By Henry Pike MP
IT has been 12 months since Tropical Cyclone Alfred hit the Redlands, damaging homes, cutting power and telecommunications, and exposing serious weaknesses in disaster preparedness.
While immediate recovery payments provided important short-term relief, concerns remain that critical reforms promised in the wake of the disaster have failed to materialise.
Locals haven’t forgotten Cyclone Alfred, but it feels like Canberra already has.
In the immediate aftermath, critical disaster recovery and hardship payments helped many families stay afloat, but financial support after a disaster is only half the job.
The real test is whether governments fix the weaknesses a disaster exposes or simply move on once the cameras are gone.
A key failure during Cyclone Alfred was the National Messaging System not being operational.
We were told this system would be ready by 2024.
It wasn’t.
Now we’re told it may not be available until late this year.
Alfred should have triggered an urgent fast-tracking of this project.
Instead, it’s stuck in the slow lane.
Recent announcements revealed the projected cost of the yet-to-be-delivered system has increased from $10.1 million to more than $130 million.
Communities deserve answers.
How can costs blow out so dramatically while delivery keeps being pushed back?
Another failure during TC Alfred was themobile network which left many residents without communication at critical moments.
During Alfred, telecommunications failed across the Redlands when people needed them most.
The Minister committed to exploring options to expand the Mobile Network Hardening Program to areas like ours.
But exploring options is not the same as delivering outcomes.
A year on, residents still have no confidence the network will hold during the next disaster.
Calls for long-term resilience funding for island communities hardest hit by the cyclone have yet to result in clear federal commitments and the weakness exposed in makeshift housing on the islands is yet to be addressed.
Cyclone Alfred should have marked a turning point in disaster preparedness.
Too often, governments are quick to turn up after disasters with press conferences and sympathy, but when it comes time to fix what was clearly broken, urgency disappears.
I will continue fighting to ensure the lessons of Cyclone Alfred are not forgotten and that our community is better prepared for the future.
