Speech in Queensland Parliament, Jon Krause Member for Scenic Rim: I wish to place on the record the huge devastation caused to parts of the Scenic Rim electorate by the Christmas Day storms and the weather that followed, especially around Tamborine and Tamborine Mountain, Cedar Grove, Cedar Vale and Mundoolun as well as some other areas.
There was a huge impact but also a huge community effort to assist each other in the recovery from that horrific event. The event was so devastating that many people said to me words to the effect that this freak storm event was the scariest thing they had ever lived through.
A couple of people said that for the first time in their lives they felt afraid in their own homes due to the weather outside, such was the ferocity of that storm. Carpet was lifted from underneath in Queenslander houses, and in one case a ceiling was forced down into a living room due to the pressure from those storms. It was just an incredible storm—unbelievable. I saw this on Boxing Day, when I spent the day travelling around the electorate to see what had happened. The remarkable thing was the community initiative. By the afternoon of Boxing Day, many of the roads around these areas that were affected had been cleared by residents. The ‘chainsaw gangs’ got going. I can only imagine how much fuel was burnt in clearing roads.
I want to thank the ‘chainsaw gang’ in particular that was organised on Tamborine Mountain, Adam Chanter and others as well as the ‘generator gang’ that organised community donations to put together a pool of generators to help out people on Tamborine Mountain who were without power anywhere from nine to 12 days. I know there were so many volunteers who helped out: rural firies, SES volunteers and people in the community recovery centres. I also thank the department of communities staff who helped out our communities so much during that devastating time. I cannot fail to mention the Energex crews, many of whom were on holidays and many others who were in North Queensland. They mobilised pretty quickly to get power back on. Such was the extent of the damage it was basically a network rebuild at Cedar Grove, Cedar Vale and Tamborine Mountain. They did a great job and we thank them for that.
On the whole, the department of communities did a good job, but there were some technical issues with people getting their grants, which I hope has been sorted out now. People should not have had to prove they were without power for five days when it was blatantly clear to everyone that it was out for more than 10 days. That was an example of great community effort. I want to thank everyone who helped each other. Let’s hope we do not have these weather events too often in the future.
Are you still looking for help following the Christmas Day storms?
Disaster relief lawyers will be providing FREE legal advice to people affected by the Christmas Day storms at the Insurance Council of Australia’s upcoming community events.
Free legal help will be available at:
- Jimboomba Hall – Tuesday 19 March (8am-5pm)
- Upper Coomera (The Well Community Centre) – Wednesday 20 March (9am-6pm)
- Tamborine Mountain (Vonda Youngman Centre) – Thursday 21 March (7:30am-3pm)
Call 1300 527 700 to book a one-on-one appointment with Legal Aid’s disaster relief lawyers
