Tuesday, 20 February 2024

Gippsland storms

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:33): My question is to the Premier. On Friday I joined the member for Gippsland South in Mirboo North to speak directly to locals and see the scale of the clean-up and recovery challenge. Damage to local community infrastructure was widespread, and residents are facing huge bills to simply clear their properties, with one estimating it will cost them $60,000. When will the government actually start delivering the support and clean-up package the Mirboo North community desperately needs?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:34): I would like to thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I was also in Mirboo North on Friday morning, and I want to thank the mayor of the South Gippsland shire Clare Williams and the CEO Kerryn Ellis, the CFA captain Trent Venten and many others in the local community for the time they took with me, the Minister for Energy and Resources and a member for Eastern Victoria in the other place Tom McIntosh. Also I would like to thank the member for Gippsland South for spending time talking to us and looking around the local community.

I draw the Leader of the Opposition’s attention to an announcement we made whilst we were in Mirboo North on Friday morning, and that was the announcement of the waiving of the landfill levy fees so that communities could immediately get on with the work of clean-up. I also want to acknowledge a conversation I had with the mayor and the CEO of South Gippsland shire, who raised with me the immediate need to activate the head contractor arrangements that have been in place for some time now. After emergencies, be they fire or flood or storm, we activate these arrangements so that a head contractor can get into town and commence the clean-up. That was something we confirmed we were going to do on Sunday morning, when I was at a press conference at the Monash SES, the busiest SES in the state for call-outs following the storm events.

So in response to the Leader of the Opposition’s question on when we will start delivering, we started that pretty much as we went from the immediate emergency response into the recovery phase. When we were in Pomonal on Thursday, when were in South Gippsland on Friday –

Danny O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, just on the question of relevance to the question, the question was about when the action will start delivering on the ground in Mirboo North. I appreciate the minister’s answer that announcements have been made. The question was very specifically about when people in Mirboo North will start getting help from that head contractor.

The SPEAKER: The Premier was being relevant to the question that was asked.

Jacinta ALLAN: Can I also add that whilst we are putting those arrangements in place – and the member for Gippsland South knows this quite well because he saw it. Well, I saw it in action, so I can only assume the local member did as well. We saw the clean-up being undertaken. There were SES volunteers and there were Forest Fire Management Victoria members on the ground in Mirboo North on Friday. They had been there pretty much since the storm event occurred on Tuesday. I am assuming many of them are probably still there now, undertaking that immediate clean-up, and I want to thank them. Indeed the minister and I met SES volunteers who had travelled from Chiltern and Tallangatta to go into South Gippsland to provide support to local households with the clean-up. That action is happening now as we activate that head contractor clean-up arrangement in partnership with the Commonwealth government.

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:37): The Mirboo North pool has been used and loved by local residents since 1904. When the closure of the pool was raised in 2011, Mirboo North residents rallied together and collected $1 million to help refurbish the pool. Unfortunately the recent severe weather resulted in extensive damage to the pool. Will the refurbishment of the pool be included in the support package for the Mirboo North community?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:38): When I was in Mirboo North on Friday with the minister for energy, the mayor, the CEO, representatives from the local community and emergency responders, as we were moving around the township we did go to the pool. We saw firsthand the damage that impacted that important community facility, and I heard how much of a valued community facility that is not just for Mirboo North but indeed for the broader district. In terms of the next steps, I spoke to the council – again, this was one of the matters that the mayor and the CEO raised with me when I was there on Friday – and as we go through that initial assessment phase that I referenced earlier, we will take stock of the assessment of all the damage that has been done and work with councils and local communities on the response.