As we say goodbye to 2019, surrounded by smoke for weeks, and see in another new year, I'd like to pay tribute to the hundreds of volunteers and professionals who have, for months now, been working around the clock to protect our local communities.
Whether you've been on the ground in combat roles during these unprecedented fires or providing support in other ways - thank you for all that you do. The sheer scale and enormity of these fires is taking an emotional and physical toll on our emergency services and the communities they are protecting. Our government must provide the support they need. And it must listen to our fire chiefs, our scientists, business and primary industry leaders who know that the issue of climate change must be addressed now.
At community meetings I attended, held by the Rural Fire Service, a recurrent theme was: how do we better prepare? Parliament is doing an inquiry into one aspect of preparation. It will look into the effectiveness of past and current vegetation and land management policy, practice and legislation and their effect on the intensity and frequency of bushfires and subsequent risk to property, life and the environment. Submissions are being accepted until February 28. More details are available at: https://www.aph.gov.au/vegetationandlandmanagement
Of course, 2019 was a federal election year. It is an enormous honour and privilege to continue to serve this wonderful community for a second term. While writing this, I looked back at my last couple of 'end of year' columns and saw that much of my 2020 wish-list is the same as in years gone by. Last year, I wrote: I fear that this year I will need to continue advocating for older residents who are waiting up to two years to receive vital aged care services such as in-home care, for people who are waiting months instead of weeks to receive their aged pension or carers allowance and for people who are struggling with the poorly implemented NDIS.
Nothing has changed, other than instead of improving, things have gotten steadily worse.
One thing I'm pleased to welcome is the start of community consultation on the Richmond Bridge duplication project. I have been advocating for a traffic solution for North Richmond for more than a decade but it has to be the right one. We need to ensure that this duplication works for the community, and isn't simply rubber-stamping someone's premeditated plan. If you haven't already had your say, you have until January 17 to submit feedback to Transport for NSW. I look forward to continuing to work for you and with you throughout 2020 and beyond.
