Thursday, 1 June 2023

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (15:39): (271) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Emergency Services, and it concerns the delivery of assistance to flood victims in Northern Victoria. The action that I seek is for the minister to order an immediate review of the flood assistance process faced by victims seeking help as they recover from the October 2022 flood event and to make all assistance packages more accessible to victims by simplifying the application process to expedite the distribution of help to victims.

The October 2022 flood event severely impacted the lives of many people in Northern Victoria – from Seymour, Rochester, Mooroopna, Shepparton and Echuca, many other towns in between and many other towns further west on the Murray River. The devastation continues today. People are still unable to return to their homes as they navigate insurance companies and tradies, towns are without vital infrastructure and services and victims are suffering emotionally from the prolonged after-effects of the disaster. I have detailed the adversity faced by many of my constituents in the aftermath of the floods in many contributions in this place since October 2022. I have spoken at length about home inundations, of families displaced, of prolonged insurance claims and of mental health struggles experienced by the victims.

As they recover from the floods it is extremely disappointing that victims are also experiencing other frustrations in attempting to access government assistance. Local councils of areas impacted heavily by the floods have expressed frustration at the complexity of seeking flood assistance funding, citing red tape for unnecessary delays. I was pleased to hear the minister say that she had met with some of those councils earlier today. Some of their frustrations include funding for infrastructure replacement and repair, funding for road repair and assistance for councils dealing with the physical and emotional health of victims. The criteria for accessing financial assistance for farmers and primary producers is unfairly rigid, with many of my constituents unable to access assistance through the Andrews government’s primary producers flood relief program as a result. Victims who continue to be displaced from their homes have expressed frustration at the lack of assistance from the government when dealing with their insurance companies or obtaining tradespeople to repair their homes.

These people, who are shared constituents of the minister I am raising this with and me, have been through such trauma, and they are only asking that access to vital flood assistance be made easier. I urge the minister to review all flood assistance programs to ensure the expediency of help to those who desperately need it.