CYCLONE SEROJA — ASSISTANCE PACKAGE
457. Ms L. DALTON to the Minister for Community Services:
I refer to the state government's
ongoing efforts to support those communities impacted by tropical cyclone
Seroja.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on the emergency welfare assistance that has been
provided by the Department of Communities in both the immediate aftermath of
the devastating cyclone and the weeks and months that have followed?
(2) Can the minister outline to the
house how these efforts will continue into the future?
Ms S.F.
McGURK replied:
I would like to thank the member
very much for the question and for her work in her community. It has been a real
pleasure working with her in dealing with this and other challenges in her
electorate. Before I answer the question, though,
can I just acknowledge that tomorrow we have a couple of special birthdays. The
Minister for Health might be having a special day and the Minister for
Sport and Recreation, too. One of them is having a significant birthday, but I will
leave that for people to think about.
(1)–(2) I have an important update for the house about how
communities have been recovering from cyclone Seroja. I really want to
take this opportunity to acknowledge the work of the Department of Communities
and its partner organisations, a number of community sector organisations, that
have been working very hard on the ground
since straight after the disaster, really from the get-go. Many of them have
been doing that where they actually
live in the community. They either live there or have family members who live
in the affected areas. They are not
only doing the work in the relief centres, and have been continuing to do the
work since then, but they are dealing with the cyclone's impact
on their own family members.
I can advise that as of 15 August,
since the cyclone hit, the Department of Communities has deployed 210 frontline
staff to work alongside 127 Australian Red Cross staff. They have responded to
4 013 calls to the disaster hotline. They have coordinated provision of over 6 400
meals or food boxes, and held 4 718 meetings with impacted residents about
their welfare needs. There have been 7 458 applications for emergency financial assistance, and, as a result of that, $2.62 million
in financial assistance has been given.
The Department of Communities has
been in touch with 415 households about category 3 and 4 financial assistance,
which is for the replacement of essential household items or home repairs. This
is a really significant contact. Members can see from those metrics that the
Department of Communities has been doing the
hard yards. The staff members have been out there. They are not only talking to
people who come into the recovery centre, but also doing outreach. This is when
some of the Department of Communities workers really come into their own. They
know how to connect with people. They are patient. They have skills. They have
head and heart, and it is a real pleasure to work with them.
The Premier noted that people will be
coming from Afghanistan, and the Department of Communities will be part of that
response as well regarding hotel isolation.
I would also like to thank all the
community sector organisations, including the volunteers who have been part of this effort. I met some of those
volunteers when I went to Northampton not that long ago, and some of
them were from interstate. They connect with the Australian Red Cross. They
might be people who are nearing retirement or have recently retired. They come
across here and do a bit of volunteering. They holiday a bit, then go back to volunteering, and they have skills
working in the recovery relief effort. I thank the members of the
Department of Communities, the community sector organisations and the
volunteers who have helped with the relief effort.