Thursday, 18 August 2022

Eastern Victoria Region floods

Ms SHING (Eastern Victoria—Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Equality) (10:01): I, today with my time, want to acknowledge the enormous heartache and hardship that is being felt by people affected once again by rising floodwaters across Eastern Victoria. In recent days and indeed across the wetter months of this year we have seen rivers and waterways break their banks. This is a stark reminder of the dangers and of the risks associated with living, working and moving around near floodwaters. In the course of this week we have seen the Lang Lang River, the La Trobe River, the Bunyip River, the Kiewa River, Traralgon Creek, the Tarago River and the Moe River break their banks, and it looks like we will continue to see heavy rainfall across the region for some time.

In Darnum and Trafalgar, in Nyora, in Leongatha and around Meeniyan we are continuing to see the impact of floods. We are also continuing to see, however, frontline responders rising to the challenge. To the SES and regional agency command through to the CFA, police, ambulance and community members who have volunteered their time, their effort and their energy and whose families have allowed and encouraged them to do so, thank you for all that you are doing. We continue to work towards effective emergency and disaster response frameworks. However, I would urge anyone who is in and around floodwaters to travel carefully, to make sure to be vigilant and, again, to take care of themselves, their health and the health of those around them.