BY DAKOTA TAIT
A coalition of Hunter mayors is calling on all levels of government to provide more support for the region's disaster recovery.
The Hunter Joint Organisation wants both New South Wales and the Commonwealth to put more money into helping the community back on its feet and become more resilient ahead of future weather events such as floods, bushfires, and drought.
Cessnock Mayor Jay Suvaal says councils can't deal with the effects of climate change by themselves.
"I really welcome that we have got some funding from the State and Federal Governments, but we do need a lot more," he said.
"This is the second natural disaster declaration our community's had in the last four months, and we need to get more support so we can build back better, and not just continuously try to replace the things as they were."
The nine Hunter mayors, as well as the Mayor of Mid-Coast Council, have all put their names behind the call, including better resourcing for SES and emergency communications.
Large parts of the region were already recovering from previous disasters when last week's floods struck, with local governments concerned with how to cover the cost of repairs and recovery.
"Across our community we've got teams out working day in, day out, trying to get safe access to properties, to allow emergency services to go in and do the work they need to do," Mr Suvaal said.
"What we need to do though is make sure that as the next stage rolls through and we start to build back, we need more support from State and Federal Governments to allow us to do that properly."
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| Image credit: Cessnock City Council. |
