Jamie Chaffey
Parkes · National Party · Australia
“If these services go, people in communities like White Cliffs, Condobolin, Peak Hill, Bogan Gate and Eumungerie will be forced to drive for 60 minutes— A division having been called in the House of Representatives— Sitting suspended from 10:17 to 10:31 People will be forced to drive 60 minutes, 80 minutes, two hours or up to six hours to…”
“These days we can let someone on the other side of the world know what we're thinking almost before we've thought it. But, sadly, it has become harder and harder to send a simple letter. Many people in my electorate prefer to do their banking, post parcels and letters to their loved ones, and pay bills face to face rather than online.”
“It is part of our role as decent human beings to shed light on human rights where they are being violated, even if that's not in our own nation. Today, I voiced my concerns about the case of barrister Syed Sayedul Haque Suman, who is being held in custody in Bangladesh.”
“They have listened to life stories, have helped elderly people with their complicated paperwork, have been the only break in the day for busy farmers, have signed important papers as justices of the peace, and have assisted people to pay their bills. As one licensee said: 'This is not just a commercial concern.”
“There are also concerns about the treatment of Barrister Suman and other political figures facing charges while they're in custody. There are reports of people dying in custody following allegations of torture, extreme malnutrition and denial of adequate medical care.”
“The leaked business case, Post Office Network & Licensed Post Office Reimagined, dated June this year, envisages widespread changes to regional and rural post offices that could see them become nothing more than a parcel locker. I know that's the same for my colleagues in the room the member for Dawson and the member for Cowper.”
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“But don't worry, the Albanese government found a solution. They're now asking rural regional people to drive more slowly—70 kilometres an hour, we've just heard. All of our problems can be solved by driving around potholes and natural disaster damage. We can just move more and more slowly as road funding dries up and roads fall into disrepair until eventually there will be no roads at all.”
“I ask Labor: where can Narrabri community find $21.5 million to fix the roads? Council are not receiving the money they need to return roads back to pre-flooding events, let alone flood-proofing them so that they are built back better, ready to stand strong for the next event. Gilgandra shire was left with a $9 million shortfall, Bourke with a $14.9 million shortfall and Dubbo with a $20.6 million shortfall. These are councils that must face the questions about road closures, delayed roadworks and potholes every single day. They've been left to deal with the frustrations of people who can't use these roads each and every day. A thin strip of bitumen cannot last forever and the investment to maintain and improve our roads is just not happening. Councils are forced to consider building or rebuilding roads for a price instead of a standard.”
“There is no luxury in this; this is purely and simply getting the road network back into working order after a flooding event or another natural disaster. I asked the question of my councils and found that, between June 2021 and June 2024, Labor governments knocked back in the order of $150 million to fix road damage through the disaster in the Parkes electorate alone. That means only 64 per cent of the claims from councils were approved. The Lachlan shire alone—including the town of Condoblin in New South Wales—was severely impacted by flooding events. Only $25.9 million was approved out of an application of $54.9 million needed to fix the roads. That's a $25.9 million shortfall in one shire alone. Narrabri Shire Council had only $8.5 million approved out of $30 million needed to fix their roads.”
“For the past three years of Labor governments, the backlog figure has blown out to an average of $236.7 million a year. This means now councils only receive 43 per cent of the funds they need to address that backlog in the Parkes electorate. This is an increase of more than 250 per cent in the Parkes electorate alone in the years of the Albanese Labor government. To dig a little deeper into what's happening on the ground, let's take a look at disaster relief funding arrangements. All of the councils in the Parkes electorate have suffered from some sort of natural disaster in the past three to four years, with the exception of Broken Hill. This means councils have been at the mercy of government to provide funding for massive recovery works.”
“The statistics show that people have good reason to be concerned. Regional road funding under the Albanese government is going backwards despite increasing costs and challenges. Councils, such as the 20 councils within my electorate, the electorate of Parkes, simply do not have the funds to keep this unwieldy burden afloat. They alone cannot wear the costs of keeping Australia connected. I look at the data from NRMA, and it shows that the road infrastructure backlog for the 20 councils in the Parkes electorate between 2017 and 2020 in the last four years of the coalition government averaged $86.2 million. Road funding grants over the seven years averaged $102.4 million. The end result is that road funding under the Nationals and Liberals was there, ready to meet the needs to ensure safer roads in our communities.”
“Most Australians have travelled on regional roads. These roads are not only the network that links cities and takes our goods to the rest of Australia and to the ports for export; they are the tracks that link regional communities together. They link families to health services, supermarkets, sport and friends. They are the routes travelled by emergency services to save lives. They are critical in the production of food, fibre and minerals. They are critical and they are crumbling. As the devoted member for Mallee just said in trying to bring this situation to the Labor government's attention, local roads make up 77 per cent of Australia's road network, and 678,000 kilometres are managed by local government. We hear all the time that there is a growing disconnect between funds needed and safe roads.”
“We're now looking at a project that's in excess of $100 million. There are many, many questions that need to be answered about the spending to date, the lack of consultation and the changes that have been made. But the most important thing of all is that we get this weir underway and completed as soon as possible. A Barkandji man, Michael 'Cassidy' Kennedy, told me on the banks of the Darling this weekend past that the Barkandji people are river people. They need the water not only for sustenance and the basic needs of life but also to continue the critical connection that goes back thousands of years. Central Darling residents don't need more talk. What they need is action, and what they need is safe and secure water.”
“I stood last week on the banks of the Darling River with a group of people who have been waiting a very, very long time for what is apparently a privilege: safe and reliable water. The people of the Central Darling Shire have been calling for a new weir at Wilcannia for more than 30 years. The community has patiently worked with successive state and federal governments through rounds of consultation and design, through delays and ultimately around a sudden and unacceptable change of direction. A design was agreed to by all back in 2022, with a great deal of community input. Then, with no consultation, the design was scrapped and a new one that was unacceptable to the people of Wilcannia was put on the table. Originally, $30 million in joint funding from the state and federal governments was put forward.”
“My councils have advised me that they're being knocked back millions and millions of dollars in disaster relief funding—in fact, it's $150 million in my electorate. What does it look like on the ground for our farmers, who rely on the road transport? It looks like detours for many expensive kilometres. It looks like delays of many expensive hours. It looks like damage to vehicles that have been travelling on these roads that are getting worse and worse every single year. My questions is: why has this government treated our farmers with such contempt? (Time expired)”
“I look at the NRMA figure showing the road infrastructure backlog for the 20 councils in my electorate between 2017 and 2021—the last four years of the coalition government—averaged at $86 million. Recurrent road funding grants over the past seven years averaged $102 million. The end result for those four years under the coalition was that the roads were being funded, and the dollars were there, ready for the works to be done. In contrast, for the last three years of the Labor government, the backlog figure has blown out to an average of $222 million. I'll repeat it again—according to the NRMA figures, we are now looking at an average backlog of $222 million in road infrastructure each year across my electorate. That's an increase of more than 250 per cent in the Parkes electorate alone in the years of this Labor government.”
“Labor backed down but now has instituted a 30-hour average requirement over four weeks that will come into effect on 31 March next year. It's more meddling and more uncertainty. Since April 2022, there has been a 16.8 per cent decline in the PALM workers in agriculture in our country. The deconstructed PALM scheme no longer works for primary producers or for the countries under the PALM scheme. Another of the significant challenges facing our primary producers and the supply chain is the substandard road network they must use to get their products from the farm to the table, the port or, in some cases, just down the road into the local town. Apart from the fact that many roads have been damaged in the past few years by natural disasters, regional-road funding as a whole has gone backwards.”
“The agriculture visa was the biggest structural reform to the agricultural workforce in our nation's history. Under the agriculture visa, workers would be recruited to fill vacancies across a range of agricultural sectors, including horticulture, dairy, wool, grains, fishery, forestry as well as support services and primary production. Under this government it's all gone. Having scrapped the agricultural visa, Labor turned its attention to the PALM scheme and announced a new federal deed and guidelines that would include workers getting a minimum of 30 hours a week. We warned them it wouldn't work. Our farmers live and know the fluctuation of seasons and weather cycles and the impact this has on the availability of work on farms.”
“Across the Parkes electorate, which covers half of New South Wales, primary producers and the entire supply chain desperately need workers. Multiply this to the rest of Australia and you have an acute picture of an industry struggling to bring food and fibre to the rest of our country. In the lead-up to the Albanese government's Jobs and Skills Summit back in September 2022, our peak food industry bodies estimated the food supply chain was at least 172,000 workers short. In the three years since that celebrated summit, I ask what's changed. This government has scrapped the dedicated agricultural visa, relied solely on the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme for workers and has tried to make changes to the PALM scheme which makes it unworkable for our farmers.”
“One in three Australians live outside a major city, but as far as the Albanese Labor government is concerned they are the forgotten Australians. Regional Australia is critically important to our nation—critically important. It is where the food is grown, it's where the fibre originates and it's where the minerals are harvested. Beyond that, it is the home of hardworking, dedicated, pioneering, innovative and enterprising Australians. This government's track record in serving regional Australians is appalling. Not only primary producers but the whole supply chain is facing challenge after challenge, from crippling red tape to compliance costs and acute labour shortages. I've seen firsthand the problems associated with a severe workforce shortage in our agricultural sector.”
“They do not need additional layers of security and bureaucracy for the sake of bureaucracy. For these reasons, the opposition will be voting against the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025 and the Australian Centre for Disease Control (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025 in the House, and we will continue to call on the government to hold a hearing into these bills to provide answers.”
“Labor has had five years to make the case for this policy, and they have still failed to do so. Now they are attempting to ram through this policy in five minutes. Until these critical questions are answered, the coalition cannot support the establishment of the US-style CDC, which has been designed in secrecy, shielded from transparency, designated very significant powers and assigned an unclear role within the existing structure of our health system. Therefore, the opposition will not support these bills in the House in light of these unresolved concerns and prior to the full Senate inquiry into the bill, which is critical to understanding how the proposed CDC will operate. The Austrian people deserve confidence that their public-health institutes are effective, transparent and accountable.”
“These are just a few of the many issues the opposition will pursue during the Senate inquiry. We want to understand how this CDC will operate, how it will improve pandemic preparedness and how it will interact with the existing public-health architecture that already serves Australia well. Let us not forget Australia ranked second in the world for pandemic and epidemic preparedness in 2021 according to the Johns Hopkins's Global Health Security Index. Our pandemic response was described internationally as gold standard. The coalition supports efforts to enhance our preparedness, but we must do so recognising that our existing framework was world leading. It remains for the government to explain how the US-style CDC will improve Australia's approach and add value to our existing structure.”
“This is yet another attack on transparency from a government that wants to put accountability behind the paywall with its proposed new changes to the Freedom of Information Act as a truth tax. The bill also raises concerns about privacy and data sharing. Under clause 67, the director-general can issue a data-sharing declaration that overrides normal policy protections. While this may be necessary in a serious public health emergency, there are no clear safeguards against government overreach, no independent oversight and no limits on which of the agencies can receive this data. The director-general of the CDC will also chair the centre's advisory council, effectively advising themselves. Multiple stakeholders have rightly pointed out that this structure contradicts best practice and invites conflicts of interest.”
“Despite this clear recognition from the minister, the bill goes out of its way to prevent information from being made public. While the government claims the CDC's advice will be published by default, the fine print tells a far different story. The director-general will have extraordinarily broad powers to withhold information, including any advice they consider might cause unreasonable risk or harm, or any other government processes. These are vague and subjective terms that could be used to withhold almost any piece of information the government finds inconvenient to be publicly released. There are no clear appeal rights, no existing oversight, no external oversight and no guarantee that the public or the parliament will ever see any advice underpinning critical health decisions. This is not transparency.”
“This shift risks eroding public confidence in key health decisions by placing them in the hands of a bureaucrat without clinical background, and it risks undermining Australia's trust in the CMO and deputy CMO roles, which performed effectively during the COVID pandemic. Indeed, Professor Michael Kidd, who served as deputy CMO during the pandemic, has been appointed to the role of CMO under this government, an appointment the coalition supports, in recognition of his strong contribution to the pandemic response. Provisions contained in the bill also create significant concerns around transparency and freedom of information. In October last year, the minister for health, the Hon. Mark Butler MP, alleged that a lack of transparency had driven a decline in trust.”
“Let us remember that Labor first promised to establish a US-style centre for disease control almost five years ago. Yet after all that time, and more than three years in government, the Albanese government has only now brought this legislation to parliament, barely three months before the promised start date. The bill appears to downgrade the role of the Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer by transferring all functions, powers and duties to the Director of Human Biosecurity and the secretary of the department, a bureaucrat. This is despite the Director of Human Biosecurity being a role that requires the medical expertise that a CMO possesses.”
“While strengthening Australia's public health preparedness is an unquestionable priority, the mechanism proposed in these bills and in the considerable powers being transferred warrant far closer examination than has yet been received. Despite the significance of this legislation, the government and its Greens allies on the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee refused to hold a single public hearing for the inquiry into the bill. Despite receiving over 40 submissions—many proposing substantive amendments—the committee denied experts and the public any opportunity to be heard. This is unacceptable and another example of the disturbing trend of this government to hide from transparency and accountability. It shows that the government is more interested in political box-ticking exercises than in engaging in genuine consultation.”
“I rise to speak on the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025 and the Australian Centre for Disease Control (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025. These bills, together, establish a new national body, the Australian Centre for Disease Control, as a statutory, non-corporate Commonwealth entity. The proposed CDC would be led by the director-general, appointed by and reporting directly to the Minister for Health and Ageing and accountable to the federal parliament. The bills amend a wide range of existing legislation, including the Freedom of Information Act 1982 and the Biosecurity Act 2015, and make transitional provisions to transfer significant functions and powers between the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and the Chief Medical Officer and the new entity.”
“Now the test is on the government to provide timely and transparent data to show that they're keeping their promise. Have they released the 20,000 new packages they promised immediately? Will they deliver an additional 20,000 by the end of the year and a further 43,000 by the end of this financial year? This is the minimum that must occur. It must occur on time. The coalition will continue to fight for older Australians, with one clear goal—that no-one should have to wait for the care that they have been assessed as needing.”
“Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler and Minister for Aged Care and Seniors Sam Rae still need to explain to Australia why it took the coalition holding their feet to the fire in the Senate to release this much-needed support. This support should have happened months ago. It is a black mark on this government that they were purposely withholding support for hundreds of thousands of older Australians who desperately needed it. The coalition has stood up for older Australians across the country—Australians whom this government have abandoned. The money was in the budget. The capacity was there. The only thing standing in the way was Labor. This is a crisis of the government's own making, and there is still more work to be done.”
“Tragically, almost 5,000 older Australians died in the past year while waiting for a home-care package, while it was only after a coordinated, pressured campaign from the coalition that the government finally caved and agreed to our amendments to guarantee the release of at least 83,000 new home-care packages by the end of this financial year. This includes the immediate release of 20,000 packages and a further 20,000 by the end of the year. This was a win for older Australians in desperate need of assistance, but it should never have taken such pressure to get there. Labor faced a choice—listen to the coalition and release the packages, or vote against us and continue to deny vulnerable Australians the support they desperately need.”
“The Albanese government must address the underlying cause of bed block, particularly by ensuring that older Australians have timely access to the aged-care support they need. Most urgently, waiting times to access home-care packages have skyrocketed under Labor. Before the election, Labor promised to deliver 83,000 new home-care packages from 1 July 2025. But, instead of following through, they withheld support, even though the sector and the department were ready to deliver on it. As a result, not a single new home-care package was released into the system this financial year. This failure has devastating consequences. The priority waiting list has now blown out to almost 109,000 older Australians, a 400 per cent increase in just two years. Wait times for the package have tripled.”
“The Albanese Labor government is clearly failing Australian patients at a time when our health system needs stability and confidence more than ever. Across the country, waiting lists are growing. Hospitals are stretched. Patients are waiting months, sometimes years, for procedures that are critical for their mobility, independence and quality of life. A key part of this challenge is the growing issue of bed block, where older Australians who are ready to be discharged from hospital can't leave because they are waiting for access to an aged-care service. It is not only distressing for patients and their families; it also has a direct impact on the availability of hospital beds and the ability to perform elective surgeries.”
“He promised to deliver a new five-year national health reform agreement with the states and territories from 1 July 2025, but he has failed to negotiate, leaving our hospitals in a state of uncertainty at a time when they are facing enormous pressure. Instead of fixing this failure and securing the future of our hospitals, the Prime Minister appears to be sending them backwards. The Prime Minister needs to be honest with the Australian public about whether he intends to break his promise to fund 42.5 per cent of hospital costs by 2030. If he does, that would not just be a broken promise; it would be a betrayal of the patients, families and frontline health workers who rely on certainty in hospital funding.”
“Whilst the coalition supports the bill, it is worth noting that greater action is needed by the Albanese Labor government to ensure that Australian patients have timely access to elective surgeries, such as joint replacement, including ensuring our hospital system has funding certainty going forward and addressing the underlying cause of bed block in our hospitals. Reports from the states and territories about the ongoing negotiations on the next national health reform agreement—the agreement that determines the Commonwealth contribution to hospital funding—are deeply concerning. The Prime Minister has already broken a key promise on hospital funding.”
“This bill will ensure that the levy continues to function efficiently and consistently with its original purpose to support the continued collection and analysis of high-quality data on joint replacement outcomes. Therefore, the coalition supports the bill. It is a sensible, technical measure that will improve the operation of the national joint replacement levy. These amendments are administrative. They are consistent with the coalition's longstanding support for efficient, transparent and accountable administration of Australia's health system.”
“The National Joint Replacement Register, or NJRR, plays a vital role in monitoring and improving patient safety and surgical outcomes for Australians receiving joint replacements. The registry, administered by the Australian Orthopaedic Association, collects and analyses data from all relevant hospitals across Australia to help define, improve and maintain the quality of care for joint replacement surgery. The AOA receives Commonwealth funding for aspects of the registry's administration through a grants agreement, and these costs are efficiently recovered through the levy imposed under the Private Health Insurance (National Joint Replacement Register Levy) Act 2009.”
“I rise to speak on the Private Health Insurance (National Joint Replacement Register Levy) Amendment Bill 2025. This bill makes a series of technical and administrative amendments to ensure the national joint-replacement register levy operates in line with its original policy intent. Specifically, the bill redefines who is responsible for paying the levy, ensuring that it applies to the current responsible person for the medical device listed on the Prescribed List of Medical Devices and Human Tissue Products, not just the original applicant. This is a sensible and necessary change. It will ensure that the levy keeps pace with commercial changes over time, including where responsibility for a device listing is transferred between companies. The bill also includes validating provisions to mitigate any risk from past levy collections.”
“In addition, the Australian Electoral Commission notes that rural and regional electorates, such as the Parkes electorate, have higher proportions of people over the age of 50. Our ageing population deserve security of housing and deserve security of care. Having said that, I know the competition is fierce for the limited funding that is only going to get more competitive. So much time, resources and effort go into applying for funds needed to provide these essential projects, with no guarantee of success. Well done to the aged-care providers in Broken Hill, Cobar and Coonabarabran as well as to all of those who applied and weren't successful. Providing enough funding to keep up with aged-care needs for those who have given so much to our communities must remain a high priority for government.”
“It was great news to hear that close to $56.5 million in funding has been allocated to three aged-care providers in the Parkes electorate through the Aged Care Capital Assistance Program. Notably, Southern Cross Care received $50.66 million for a new 94-bed residential care home in Broken Hill, a facility that is desperately needed; the Lilliane Brady Village Hostel, in Cobar, was allocated just over $1.5 million; and the Cooinda aged-care facility in Coonabarabran was allocated $4.3 million. We're all aware that Australia's population is ageing. The Australian Human Rights Commission notes that an ageing population is one of the major forces shaping Australia's future.”
“But, to a parent in a remote western New South Wales area whose child already faces so many challenges, they are heartbreaking. These changes to the NDIS have been made without consultation with service providers and without consultation with the people who absolutely rely on their help. The NDIS is a vehicle—the only vehicle—that provides absolutely essential services to people in need. Those people deserve care, they deserve practical, affordable assistance and they deserve to be listened to before the decisions that weigh so heavily on their lives are made.”
“Some need a specially modified vehicle that's not available and, once there, they don't get the same tailored advice and assistance they would receive at home. Drastic cuts to the travel allowance have meant that dedicated service providers who have visited clients in rural, regional and remote areas for many years—who have helped children communicate at school, helped people access community services and generally made many more lives liveable—will have to stop. Some of them have told me they can't sleep at night, worried about the choice between a viable business and clients that need them. Already, some have made the difficult but necessary decision to cease services in some areas. In the city, where services are a short distance away, some of these changes might not mean much.”
“That means no timely training for her support staff. This is an example of those changes being made behind a desk a long, long way away from rural, regional and remote parts of New South Wales and the homes of the people who desperately need these services. A trip to Narromine, Lightning Ridge or Dunedoo by a caring and qualified allied health worker seems a very small price to pay when funds are available for business-class trips to the cosmopolitan capital of Stockholm. These are children and adults who have no option but to rely on the NDIS. They don't have the services available locally. They would have to spend many sometimes-painful hours and considerable expenses to travel to visit a service.”
“While those on the other side of the chamber were busy planning a trip to Sweden and the UK, one of my constituents, a 16-year-old I'll call Maddie, who is from Dubbo and has a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, will not get the support she needs to transition to her new school. Maddie is one of the real-life regional Australians whose life will be impacted because of the recent changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Changes to section 33 of the NDIS act that came into effect earlier this year mean that funding for each person now needs to be staggered across the year. But clearly, life doesn't work that way. Sometimes all of the expenses and the requirements come at once. While Maddie has enough sessions approved to assist her, she can't access half of her sessions until after she starts at her new school.”
“They raised more than $145,000 for Beyond Blue, all while singing 'I Am Australian'. Also at the bash, 6,779 people broke the world record for the most people dancing the nutbush. As well as paying tribute to the late, great Tina Turner, the world record raised more than $100,000 for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. This amazing event was supported by many sponsors, and, in true country style, 618 volunteers put in more than 13,700 hours. I commend the organisers of the Mundi Mundi Bash. It gives more than 15,000 people a few days to remember, and Broken Hill City Council have estimated in the past that the event has generated more than $12 million of spending.”
“Great things happen in the country, and, from 21 to 23 August, more than 15,000 people were witnesses of great things happening in Broken Hill with the Mundi Mundi Bash. On the goat farm of grazier John Blore, 35 kilometres west of Broken Hill, organisers of the fifth annual Mundi Mundi Bash brought together an enviable line-up of musical acts and broke two world records. The event has raised more than a million dollars for charity over the five years that it's been held. The event featured Birds of Tokyo, Missy Higgins and Hoodoo Gurus, among many others—and even the great Leo Sayer himself. At the bash, set against the red dirt of the Mundi Mundi Plains near the Barrier Ranges, 9,161 people dressed in blue and broke the world record for the largest human image of a country.”
“This equates to over 500 free nights for families with sick kids seeking treatment, so they don't need to worry about the stress of finding and paying for accommodation. I was proud to be part of this event that does such great work in that community. This week is Legacy Week. It started yesterday and runs until Saturday. Legacy Week Appeal is a time for all Australians to show their support for widows and children of those who served our country. Legacy is an amazing charity that has been supporting our veterans and their families since the 1940s. Purchasing a Legacy badge may be a small thing, but the funds raised make a huge impact on the lives of our veterans and families. Legacy Week is a time to give back to those families for those who've given so much.”
“On Saturday night, the Parkes community gathered for this year's Frontline Services Ball. My wife and I were pleased to attend the ball to support Birds in the Bush and Ronald McDonald House Central West, who were the chosen charities for this year's fundraising. The ball first started in 2022 on the back of recognising the frontline workers who supported their community through the COVID pandemic, raising over $64,000 for the Parkes community. The second ball in 2023 topped that fundraising with over $105,000 raised. These funds went towards purchasing defibrillators for police vehicles, a new boxing room for the PCYC and a car trailer for Parkes and Forbes SES, and over $78,000 went to Ronald McDonald House Central West.”
“Transport for NSW officers, and multiple changes in the reviewing officers, have provided differing guidelines and guidance on claims throughout the years. This has necessitated years of repeated claims and having to resubmit substantiation for the proposed treatments and associated costs. This does not just come at a cost and take time but is also a financial burden for reworks. It has inflationary impacts and, of course, impacts primary producers and community amenity.'”
“It is a deeply disappointing outcome that further restrains council's financial position.' We move on to the Gunnedah Shire Council, who said: 'The community of Gunnedah suffered nine flooding events between November 2021 and October 2022, which included seven major flooding events. Three of these events were captured under DRFA. Frustratingly for council and incredulously for the community, we are still waiting for approval to undertake almost half of those works; $10.1 million has been approved out of a claim for $14.8 million. So $4.7 million has been denied. 'In addition to the significant delays in getting approvals to undertake repair works and in receiving payment for works completed, council continues to face challenges in receiving consistent and reliable consideration for claims submitted and proposed treatments.”
“'Following a thorough review, council has identified approximately $1.4 million in unclaimed storm damage expenditure. Based on the guidelines from Transport for NSW, approximately $1 million was considered to be potentially eligible with sufficient evidence, while $177, 251 was deemed ineligible. The costs in question are real and essential expenditure incurred to restore vital infrastructure and transport access. Council has now been advised that a further $910,153 submitted for assessment has been reviewed, and only $173,749 has been approved for reimbursement.”
“People need these roads every single day, not just once every three years. The money is there for the road funding. The blockage must be cleared, and more action must be taken between the federal government and the New South Wales government to get the funding out to councils sooner. I'd like to share some correspondence from a few of the councils within the Parkes electorate in relation to disaster relief claims. The Parkes Shire Council said: 'Over the past five years, the Parkes shire has faced six declared natural disasters, including severe storms and flooding. Most recently, in November 2022, the recovery from these events required substantial efforts and resources. The council incurred significant costs in restoring critical transport networks, clearing debris and addressing community needs.”
“Councils not only in Narrabri and Gunnedah but throughout New South Wales are fighting a battle to access money to fix their road networks, and I'm sure that's the same right throughout regional Australia. Knocked back for a large percentage of the funding that they need, councils face huge delays and do not receive the funding for years. I believe there is far more than $100 million in disaster funding outstanding or denied for roads among New South Wales regional councils. In addition, councils are repeatedly told that they cannot flood-proof these roads. They must replace them to the same sub-standard that they were before the event. This means that these roads are destroyed every single time there is a flooding event, over and over again. How is it responsible financial management?”
“The large electorate of Parkes stretches over 400,000 square kilometres in a slice of New South Wales that showcases just about everything that Mother Nature can come up with. As one region battles drought, another faces flooding. This month, there have been natural disaster declarations in both the Narrabri and Gunnedah shires in the Parkes electorate following two major flooding events. These declarations would be good news for those shires if they weren't already completely disheartened by the fact that they are still chasing funding to fix road damage from the previous three years worth of flooding events. There is a major disconnect between available federal funding and the New South Wales government's priorities.”
“Where the system lets down our regional people, the least we can do is support them with initiatives like this one. Unfortunately, the Albanese government did not see fit to match this commitment. They are failing in the delivery of health care, and now they are failing to support the organisations that make healthcare support possible for desperate families. Macquarie Home Stay is meeting such a desperate need that it has to turn away between three and 14 families every single day. I repeat: up to 14 families every single day. I commend the hard work and commitment of the people behind Macquarie Home Stay: the compassionate CEO, Mr Rod Crowfoot, and the incredible group of volunteer board members with the vision to serve the people most in need.”