AGRICULTURE Minister Alannah MacTiernan’s trip to WA’s flood ravaged South Coast and Eastern Wheatbelt recently has created momentum, prompting Premier Mark McGowan to request a briefing from affected shires following heavy rainfall in February.
Ms MacTiernan and parliamentary secretary Darren West toured the worst affected areas in Ravensthorpe, Newdegate and surrounds last Tuesday, meeting with shire representatives from Esperance, Lake King, Jerramungup and Ravensthorpe.
Ravensthorpe shire chief executive officer Ian Fitzgerald said a briefing was prepared for Mr McGowan at the end of last week through the Department of Local Government and Communities.
“It’s pleasing to see that the Premier has taken a personal interest in this matter,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
“For him to ask for a briefing, I think, is a positive for us and for country people.”
Several roads remain inaccessible in flood affected regions and shire representatives are pushing for red tape to be lifted to allow a quicker recovery.
Under the WA Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (WANDRRA), local governments are unable to claim most of the costs associated with using their internal workforce to repair or re-construct roads and infrastructure.
Ms MacTiernan said after seeing the flood damage first-hand, it would make sense for affected shires to use their workforce to enable a quick and efficient repair response.
“We absolutely believe in these regions that we need good day labour forces and so we would very much want to support that,” Ms MacTiernan said.
“It (the arrangement) does tend to suggest that you can’t use your own staff, I think we’re going to have to look at that because it doesn’t make sense not to.
“Clearly the rules have been established in order to stop the system being drawn on too heavily.”
WA Local Government Association (WALGA) president Lynne Craigie said the association had been lobbying for changes to WANDRRA funding guidelines since 2011.
“Local governments can only recover costs incurred by contractors or in overtime payments to staff, when reinstating public assets damaged or destroyed in natural disasters,” Ms Craigie said.
“WALGA is campaigning for local governments to have the flexibility to execute the work using any method that they consider the most practical and cost-effective.
“This includes allowing councils to use their staff as well as contractors for restoration work.
“The multi-agency working group, which includes local government and WALGA representatives, has developed solutions to the issues identified with the funding guidelines, which are being considered by the relevant ministers.”
Mr Fitzgerald said the WANDRRA guidelines had left Ravensthorpe shire hamstrung and only a minimal amount of road reparations were completed.
“All we’ve done at this stage is what they call opening up, we’ve gone through and loaded a track through on most roads so that people can get through, we’ve done some temporary crossings through floodways just to give people access and we’ve done a little more obviously on school bus routes.
“Obviously safety is an issue.”
Mr Fitzgerald said the damage bill for his shire was predicted to exceed $20 million.
“It’s a bit more than our budget can handle,” he said.
“Under WANDRRA each shire is given an amount they have to spend before they start getting reimbursed, our cap was $153,400 which we’ve well and truly spent.”
Local farmers had taken matters into their own hands, covering reparation costs out of their pockets and completing repair work with their equipment.
Newdegate farmer Rusty Lee said a group of local farmers had already spent more than $10,000 surveying local lake systems and constructing drainage channels to shift flood waters blocking access routes.
Mr Lee said he hoped category C funding through WANDRRA would help cover the costs.
Category C measures make up a community recovery package, designed to support a holistic approach to the recovery of the regions, communities or sectors affected by natural disasters.
Grants of up $25,000 can be reimbursed to primary producers to pay for upfront costs of eligible repair works.
Several shires applied for category C funding through WANDRRA and, as of last week, a draft submission was sent to the federal government by the Office of Emergency Management.
A final submission was being prepared incorporating federal advice.
Ms MacTiernan assured shire representatives last week that she would push for the region to be recategorised to category C.
“It is a joint federal and State arrangement so we can’t unilaterally change the rules, but we certainly want to put our weight behind getting this declared as a category C,” she said.
“We’re working hard to make the case to have this elevated to a category C event, so that there is a more useful package available for the local farming community.”
