Meet and greet: Murray River Council Mayor Chris Bilkey talks with NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet during his visit to Moama on Wednesday. Photo: Steve Huntley
Murray River Council Mayor Chris Bilkey has used a visit from NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet to Moama to raise a number of issues in the area.
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Mr Perrottet made his first visit to the region as premier on Wednesday, visiting Deniliquin and Moama alongside Deputy Premier Paul Toole, Minister for Emergency Services and Resilience and Flood Recovery Steph Cooke and Member for Murray Helen Dalton.
The quartet of politicians were in Deniliquin before surveying the flood damage in Moama.
They chatted with residents and SES NSW members, before being shown around the partially flooded Murray River Caravan Park.
Afterwards, Cr Bilkey had a one-on-one chat to Mr Perrottet about the issues the region is facing as it looks towards the recovery from the recent flooding, even handing him a page of hand-written notes afterwards.
“What I am concerned about is the long-term issue of the clean-up and the recovery,” Cr Bilkey said.
“That is where the real heartache is going to start, and I want to make sure the government understands that that is when the support is going to be required.
“We understand there is an acute crisis happening right now where there are people protecting their homes and managing the situation to ensure their businesses don’t get impacted.
“It is not providing sandbags for now, it is about the support and recovery in the aftermath of the whole thing. That’s what I tried to stress with him.
“I am grateful for him visiting and I am grateful for him becoming aware of the problems we face along the river.”
Raising issues: Mayor of Murray River Council Chris Bilkey brought up a number of key topics with NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, including sandbag collection and support for businesses. Photo: Steve Huntley
Cr Bilkey said he brought up a number of specific points with Mr Perrottet on some of the assistance he would like to see in the region, including road repairs, rubbish and sandbag collection as well as support for businesses.
“Victoria is doing free sandbag pickup after the flooding, why don’t we do that? We should be providing free pickup and disposal of sandbags,” Cr Bilkey said.
“Secondly, the inevitable amount of junk and rubbish that is going to be left outside of houses will need to be dealt with, and we will need support to do that.
“The road network and the access points for residents to allow them to get into their communities will need substantial work that we haven’t got the funds for, so we want some support for that.
“We want more support for businesses who have suffered and continue to suffer in the post-flood period. There are people in the hospitality industry who have lost six months worth of business, not just one or two or three months, and those guys desperately need some help.
“We hope that the packages, when they do come out, stress the importance of those longer-term effects.”
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