LISMORE MP Janelle Saffin has requested that NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet release without delay the Independent NSW Flood Inquiry’s final report, adopting all of its recommendations as promised.
“Ideally, this report, which was delivered to the NSW Government at the weekend, should be publicly released in the Northern Rivers, preferably Lismore, as soon as possible so that local residents, business owners and councils have some certainty about our future,” Ms Saffin said.
“I suggested early on that we needed an independent inquiry; and that it had to be the inquiry which breaks the litany of half-hearted public inquiries in Australia which have been either ignored or acted upon in a piecemeal manner.
“I’ve requested that the Premier do the right thing by us up here by releasing the report in our region and without delay, not ‘within the month of August’ as Acting Premier Paul Toole told a press conference.
“I made it clear very early on that the Premier can adopt Commissioners (Professor Mary) O’Kane and (Mick) Fuller’s recommendations in full and sight unseen because he trusts them to do the job. Further that the Premier also needs to announce an implementation mechanism that goes to the heart of the machinery of government or whole-of-government, and that reports to Government and the Parliament periodically.”
Ms Saffin said she had every confidence that the Commissioners’ findings will reflect our experience of the catastrophic floods in February and March, and that their far-reaching recommendations will speak to the resultant humanitarian disaster that will take years to recover from.
“I would expect them to have provided frank and fearless advice, just as I did when giving evidence to their inquiry and to the Parliamentary Legislative Council Inquiry when they held hearings and interviews in Lismore,” Ms Saffin said.
The MP made a 20,000-word submission to both major inquiries. To read her submission, go to: www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/listofcommittees/Pages/committee-details.aspx?pk=277
