Shadow minister ‘shocked’: calls for more coordination to help bushfire victims
Shadow minister ‘shocked’: calls for more coordination to help bushfire victims
14 June 2017
published by http://www.wauchopegazette.com.au
Australia – A state Labor politician and duty MLC for Oxley says more coordination is needed to ensure the Pappinbarra community isnt left behind in the wake of the devastating February bushfires.
Lynda Voltz visited Pappinbarra, Beechwood and Hollisdale on Saturday.
The shadow minister for sport and veterans affairs has called on the state government to ensure there is greater co-ordination with local residents after the devastating fires.
Local residents in Beechwood and Pappinbarra are still reeling from the fires that destroyed homes and devastated the local community in February this year, Ms Voltz said.
I was shocked to discover the community had been left to coordinate their own relief and had little help from state and local government to deal with agencies.
Only one local resident had received a $1000 grant and the local community had to raise their own funds for those who lost their homes and whose farms were nearly destroyed.
It was only nine weeks after the fire that the community was even informed that they needed to fill in local land services forms to assess the category of disaster recovery funding they would be eligible for, she said.
Ms Voltz said local residents had put their lives on hold to help fellow residents who felt they were left to fend for themselves.
Where was the co-ordination between this community’s local state and government representatives? she added.
Ms Voltz said she will be raising this lack of responsibility for co-ordination with the minister for emergency services and the local council to ensure there is more co-ordination at a local level.
Port Macquarie-Hastings councillor Peter Alley was among those joining Ms Voltz.
Tropical peat swamp forests, which once occupied large swaths of Southeast Asia and other areas, provided a significant “sink” that helped remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But such forests have been disappearing fast due to clear-cutting and drainage projects making way for plantations. Now, research shows peatlands face another threat, as climate change alters rainfall patterns, potentially destroying even forested peatlands that remain undrained.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-06-peatlands-dwindling-losses.html#jCpTropical peat swamp forests, which once occupied large swaths of Southeast Asia and other areas, provided a significant “sink” that helped remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But such forests have been disappearing fast due to clear-cutting and drainage projects making way for plantations. Now, research shows peatlands face another threat, as climate change alters rainfall patterns, potentially destroying even forested peatlands that remain undrained.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-06-peatlands-dwindling-losses.html#jCp
