“The crisis was also the first true test of newly legislated powers introduced by the Commonwealth in response to royal commission recommendations following the unprecedented Black Summer bushfires – powers expressly designed for immediate and unilateral action by the federal government. These were not invoked until the 10th day of the flood event, when Morrison was able to get out of Covid-19 isolation and appear in Lismore personally for the announcement…..
There were three ADF helicopters in the air when conditions allowed on Monday, February 28, performing rescues of residents from their roofs and from churning floodwater. Clearly, any bureaucratic requirement for the ADF to become involved had already been triggered.
On March 4, the federal government offered NSW fewer than 300 Defence personnel for the flood crisis……
On March 5, almost a week after the Northern Rivers’ historic floods, the number of ADF personnel supposedly available for the response had more than doubled to 5000, although authorities could not explain where these troops were.
[Senior journalist and author Rick Morton, writing in The Saturday Paper, 19 March 2022]
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| Motorists trapped on Woodburn bridge cut off by floodwaters rescued. IMAGE: ABC News, 1 March 2022 |
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| Cattle seek high ground in flood-hit Ballina, northern NSW. Farmers report ‘devastating impacts’. Photograph: Australian defence force/AFP/Getty Images, The Guardian, 2 March 2022. |
The Saturday Paper, 19 March 2022:
Last week, New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet secured a “handshake agreement” with Prime Minister Scott Morrison that they would do “whatever is required” to support residents devastated by floods in the Northern Rivers region.
Over the weekend, NSW ministers and departmental officials worked to develop and test a recovery funding package. The details were finalised on Tuesday, before being signed off by the premier and passed through an out-of-session expenditure review committee.
At time of press, however, there had been no response from the federal government. Morrison’s office has gone silent.
“I’m not sure what the hold-up is,” a senior NSW government source told The Saturday Paper. “We’ve signed our package, is my point. And the prime minister’s office or the treasurer’s office has not come back to us to say ‘Hey, we have a question about this.’ ”
On Thursday morning, the source consulted another person while on the phone, to see if there had been any movement on the package.
“Still nothing. We are still waiting on the prime minister,” they said, and then, to the other person: “Do we know what the hold-up is? He’s campaigning in Perth? Is that the actual answer?” The second person clarified they had been told simply that Morrison is “unavailable”.
“Well, is he unavailable to review the package? Or unavailable to sign it off? Or unavailable to do the media announce?”
There was a pause. “Okay. So he’s not engaging on it.”
This is a story about the politicisation of a national catastrophe, and the lengths Scott Morrison will go to in order to deflect blame while manoeuvring to collect credit for doing the bare minimum….. [my yellow highlighting]
Read the full story here.
Refresh your memory about the scale of this catastrophic flooding.....
On 18 March 2022 both Scott Morrison & Damian Perrottet separately released details of a joint funding arrangement - some parts of which à la Morrison were re-announcements rather than new provisions along with unspecified assurances. Neither made mention of the proposed $10,000 grant to flood victims in NSW Northern Rivers region returning to their own homes or of $5,000 to renting flood victims.
News.com.au revealed on Wednesday night that residents of flood-ravaged towns in NSW would be offered $10,000 “back home” grants to rebuild their homes as thousands face months living in tents and caravans.
The grants are up to $10,000 if you own your own home and it is your principal place of residence. Renters will be eligible a $5,000 grant.
Landlords will also secure a $5,000 grant to clean up properties they rent out to tenants.
The package is also looking at further grants to primary producers of up to $25,000.
But a bitter war of words breaks over frustrations the Prime Minister is holding up the announcement, amid claims he refused to announce it on Wednesday because he was campaigning in Western Australia.
