By Michael Burt
Bellingen– Local councils are awaiting crucial Category C and D funding, with Federal MP Pat Conaghan pushing for an announcement this week to support affected businesses and primary producers.
Cowper MP Pat Conaghan and farming organisations are calling for urgent disaster recovery funding as extensive flood damage emerges across the Bellingen, Nambucca and Macleay Valley shires.
Mr Conaghan is pleading for a Category C and D disaster declaration for the region, which would trigger Federal flood recovery grants for businesses, farmers and councils.
“Despite the visits from the ministerial teams and the Premier and continued assurances, we still have not seen the Category C and D announcement that our local businesses and primary producers so desperately need,” Mr Conaghan said.
“While I appreciate their attendance and seeing the issues for themselves, I am disappointed that we are at this stage over a week on from the disaster in our region.”
“Concessional loans are simply not an option, particularly in the Macleay and Nambucca Valleys.”
Mr Conaghan said the disaster declaration needs to be requested by the State Ministerial teams and approved by the Federal bureaucrats and the Prime Minister.
“At present, the State has not made some of the requests required for our communities, and I am pushing for more. I am calling on the Ministerial Teams and Bureaucrats to please stop dragging your heels on this and to push for the maximum amounts that we so desperately need.”
“Now is not the time for conjecture and bureaucracy, it’s time for action. Let’s go. We need you.”
Mr Conaghan met with Bellingen Shire Mayor Steve Allan last week to discuss the urgent investment need in the shires flood-damaged road network. Member for Oxley Michael Kemp MP, the Hon. Janelle Saffin MP – Minister for the North Coast and Minister for Recovery, and Suzie George – Executive Director of Regional Delivery for the NSW Regional also attended.
Council is calling for Cascade and Summervilles Roads to be prioritised for upgrades under Category D Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, as they are essential alternative routes when Waterfall Way is closed.
NSW Farmers Dorrigo branch chair Dave Gibson also attended the meeting to highlight the impact of extensive damage to rural roads on the Dorrigo plateau.
NSW Farmers Vice President Rebecca Reardon said farmers were still in the dark as to what further disaster assistance – if any – would be made available by the state government to get them back on their feet in the wake of the disaster.
“This flood has come just months after Cyclone Alfred, and the cumulative effect of these disasters have left nothing but devastation in their wake for farmers and their families,” Mrs Reardon said.
“We haven’t been able to assess the full scale of this disaster yet, but we know without a doubt that the damages will be in the hundreds of millions.
“Farmers prepared as much as possible, but fences and farm infrastructure have been swept away, paddocks washed out, roads cut and ruined, livestock affected, oyster farms wiped out, and pastures, orchards and crops sent underwater.”
Currently, Category B concessional loans and transport subsidies are available for farmers affected by current circumstances in the Hunter and Mid North Coast.
However, Mrs Reardon said Category C disaster assistance must be rolled out immediately for affected farmers, with Category D assistance to follow directly after.
“Current supports simply don’t cut it – the devastation is just immense, whether you’re at Dorrigo or Kempsey, or all the way through to the Hunter,” Mrs Reardon said.
“We know time and connectivity are extremely limited, but if you’re an affected farmer and you get the chance, please report your flood damage through this survey, so we can show the government what the damage is, and what support we need.”
