Nationals WA unveil election policy of standalone disaster recovery agency after slow Seroja response

The WA Nationals have used the third anniversary of cyclone Seroja to reveal it will set up a standalone disaster recovery agency if it forms Government at next year’s election. The party said on Thursday a resilience and recovery agency, as used in other jurisdictions, would help communities prepare for natural disasters, recover from them sooner and more effectively and build resilience. Thursday marked three years since category three cyclone Seroja tore through the Mid West, leaving a damage bill of more than $400 million. Opposition Leader Shane Love said the Government’s response to the Seroja recovery and rebuild had been “woeful”, with just $8.8 million out of a promised $104.5 million relief package reaching the ground. He said that slow and cumbersome process was a clear example of why a standalone agency was needed. “Many families, businesses and communities found the recovery grants offered following cyclone Seroja difficult to access or too restrictive in how they could be used,” Mr Love said. “It was shameful to see the majority of this vital funding returned to State and Federal consolidated revenue instead of helping communities and households rebuild and recover.” Shadow emergency services minister Martin Aldridge said a WA recovery agency would help support impacted residents and local governments in connecting them to relevant services on a long-term scale. “Recovery is not something that happens overnight,” he said. ”We know that you can’t do this with a recovery team based in Como; they have to be based in the communities that are most vulnerable to natural disaster impact.” Mr Aldridge said under the existing system, local governments, community groups and volunteers were left to “do the heavy lifting” in the long-term recovery process. “As we saw following the Wooroloo bushfire, cyclone Seroja and the Kimberley floods, recovery can take months or even years and many local governments have limited capacity to co-ordinate and undertake recovery activities on such a significant scale,” he said. Under the party’s election commitment, the emphasis would be on regional, rural and remote communities which have limited resources to navigate disaster resilience and recovery. Mr Aldridge confirmed there would be support for those experiencing emotional and psychological impacts of disaster. “Often people often think about the built environment and how we’re going to rebuild the bridges ... it’s much more than that. It’s about community, it’s about our economy, our social fabric, our culture,” he said. Mr Aldridge said the Queensland Reconstruction Authority was regarded as a “best practice” model for disaster recovery. “As someone who witnessed first-hand the impact of cyclone Seroja in my community and across the Mid West region, it’s critical that we learn from this disaster and improve our capacity for disaster recovery into the future,” newly preselected Nationals candidate for Geraldton Kirrilee Warr said. Nicole Anderson, who owns the Shearing Shed Cafe in Northampton, said there was a lasting anxiety. “We get wind storms in town, we have older people come in just for sanctuary to talk to someone,” she said. “We didn’t get much out of State Government because we continued to trade. I felt like there could have been a lot more for us as business people in town and even the community.”