CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Dr HAINES (Indi) (09:39): When a natural disaster damages essential infrastructure, we should be able to fix it properly. In Fawcett, a small town in my electorate of Indi, residents are still recovering from the devastating January bushfires. Their old timber bridge has been closed since the fires, and last week flooding cut access to the temporary causeway.

This bridge was built prior to modern heavy vehicles and needs to be completely rebuilt. The Victorian government, however, is insisting that Murrindindi shire submit designs to rebuild the bridge like for like, but no engineers engaged by the shire will sign off on a repair job, rightly insisting on a full rebuild to modern standards that will be resilient to the next inevitable fire or flood.

The result is a stalemate with the Fawcett community, the ones who miss out. I want to acknowledge Sam Hicks from the Fawcett Hall for her passionate and powerful advocacy on this issue. This is a clear example of bureaucracy getting in the way of common sense and holding back recovery, and that's why I want to talk about betterment funding.

The disaster recovery funding arrangements ensure we can replace critical infrastructure after a disaster. But the current framework makes it too hard to rebuild that infrastructure so it's better protected against the next disaster, even though doing so makes financial sense, such as raising the height of a bridge or using fireproof materials. It's like the lesson we learned from our parents: it's better to do the job once and do it well.

Extreme weather events will continue—we know that—so disaster recovery funding should help make communities more resilient. This is not just a Fawcett problem; it's a problem for regional communities right across Australia and was raised consistently at a parliamentary inquiry into the financial sustainability of local governments. Communities from Broome to Bright, recovering from disaster, are having to fight their way through layers of government and red tape just to get essential infrastructure rebuilt for the future.

It shouldn't take three levels of government and a maze of bureaucracy just to get a bridge replaced. Now, I've welcomed the government's announcement that the disaster recovery funding arrangements are being reviewed, and I particularly welcome the proposed resilient infrastructure scheme, which could unlock more betterment funding. I'll be working with my electorate to ensure these changes help us recover stronger and safer.

But after everything Fawcett has been through this year, the least this community deserves is for governments to work together to get that bridge replaced. Fawcett can't wait for a government review, because, when disaster strikes, we shouldn't just rebuild what's been there before; we should build it back better so the next disaster doesn't leave the community facing that same problem all over again.