Tuesday, 20 February 2024

Gippsland storms

Brad BATTIN (Berwick) (14:27): My question is to the Premier. Pramod and his parents run a FoodWorks in Upper Beaconsfield. They lost power on Tuesday, and it was not restored until Friday. Milk, meat, frozen meals and ice creams all had to be thrown away. This resulted in $20,000 worth of spoiled food and thousands of dollars in lost sales. Why hasn’t this Labor government helped businesses like the one run by Pramod and his parents?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:28): I thank the member for Berwick for his question. My answer to this question is similar to the previous question around supporting businesses. There are a range of existing supports that were activated very quickly following last Tuesday’s catastrophic wind events, which as we have seen have done incredible damage to homes and businesses right across the state. In terms of looking forward to additional work, we are continuing to work through the assessments that continue to be underway. I am sure the member for Berwick can appreciate that. In terms of any future and further response, we do need to allow those impact assessments to be concluded, and it also speaks to the widespread damage that the catastrophic wind event resulted in that those assessments are still underway. It is a matter of fact that we have around 3200 customers without power, but we also have impact assessment teams going house by house, street by street, through the affected area, and I acknowledge his area is one of those ones that were most affected. Until that has concluded, we will continue to collect the information and advice and further respond accordingly.

Brad BATTIN (Berwick) (14:29): Rachel and James also run a small business, Blanc Bakery, in Berwick. They lost power on Tuesday and were unable to reopen until Friday. Despite losing thousands in food spoilage and lost sales, Blanc Bakery is not eligible to receive this government’s power outage support payment, because the outage was less than seven days. Premier, how long will small businesses like the one run by Rachel and James have to wait before Labor changes the eligibility criteria for financial support?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:30): Again, in answer to the previous question on a similar example, there are other supports. It would be wrong to characterise the prolonged power outage payment as the only support that is available. There are other supports that are available, and if the member for Berwick wants to provide further information, we can provide that advice to him and the businesses that he is concerned about in his local communities.

In terms of the extent of the damage, I do just want to reiterate that 90 per cent of customers were reconnected in the first 48 hours following the catastrophic wind event. I acknowledge that meant there were a number of others continuing to wait to be connected, but that speaks to the considerable and remarkable response of emergency services, power workers, people who were out there in very, very difficult conditions working around the clock to get the power connected as quickly as possible.