MERYL SWANSON MP FEDERAL MEMBER FOR PATERSON SHADOW ASSISTANT MHINISTER FOR DEFENCE Travelling around my electorate on the weekend it was shocking. though not surprising. to see the havoc the recent rain events was having in some areas with flooding, inundation, and road damage. Having grown up here and lived here for most of my life I understand how quickly a few days of heavy rain can transform our normally beautiful and friendly waterways into raging torrents that take no prisoners. I understand how unpredictable water can be and seems to work around our best plans to mitigate inundation and damage. With that in mind I was pleased to make joint representations with my state colleagues, Kate Washington, Member for Port Stephens calling on the State Minister, David Eliott and the Federal Minister, David Littleproud to declare our region a natural disaster zone knowing that the situation would worsen before it improved for affected residents. Thankfully, the State Government has included Port Stephens, Newcastle, Maitland, and Cessnock LGA's as Declared Natural Disaster areas and I would encourage affected residents, primary producers and small businesses to contact my office for more information about how to make a claim. I would encourage all local resident impacted by the flood to access the Disaster Recovery Payment available to support families in our region. $1,000 is available per adult and $400 per child if your home or possessions have been damaged because of this severe weather event. Applications are not yet available online, but I called on the Minister to rectify this immediately. I understand it is to the frustration of many in our community that the call centre waiting times have been as high as 3 hours. The government must allocate proper resources to ensure our region and other impacted communities get the help they need. Unfortunately, this weather event has again raised concerns amongst the residents of Williamtown as water washes the contaminant off the Defence base, through the drainage systems and onto people's properties. This will continue to happen until Defence has completely removed PFAS from the soils within their boundaries or enough time has passed that the chemical has disbursed. This certainly won't be in our lifetime. I will continue to push this Government to listen to the residents of Williamtown and find a solution to this ongoing issue. I would remind all locals to keep updated on road closures via the SES Facebook page or again by contacting my office as needed. Sadly, I fear this severe storm and flooding event has sent many in our community backwards. In recent weeks I have had many discussions with business owners who are facing the very real threat of ruin. Many local businesses have been scourged by Covid and now face the end of the Jobkeeper program. We know that consumer spending just hasn't restored to its pre-covid levels. Many young people in our region are already struggling to find full-time work and I'm concerned, with the loss of more local businesses, there will be even less opportunity for our children into the tuture. It is vital that the Federal government extends Jobkeeper to any business effected by this flood so that locals have a chance to get back on their feet. www.merylswanson.com.au Phone: 4983 2401 Email:meryl.swanson.mp@aph.gov.au Office: 35 Sturgeon Street, Raymond Terrace 2324 MERYL SWANSON MP FEDERAL MEMBER FOR PATERSON SHADOW ASSISTANT MHINISTER FOR DEFENCE Travelling around my electorate on the weekend it was shocking. though not surprising. to see the havoc the recent rain events was having in some areas with flooding, inundation, and road damage. Having grown up here and lived here for most of my life I understand how quickly a few days of heavy rain can transform our normally beautiful and friendly waterways into raging torrents that take no prisoners. I understand how unpredictable water can be and seems to work around our best plans to mitigate inundation and damage. With that in mind I was pleased to make joint representations with my state colleagues, Kate Washington, Member for Port Stephens calling on the State Minister, David Eliott and the Federal Minister, David Littleproud to declare our region a natural disaster zone knowing that the situation would worsen before it improved for affected residents. Thankfully, the State Government has included Port Stephens, Newcastle, Maitland, and Cessnock LGA's as Declared Natural Disaster areas and I would encourage affected residents, primary producers and small businesses to contact my office for more information about how to make a claim. I would encourage all local resident impacted by the flood to access the Disaster Recovery Payment available to support families in our region. $1,000 is available per adult and $400 per child if your home or possessions have been damaged because of this severe weather event. Applications are not yet available online, but I called on the Minister to rectify this immediately. I understand it is to the frustration of many in our community that the call centre waiting times have been as high as 3 hours. The government must allocate proper resources to ensure our region and other impacted communities get the help they need. Unfortunately, this weather event has again raised concerns amongst the residents of Williamtown as water washes the contaminant off the Defence base, through the drainage systems and onto people's properties. This will continue to happen until Defence has completely removed PFAS from the soils within their boundaries or enough time has passed that the chemical has disbursed. This certainly won't be in our lifetime. I will continue to push this Government to listen to the residents of Williamtown and find a solution to this ongoing issue. I would remind all locals to keep updated on road closures via the SES Facebook page or again by contacting my office as needed. Sadly, I fear this severe storm and flooding event has sent many in our community backwards. In recent weeks I have had many discussions with business owners who are facing the very real threat of ruin. Many local businesses have been scourged by Covid and now face the end of the Jobkeeper program. We know that consumer spending just hasn't restored to its pre-covid levels. Many young people in our region are already struggling to find full-time work and I'm concerned, with the loss of more local businesses, there will be even less opportunity for our children into the tuture. It is vital that the Federal government extends Jobkeeper to any business effected by this flood so that locals have a chance to get back on their feet. www.merylswanson.com.au Phone: 4983 2401 Email:meryl.swanson.mp@aph.gov.au Office: 35 Sturgeon Street, Raymond Terrace 2324