SPEECH: Strengthening Communications

My electorate of Gilmore on the New South Wales South Coast has certainly had its fair share of disasters in recent years, including the horrendous Black Summer bushfires. Those fires impacted our region for weeks in December 2019 and January 2020. During the disaster, lives were lost; hundreds of homes were razed; businesses, farms, livestock and native bushland were destroyed; and community infrastructure was impacted. I know, as we head into another high-fire-danger season, residents in my electorate are feeling very anxious about the elevated risk of another Black Summer. I've spoken with dozens of residents who lost their homes or who were left stranded with no way of contacting family members when the phones went down and the power went out.