Page 227 - Week 01 - Thursday, 10 February 2022
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(e) during the storm and after, the community perceived a significant lack of communication by the Minister, with no local area contact made with those who suffered the worst damage;
(f) the State Emergency Service responded to and completed more than 1023 jobs; however, some areas of Belconnen were without power for six days and storm debris clean up has taken more than a month and is still ongoing;
(g) however, there was limited and only very localised support offered, such as food services, power generators, clean up services, to many of those suffering from excessive and prolonged storm damage, with some of the most vulnerable forced to rely on the goodwill of their neighbours; and
(h) the ACT does not appear to have a second tier of support for cleaning up storm debris, beyond advising people to lodge their problems through the Fix My Street site;
(2) refers this matter to the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety for an inquiry to investigate the complete response to the recent storms, the appropriateness of the communication strategies used to reach out to those affected; and the service delivery options of various agencies throughout the storm period and in the weeks afterwards, to repair, redress and clean up the storm debris and support the community in these matters;
(3) requests the Committee in conducting its inquiry to have regard to the:
(a) social, emotional and financial costs of those who have experienced storm damage and lengthy delays in the redress of these;
(b) effectiveness of existing reporting mechanisms of storm damage, both for redress concerning individual incidents and for statistical monitoring of the prevalence of storm damage experienced by individuals and by the people in the ACT community generally;
(c) adequacy of the response by various agencies, Government and otherwise, to the storm damage shared by members of the community, the length of time it took to correct matters, and the lack of support to clean up storm debris afterwards;
(d) the adequacy and accessibility of communication both during and after the storm, when the clean up was occurring, as people struggled to maintain everyday lives deprived of adequate support, during a week without power;
(e) adequacy of services provided in the immediate and longer-term period after the storm, for electricity, livelihood support, and storm debris clean up;
(f) value of establishing, and possible roles of, a further tier of support to help with the clear up of storm damage, once the immediate emergency is over; and
(g) any other matter the Committee considers relevant; and
(4) requests the Committee to:
(a) encourage participation by affected individuals and groups by providing interpreter services, inviting confidential submissions, taking evidence in camera, holding documents in confidence where it considers it
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