Statements By Members

Parkes Electorate: Floods

Mr COULTON (Parkes—Chief Nationals Whip) (16:17): I’d like to bring to the attention of the chamber the status of the flooding in the Parkes electorate. As you all would be aware, with the La Nina spring that we’re having, we’ve had above-average rainfall. Every river in the Parkes electorate, from the Lachlan River in the south to the Macintyre River on the Queensland border, is in a state of flood. Two of my communities, Wee Waa and Warren, are surrounded but at this stage protected by levees and, hopefully, should be safe.

The damage so far to community infrastructure such as roads, culverts and bridges is quite extensive, and we’re now starting to see massive crop losses, particularly out in the Namoi and Gwydir valleys. Crops that were close to maturity are now under water, which is a tragedy in itself, when all that money has been spent in getting crops to that stage.

Sadly, we’ve seen, I think, over 30 rescues by the SES over the last couple of days. Tragically, we lost a five-year-old boy on the McGrane Way. The entire family was swept off the road, and the parents and the two siblings clung to trees for three hours before they were rescued. It’s a terrible tragedy—again indicating that saying, ‘If it’s flooded, forget it.’ We are ready for the next rainfall, and hopefully it won’t be so bad.