The situation in Northern NSW, March 2022
A group of seven women, who drove 700km from Lismore, set up stall outside Kirribilli House on Monday morning IMAGE: Daily Mail Australia, 21 March 2022
ABC News, 21 March 2022:
Angry Lismore residents have dumped wreckage from their flooded houses outside Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s official Sydney residence to call for climate action.
The protesters brought pieces of their homes, toys and other belongings which were destroyed by the deluge that devastated the Northern Rivers region, and dumped them outside the gates of Kirribilli House.
They held signs including: “Morrison your climate mega flood destroyed our homes”; “Lismore now, where next?”; and “Your climate inaction killed my neighbour”.
Lismore resident Kate Stroud said she wanted Mr Morrison to "understand the level of loss our community has been through".
“Imagine piles 50 times this size outside every house,” she said.
The truck was prevented from entering Kirribilli House premises.(ABC News: Phoebe Bowden)
Lismore resident Melveena Martin said people were angry Mr Morrison did not hold a public appearance where residents could share their stories.
The Prime Minister, who was in Queensland when the protest took place, travelled to Lismore after the floods but kept to a schedule of private appearances.
“To think that our Prime Minister came to our town and wouldn't even speak to us and hid from us is absolutely deplorable,” Ms Martin said.
Another resident, Koudra Falla, said: “I had to swim under my house at 3am in the morning in hectic rapids because we could hear our neighbours calling for help.”
In the hard-hit region of northern NSW, it is estimated that more than 3,000 homes in the Lismore local government area have been assessed as "not habitable".
At the height of the crisis, many residents waited for hours on roofs, surrounded by floodwaters, due to a lack of emergency personnel and equipment…..
The Guardian, 20 March 2022:
Residents in Lismore have been left with no choice but to move back into their houses that have been deemed uninhabitable, with some sleeping on swags in mouldy rooms without electricity, as they are unable to find safe accommodation three weeks after floods devastated the town.
Empty mobile homes wait to accommodate Lismore residents whose houses were damaged or destroyed in this month’s floods in the NSW northern rivers
In South Lismore – a low-lying part of the town that bore the brunt of historic flooding this year and an area well known for attracting residents seeking affordable housing – Guardian Australia spoke with multiple residents who had evacuated town following the floods but had returned to their homes in recent days.
The State Emergency Service had deemed more than 3,600 homes across the New South Wales northern rivers region as uninhabitable and on Friday some residents were living in homes that had been as assessed as such.
In one case, a homeowner had returned to their property which had been condemned for demolition after being assessed as structurally unsound, and had warning tape erected at its entrance, however they did not want to be interviewed.
Some homes in South Lismore were swept off their foundations, but they remained intact, despite needing renovations and structural repairs.
Residents in Lismore have been left with no choice but to move back into their houses that have been deemed uninhabitable, with some sleeping on swags in mouldy rooms without electricity, as they are unable to find safe accommodation three weeks after floods devastated the town.
In South Lismore – a low-lying part of the town that bore the brunt of historic flooding this year and an area well known for attracting residents seeking affordable housing – Guardian Australia spoke with multiple residents who had evacuated town following the floods but had returned to their homes in recent days.
The State Emergency Service had deemed more than 3,600 homes across the New South Wales northern rivers region as uninhabitable and on Friday some residents were living in homes that had been as assessed as such.
In one case, a homeowner had returned to their property which had been condemned for demolition after being assessed as structurally unsound, and had warning tape erected at its entrance, however they did not want to be interviewed.
Some homes in South Lismore were swept off their foundations, but they remained intact, despite needing renovations and structural repairs.
Stories of residents living in unsafe housing follow revelations in Guardian Australia that motor homes intended for Lismore residents whose houses were inundated in the floods were lying empty because linen and water sources had not been organised, while housing “pods” promised by the NSW government were yet to materialise.
On Crown Street, the Lee family’s home was deemed uninhabitable after flooding rose to about chest height on its elevated top floor. The family of four hosted four neighbours on the Sunday that waters rose, and all eight had to be rescued by a friend who had a boat on Monday 28 February.
After evacuating, brothers Ryan and Evan have slept at a variety of places, including at their grandparents’ home and on friends’ couches. Their parents also leaned on family and friends for accommodation.
While they were able to rely on people who opened their homes to them, countless other residents also required temporary accommodation.
The Lee family home on Crown Street, South Lismore. Photograph: David Maurice Smith/Oculi
And so on Monday, after weeks of living in cramped conditions with other flood evacuees, the Lee family made the difficult decision to return to their home, despite its status as uninhabitable.
“There was nowhere else left to go, that is the only reason why we’re back here,” said Evan, a 20-year-old student, who was sleeping on an old fold-out camping bed made of steel, less than a metre from his mother, who was sleeping on a blow-up mattress.
Ryan, a 21-year-old labourer, was sleeping on a swag in the next room, while their father, Andy, was sleeping at his brother’s house due to a back problem.
While water was running, the Lees were unsure if it was safe, so were drinking bottled water. The house relied on a portable generator for electricity, and its mountain of flood-ruined possessions in the front yard was yet to be collected.
“I’ve got no idea when it will be collected, but hopefully it’s within the next week because it’s starting to smell pretty bad,” Ryan said.
Outside, the smell of dried dirt and sewage lingered. Inside, water damage and mould was evident. It was hot inside the rooms, and flood damage left it largely unprotected from the elements.
The family had been told it would take more than six months for their home to be rebuilt and safe for them to move back in…... [my yellow highlighting]
News.com.au, 21 March 2022:
More than 65 per cent of renters living in a coastal Northern NSW electorate are experiencing rental stress and that was before unprecedented floods tore through communities.
Almost 3400 homes have been declared uninhabitable and a further 6708 were inundated by floodwaters during the floods, State Emergency Services Commissioner, Carlene York confirmed earlier this week.
More than 1000 people are still living in emergency accommodation and 134 remain in evacuation centres, while thousands take refuge in the homes in families and friends.
In the electorate of Page – inclusive of Lismore and Woodburn – 68 per cent of renters already had difficulty meeting their rental costs. While in the neighbouring electorate of Richmond – including Ballina, Mullumbimby and Tweed Heads – 44 per cent of renters are experiencing housing stress.
A surge in regional rental prices – in part driven by tree changes during coronavirus lockdowns – as well as stagnant wage growth are creating a housing affordability crisis.
Tony Davies, CEO of Social Futures has been working on the ground with north coast NSW communities in the aftermath of the flood crisis.
“Sleeping rough is the tip of the homelessness iceberg,” Mr Davies said of the region with an average income twenty per cent less than the rest of the state. “Rental stress has been very bad and worsening for some time”.
Just three per cent of housing stock in the Northern Rivers region can be categorised as community or affordable housing.
“We had people camped in camp grounds and getting evicted during the holiday season,” Mr Davies said of the situation before floods hit.
In the towns of Lismore and Murwillumbah, entire businesses that employ a number of locals have now been decimated by floodwaters.
“All of these people that have lost houses and jobs,” Mr Davies said. “There are people who may have been lucky to live on a hill but their employment is gone”.
He described people in their 80s living in cars and cancer patients without a roof over their head.
A group of 150 organisations – including corporates, unions, community and faith organisations – have written a joint letter to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg calling on him to allocate social housing investment into the upcoming budget…… [my yellow highlighting]
The 'new normal' Northern Rivers road travel experience for many.
The rain event that flooded Lismore collapsed landscapes.
— Annie Kia (@AnnieKia) March 19, 2022
It shattered hillsides. Roads broke apart and fell down valleys.
Hillsides fell on houses.
This thread gives a glimpse of the cost of inaction on #ClimateDisruption
1/ pic.twitter.com/SLFum4Lk2k
Australian Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison’s Response, March 2022
Sky News, 21 March 2022:
Scott Morrison has defended the federal government's support measures in the wake of catastrophic flooding as he described the politicisation of natural disasters as unhelpful.
Mr Morrison's comments on Monday came amid protests outside Kirribilli House, the Prime Minister's official Sydney residence, over the government's slow response to the flood crisis in northern New South Wales.
"I think the politicisation of natural disasters is very unfortunate. Everyone is just working together to do the best they probably can to support people who are in terrible need," he said.
"My government's doing that, the state governments are doing that. Local councils are doing that. We're all working together to help people. And I don't think the politicisation of that is a helpful theme." …. [my yellow highlighting]
This "politicisation" response - from a politician whose personal income (over $10,000 per week plus free prime ministerial accommodation at two residential addresses, staff, car & subsidized travel) and net worth places him in the top 20% of Australian income earners - was apparently aimed at residents in a flood ravaged regional city which on a relative social-economic disadvantage decile scale would rank as a 4 (disadvantaged) out of 10 (least disadvantaged). In a flood ravaged region where an est. 25% of all people have an income between $0-$450 a week and another est. 30% would likely have been earning somewhere between $451-$800 a week pre-pandemic and pre-mega flood.
This is a man who clearly has no idea of what it is like to deal with trauma, loss, grief, homelessness, uncertainty and yes, fear. All the while knowing that there is a possibility that the major coastal rivers will flood again this year (perhaps more than once) and that an intransigent prime minister and federal government have no real understanding of this risk.
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