00:00And I've come up because I love this community and it's been through...
00:03How did you find out? How did you find out about the whole world?
00:08Oh, Holly sent me a personal message to make sure I was alright.
00:12She's an amazing life. She's a community organiser in the region.
00:15That's a lot.
00:16We recruited Gracie, but...
00:18Yes.
00:19And you're a local?
00:21Yeah, well, I'm in Bramford Blackwell.
00:23She's about 15 minutes now.
00:25But not for our work in Tari at the moment.
00:29Yeah, yeah.
00:31So, I can't do it.
00:33Yes, I'll be fine.
00:35Yeah.
00:37I don't know.
00:39When do you leave?
00:41I think I'm afraid to rent in the public.
00:43That's about ten years.
00:46Thanks very much, Claire.
00:49And I acknowledge everyone who is here as well from Federal and State Government,
00:56as well as the officials who are doing such a remarkable job here.
01:01I want to thank the people who have engaged with us here this morning and this afternoon.
01:10Rod and Milton both welcomed us to their farms.
01:16They're going through tough times.
01:18Milton has been there for 74 years on his farm and the loss of stock, the devastation that
01:28we have witnessed first hand is being only exceeded by the extraordinary resilience that
01:37these Australians are showing.
01:39And I just take my hat off to them.
01:43They have been quite remarkable and they went through not just talking about their needs going
01:50forward and the challenges that they will have to get back on their feet.
01:54But what that means as well for others.
01:57And it is a point that whilst there are people who are directly affected here,
02:03every Australian is affected as well by the fact that we've had a loss of dairy industries
02:10that will have an impact right throughout Australia and right throughout the economic impact here as well.
02:18But the human impact we must remember first and foremost.
02:23The loss of five lives through these devastating floods.
02:27But the extraordinary hardship that people have gone through.
02:32People have spoken about the 2021 floods and how that had a devastating impact
02:39but they thought that would be the peak.
02:42Well this flood has been far worse and the impact has been far more severe.
02:47I spoke with Lynne at Wingham when we visited there.
02:52Lynne's 80 years old and has lived in this area for her entire life there in Wingham.
03:00And she has never seen anything like it in her lifetime.
03:05As did other people in Wingham who we spoke to first hand.
03:10There is nothing like coming to an area and seeing people first hand and engaging with them.
03:19So I want to say that to those people as well who are helping out lastly to acknowledge them.
03:27But whether it's the Australian Defence Force who have arrived today with 70 personnel.
03:34The people from DRA, there will be 100 here by the end of the week.
03:39The magnificent people from the SES and from other volunteers as well.
03:44Holly Rankin here who is coordinating the volunteers here.
03:48This is the best of community spirit.
03:51That says a lot about the Australian ethos of who we are.
03:55We look after each other in difficult times.
03:58We don't leave people behind.
04:00And I am here certainly to say on behalf of the Commonwealth Government.
04:04But I think Janelle will allow me to say on behalf of the New South Wales Government as well.
04:10And Claire of course, the local council is always at the forefront of dealing with these challenges.
04:17Every level of government along with every level of Australian society stands with this community.
04:24And we will not leave them behind.
04:26We've seen people really pitch in and look after each other.
04:29People looking after their neighbours and bringing them into their homes.
04:33People who have been devastated.
04:36But there are still massive challenges.
04:39And we need to understand.
04:42And certainly the government understands that this isn't something that will go away in a matter of days or weeks or even months.
04:49And this will take some time for recovery.
04:52But Australians are resilient.
04:54They're tough.
04:55And we will come through this and we'll come through it together.
04:58I want to say that we are activating the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment in nine local government areas.
05:08This payment helps people who have suffered the most serious impacts including major damage to their home or serious injury or loss of a loved one as a result of severe weather.
05:20It's a one off payment of $1,000 for eligible adults and $400 for eligible childs.
05:28It will be available from 2pm tomorrow.
05:31We're also extending the disaster recovery allowance.
05:35This is providing for up to 13 weeks of income support for people who can't attend their work as employees or people who are self-employed and unable to earn an income.
05:50We're extending that to all 19 local government areas that have previously been subject to support from the government.
06:01This will be available from 2pm tomorrow.
06:05this is a result of the four local government areas including Mid Coast here and Port Macquarie, Hastings, Kempsey and Dungok
06:15that had previously been subject to allow this support.
06:20This involves as well comes on top of the support that is already rolling out including personal hardship payments,
06:30dollars for eligible adults and up to nine hundred dollars for family in the 19 affected local
06:36government areas the community recovery support fund that provides a million dollars for all of
06:42the impacted councils just to help with the costs of cleaning up and repairing damage and as well
06:49the primary producers and small businesses support this provides for concessional rate loans as well
06:55as great subsidies to help transport livestock and fodder all of the supports we acknowledge
07:02there's going to be more needed yes in addition to that of course that the hubs that are being
07:08established there's other support as well including mental health support one of the things that we've
07:14spoken about with some of the volunteers here as well is just how tough this is and that will be
07:20for a long period of time as well to all the volunteers who are pitching in here it is
07:27remarkable that people have come whether they be ses people who we met from western australia
07:35as well as from other parts of new south wales and the east coast or whether it be the volunteers
07:42the gentleman who rode his bike from victoria to help out and others as well at the worst of times
07:50we see the best of the australian character and we see that on display here in this local community
