lifetimes. We go back at least to 1974, and comparisons are made to 1956 in terms of the flood events, so there is no doubting its significance.

Sadly, too often, we have occasion in this place to recognise in particular the efforts of the CFS. As the member for Heysen, I am often talking about the vital and necessary response that the CFS volunteers provide to Hills communities in circumstances of fire events and fire disasters. I want to just single out on this occasion the superb work of the SES, under the leadership of Chris Beattie. Chris is someone whom I have had the privilege to get to know along the way. He is a person I hold in very high regard as leader of the SES.

In a way, I had an opportunity for a preview of the way in which the SES goes about conducting its vital response task in September last year, on the occasion of what was a local disaster risk that was in many ways averted by the response of the SES, together with the reassurance that it provided in being on site and ready to respond. The Echunga dam near-failure was a circumstance that, happily, ended successfully, with a minimum of damage, and particularly with a minimum of fuss—a response coordinated by the SES with the assistance of other emergency services, including the CFS. The way in which they went about it was typical of that service, and Chris in particular.

As these flood response measures have been taken over recent weeks and months, we have heard from members on both sides of the chamber speaking from a variety of perspectives, including those on the ground, those in government with a responsibility to provide housing responses and business support, and all the range of public assistance, that where there is an emergency that is faced by people throughout our communities in South Australia, we have an important government response, and we also have an able and dedicated community volunteer emergency response.

I wholeheartedly commend the motion in all its respects. May we take these opportunities to indeed show our appreciation to staff and volunteers who work tirelessly, and particularly on this occasion in their response to the 2022-23 River Murray flood event.

Ms HUTCHESSON (Waite) (12:40): I would like to thank all the members for their contributions this morning. It would not be possible to help all the communities in the River Murray area without the help of all the volunteers and staff who came together and continue to come together.

I would like to draw attention to the relief centre volunteer program and the participants who took part in that and how much help they have provided. The relief centre contribution was incredible, as I said, and the instrumental leadership of Kelly Lambert, Tina Snowden, Leanne Jury and the state coordinator, Shane Pritchard, allowed residents to get the help they needed. They were ably supported by so many public servants and NGO workers, and I would like to take a minute to acknowledge those workers.

I am going to read through a list so that their names will be remembered: Tanya Glynn, Sherri Winter, Ruth Crooke, Meredith Nelson, Jill Wood, Tammy Walters, Claire Mazuran, Glen Orr, Kanwalpreet Kaur, John McKinley, Deepa Azad, Denise Scappaticci, Jo Stolz, Krysti Moon, Debra Thompson, Peter Yusuf, Lucy De Dominicis, Caroline Lock, Helen Kelly, Sarah Wilson, Tim Heffernan, Ramiro Iglesias, Annie Rawlings, Tanya Harder, Vicky Marker and Shannon Willmott.

Also, Tina Benbow, Pauline Smith, Emma McGregor, Jacob Zea, Janice Watson, Kellie Ayris, Monika Madaras, Leanne Hyland, Lyn Manners, Lynette Fiegert, Kristie Goodridge, Natalya Grace-Jones, Terrence Wilson, Marcus Eakin, Alana Kanafa, Glen Michels, Jo Stanley, Susan Rose, Bronte Elston, Fraser Thompson, Maria Nelson, Peter Gdodakis, Belinda Rudd, Elizabeth Hudson, Marnie Weatherald, Penny Thompson, Rhys Davies, Ben Sullivan and Stephanie Ferguson.

In addition, Andrea Hayes, James Kennedy, Nicole Vukajlovic, Carli Pfitzner, Kimberley Kranz, Rob Sharrad, Lia Fenwick, Kathryn Hollingworth, Anthea Lorenz, Eleanor Bray, Svetlana Bower, Michelle Steicke, Evan Garnaut, Tom Geyer, Roz Hartley, Caroline Bliman, Lysha Brinsley, Annie Adams, Mel Aylett, Tamara Coulthard, Liz Sampson, Kimberly Amos, Chelsea Lodge, Kristelle Amos, Melissa Ramsey, Trish Rollins, Justine Tuip, Sarah Gay, Matthew Hunter, Devon Milton-Hutchinson, Tiana Pope, Jodie MacKintosh, Ari Start and Anne Crouch.

All these employees and volunteers gave their time to help their community, just like all of our emergency services volunteers and staff, and we cannot thank them enough for all of the work they have done, and for putting their lives on the line in some cases. I commend the motion to the house.

Motion carried.

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