Hartsuyker again calls on PM to honour Parliamentary promise of one-off cash assistance for March flood victims

June 16, 2009

Federal MP Luke Hartsuyker has called on Prime Minister to honour his promise in the Parliament and provide Coffs Coast flood victims with one-off cash payments. During a speech delivered in the Federal Parliament last night, Mr Hartsuyker said he had written again to the Prime Minister imploring him to provide the cash grants.

Mr Hartsuyker also said he would shortly table in the Parliament a petition with more than 6,000 signatures.  The petition calls on the Government to provide the same level of cash assistance for March flood victims that is being provided to May flood victims.

 

“Although it is almost 11 weeks since the Coffs Coast and parts of the Clarence Valley experienced the deluge, there are still many people who are struggling to rebuild their lives and make ends meet.  The Rudd government has clearly made a mistake in failing to treat all Australians equally. However, despite the injustices, despite the double standards and despite the anger which local residents are feeling, the government still has the opportunity to do the right thing.

 

“If the government was being true to itself and fair to the residents of the Coffs Coast and Clarence Valley it would acknowledge its mistake and immediately provide flood victims with the required support of $1,000 per adult and $400 per child.”

 

During his speech Mr Hartsuyker highlighted the impact the floods have had on numerous local residents. He quoted Judy Harrison from Bellingen Neighbourhood Centre who recently wrote to the Prime Minister and forwarded Mr Hartsuyker a copy of the letter. It read:

“I am very concerned about the decision of your government to not pay emergency one off grants to residents of the Urunga Township affected by the March 31st 2009 storm. This town has a small population with a high number of retirees.  In my role as Neighbour Aid coordinator I have first hand knowledge of the trauma suffered by the elderly victims of this storm. Of my 28 Urunga clients 17 received major damage to their residence, 8 lost all belongings and 7 are still not able to return home. One of these victims is an 87 year old Changi vet.

“Since March 31st this man has resided in 4 different locations and is still three months away from having his little unit liveable. He, like all my other affected clients, is finding it very gruelling, financially and emotionally, to survive.  It is very difficult for these victims to understand that if they were residing in another area of Australia affected by flood they would receive this Federal Government support yet as residents of this little town they don’t. I certainly can’t explain it to them because I do not understand it either.”

 

Mr Hartsuyker also read out a letter from Urunga resident Brian Glover. The letter read: “We had been renting the house and although the flood rendered it uninhabitable, we found it impossible to find somewhere else to live. As a result, we had to live for five (5) weeks in the flood infested house. Having lost just about everything, including the refrigerator, we had to sleep on a mattress on the concrete floor. It was five horrendous weeks before we were able to secure somewhere else to live.

Then a fortnight later after moving in, on 20 May, my partner Maureen Nederlof died suddenly at home while 000 was instructing me, until the ambulance arrived, what to do when she had collapsed. She said she had no history of heart trouble. I feel that the strain on her resulting from the flood took its toll. Her age was 68, my age 72.”

Mr Hartsuyker also quoted from letter forwarded to the Prime Minister by the Sawtell Chamber of Commerce. It read: “Perhaps you need to come and look at the aged living in mildewed walls, bare floors, warped kitchens and bathroom cupboards and doors and very little furniture, waiting for insurance companies who cannot get their act together. They have to buy meals—$1000 would have gone a long way to helping them. It is time all Australians were treated equally when their area is declared a natural disaster!”

“This clearly shows the level of stress that the March flood has created in so many families,” Mr Hartsuyker told the Parliament.

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