Parliamentary Speeches
Lennox Head Tornado ( 08/06/2010)
Mr DONALD PAGE (Ballina) [1.38 p.m.]: At 7.30 a.m. last Thursday a tornado formed out to sea off Lennox Head in my electorate. Local residents tell me that as it approached Lennox Head it was the colour of water but as it crossed the beach it became filled with sand. Moments later the tornado was full of flying debris, including roofs from houses, furniture, glass, tree branches and anything else in its path. The winds were travelling at 150 kilometres per hour. In a matter of a minute or so 30 houses had their roofs blown off and 12 houses had been totally destroyed. The caravan park was a mess, with vans upturned and debris scattered everywhere. It must have been a really terrifying period for everyone affected at the northern end of Lennox Head. It was truly amazing that nobody was killed. Six people suffered injuries and two had to be hospitalised.
Some residents told me stories of miraculous escapes. In one case an elderly lady heard the sound of the tornado, which many described as sounding like a 747 aircraft landing on a roof, as she got up to go to the bathroom. Seconds later her bedroom was blown away and the only thing left standing on the second story of her brick home was the bathroom that she had been in. Because Parliament was sitting, I was in Sydney when I heard a radio report of the tornado. At 9.00 a.m. I spoke to the local State Emergency Service at Ballina, which had already taken 50 calls for help. Over the next day or two it took approximately 137 calls. The storm brought down power lines. One of the initial problems was that ambulances couldn’t get to the disaster zone because of powerlines on the road. I phoned Country Energy, which had already called for backup from neighbouring crews in the region. Country Energy did a good job of restoring power as quickly as practicable, given that in some cases there was no house to connect the power to.
From mid morning it was obvious that the Minister for Emergency Services and the Commissioner for the State Emergency Service would attend, and I wanted to go with them. When we arrived after lunch it was evident that a lot of clean-up work was happening. The State Emergency Service, the Ambulance Service, NSW Police, the Ballina Shire Council, the Rural Fire Service, and the New South Wales Fire Brigades were all working hard in a coordinated manner to effect the clean-up as quickly as possible. Department of Community Services workers were helping those who needed immediate support. An evacuation centre was set up at the local bowling club and the emergency services headquarters was established at the local hotel. The Minister, the Premier, the commissioner, the mayor and I were again on site at 6.30 the following morning. I was relieved when the Government declared the event a natural disaster because it meant that more resources could be contracted to effect a speedy clean-up and the additional resources would be paid for by the State Government. That declaration was important because damage to property had exposed asbestos across the whole disaster area.
Asbestos is fairly harmless while it is wet, but it is a public health risk if it dries out and starts to blow around. While the clean-up of public areas has now been completed, the impact on those who have lost their homes or who have had their homes seriously damaged will be ongoing. It will take a long time for things to return to normal for those people. However, many residents made the comment to me that while property can be replaced, lives cannot. I make three observations: despite the devastation to property, it is truly remarkable how few injuries there were. If the tornado had occurred one hour later, children would have been walking to school, many more people would have been on their way to work, and the loss of life could have been very high. The second comment is to praise the work of the emergency and rescue workers, many of whom are volunteers, and to commend the spirit of the people of Lennox Head. The State Emergency Service, NSW Police, the Ambulance Service, the Ballina Shire Council, the Rural Fire Service, the New South Wales Fire Brigades and the Department of Community Services were all wonderful in the way they coordinated with each other to achieve the best outcome. In the general community, neighbours were helping each other. Strangers who had not suffered damage were helping those who had. The Aussie tradition of helping out your mates in a crisis was evident for all to see.
The third point I make relates to asbestos removal after the disaster occurred. Initially it appeared that only asbestos recovered on public land would be covered by the natural disaster declaration and asbestos on private land was a matter for individual property owners to deal with. Clearly that was an inappropriate response, as asbestos is a public health risk whether it is on public land or private land. Moreover, what about material containing asbestos that blew onto non-affected private land from other houses? Fortunately, common sense has prevailed. It has been resolved that if a house is insured and damaged, the insurance company will be responsible for the timely removal of asbestos. If the house is insured and the house is not damaged but asbestos is in the yard, the Ballina Shire Council will clean it up and charge the cost to the State Government. If the house is uninsured, removal of asbestos can be handled initially by the Department of Community Services, which will seek a refund of the cost of removal from Treasury. If the house is insured generally, but not specifically for asbestos removal, the State Government will cover the removal costs. Again I commend all who helped following the recent natural disaster and the Lennox Head community for the way in which they responded to the disaster.
Mr STEVE WHAN (Monaro—Minister for Primary Industries, Minister for Emergency Services, and Minister for Rural Affairs) [1.44 p.m.]: I thank the member for Ballina for bringing this important issue to the House. I join him in congratulating all the emergency services personnel who worked so hard at Lennox Head, but also very importantly the community who pulled together beautifully. The community has been offering assistance and fundraising. The worst of times brings out the best in people. We saw that at Lennox Head. I particularly congratulate all our emergency services volunteers and workers who joined with the State Emergency Service. The Rural Fire Service, the New South Wales Fire Brigades and NSW Police did a fantastic job. The Ballina Shire Council and its workers were excellent. They were out in force and cleaning up. We were all amazed at how quickly Country Energy moved resources into the area. At one stage we had 11 cherry pickers in the short space of a couple of streets, and workers were busily getting the lines back up and connected. It was a phenomenal effort.
In the evacuation centre we saw the Department of Community Services and voluntary groups, including the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, the St Vincent de Paul Society and Anglicare. The evacuation centre was essential in providing emergency accommodation for a number of people. It was a unique situation. As the member for Ballina said, we needed to deal with asbestos on the ground. An emergency order for the clean-up was made to enable a clean-up to occur. The event was different to the aftermath of quite a number of storms because of that. The natural disaster declaration was important. I was very pleased that we were able to deal with asbestos issues. I congratulate the Ballina Shire Council on its very constructive role in talking to my department and to other agencies. I thank the member for Ballina for his representation of the residents. Discussing this matter in the House today is a good thing. It was very good working constructively with the member for Ballina throughout the process.
