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NND.600.00093_0001
Attention of the Royal Commissioners:
Air Chief Marshall Mark Biskin AC
Hon. Dr. Annabelle Bennett AC SC
Prof. Andrew Macintosh
Locked Bag 2000
MANUKA ACT 2603
31 March 2020.
SUBMISSION/(PRESENTATION):
ROYAL COMMISSION INTO NATIONAL NATURAL DISASTER ARRANGEMENTS:
('Bushfire Royal Commission')
Dear Commissioners, Air-Chief Marshall Biskin, Dr Bennett and Prof Macintosh,
Thank you for your invitation to participate in the Eurobodalla LGA Community Forum component of
the Royal Commission sitting of 11 March 2020 convened at Batemans Bay.
As your office was advised, it was with no small measure of disappointment as concerned members
of our Community that we were unable to attend as originally planned and much anticipated.
Accordingly, on advice of your office, we would like to transform our Presentation into written
submission form in lieu. Please be assured we would have much preferred to have done so in
person, directly addressing you.
We respectfully submit that the information this submission tenders for your learned consideration,
amongst other things, raises a particularly significant scenario component in any appraisal and
scoping of adequacy of current levels and standards of risk management planning, mitigation and
resilience as they particularly relate to core issues of Public Health and Safety in Eurobodalla LGA.
We have been given to understand that Eurobodalla Shire Council representatives were also in
attendance at the above sitting. Accordingly, regrettably we cannot assume, despite its very
considerable significance, that the above major issue in particular would have been brought to your
attention. Therefore, as it relates to our community's fundamental safety and healthcare, we would
wish to make doubly certain that it is not passed over by cause or want of omission .
Again, we commend your welcome efforts and thank you for kindly providing us with the
opportunity to make this submission and giving your valuable time to consider the serious matters of
Public Health and Safety as herein described.
Most sincerely,
/Attmt
NND.600.00093_0002
SUBMISSION
Royal Commission into Natural Disaster Arrangements
As adapted from Presentation for RCNDA EUROBODALLA LGA Community Forum 18th March 2020.
Venue: Catalina Club, Batemans Bay, NSW 2536
ATTENTION OF THE COMMISSIONERS:
We thank the Royal Commission and Commissioners for giving us the opportunity to make this
representation on behalf of our community, and trust that the Commission's recommendations will
be accorded the appropriate respect of the very fullest adoption and implementation by those in
legislative authority in line with the broader community's clear expectations and wishes.
After addressing the primary focus of this Submission we would like to scope three further localised
but nonetheless important Health and Safety issues, reflective of further serious vulnerabilities and
weaknesses pervading Crisis Management Planning in Eurobodalla LGA if currently it may be
described as such.
As we feel sure the detail of many other important issues will be eloquently and comprehensively
addressed through the submissions of other Eurobodalla community organisations and community
advocates, we do not wish to take up the valuable time of the Commissioners by further repeating
the detail they have already heard, and will sensibly refrain from so doing.
Should it be a commonly presenting theme, however, the one single element we would wish to
endorse in those community and local association submissions would be a shared disappointment in
the general standards of planning, acquittal and of community support during the bushfire
emergencies from Eurobodalla Council's management executive and those carrying senior office
holding duties of responsibility as elected representatives. It would not be unreasonable to
characterise levels of performance in the above department, in stark contrast to neighbouring
shires, as invariably well short of the mark and worryingly inadequate. The term 'negligent' might
reasonably be deployed in respect certain areas of conduct. In contrast, whilst Council was in holiday
recess and closed for business to residents, frontline Council staff often went above and beyond the
call of duty in the conduct of their own responsib ilities. Common perceptions within the community
has been that it was largely their individual dedication and commitment which effectively rescued
Local Council's reputation and credibility from terminal disrepute. Our performance report card for
Council's executive management and senior officeholders, put at its absolute politest, would be
'must try harder', as it has been painfully apparent managerial responses were often woefully ill
prepared and/or embarrassingly unequal to the task. We suspect that there is a very great deal that
now needs to be done by them to win back community trust and confidence. With the
Commissioners' purposeful guidance and encouragement, a large dose of humility and honesty
would be an excellent position for them to start from.
1
NND.600.00093_0003
1: DISASTER AND RESILIENCE PLANNING FOR EUROBODALLA: EMERGENCY HEALTH SERVICES:
We speak as inaugural members of the Eurobodalla community's new level 4 Eurobodalla
Hospital group which has been constituted to advocate for the construction of a properly accredited
level 4 hospital in the Eurobodalla. This major issue has attracted the overwhelming support of
Eurobodalla's community and medical healthcare workforce alike (please refer Facebook
page for verification). Acknowledging leading contribution, this call has most
recently also been joined by Council.
The potential catastrophic consequences accompanying the deficiency exposed by the recent fire
emergencies are deeply concerning and, we earnestly submit, are extremely pertinent to the Royal
Commission's deliberations as they pertain to public safety and mitigation of hazard.
Widely acknowledged as a function of Climate Change (notwithstanding, rather strangely in the
circumstances, Eurobodalla Council's dissenting view of the science), given that a further recurrence
of the recent extreme heat weather conditions may almost certainly be anticipated, we further
submit, with the Commissioners' indulgence, that it is entirely incumbent upon relevant authorities,
as a matter strictest urgency, to properly plan for and address this specific challenge as an absolute
and immediate Duty of Care.
By way of a necessary background, the hospital community advocacy group is convened by
, who is one of the
Eurobodalla's most senior medical professionals. As a great many members of the community will
vouchsafe, indigenous and non-indigenous residents alike, abiding concern for the
community's and medical workforce's healthcare interests has been outstanding in every respect.
His integrity and standards of conduct are widely admired and held in the highest regard by both his
professional colleagues and the community at large.
For the Commission's scoping reference: The Eurobodalla's baseline population outside of holiday
seasons when it doubles (as witnessed by the recent post December/New Year traffic jams
associated with a mass visitor exodus) stands at 37,000. By way of comparison, neighbouring Bega
presents at 33,000 and Goulburn at 30,000. Despite lower populations, both latter areas have level 4
base hospitals. It is crucial to grasp that with no level 4 hospital capacity whatsoever, across its
130km span, Eurobodalla's population and swelling visitor base, has NONE of the following on
ground healthcare and specialist services: Orthopaedic, Paediatric, Ear Nose & Throat, Mental
Health/Counselling, Perioperative, Perinatal: And, most relevantly to the purpose of this Submission,
NO (ICU) INTENSIVE CARE UNIT or even ventilator capability. Presently, patients can at best only be
stabilised before being ambulanced or medivaced out of the area to properly equipped hospitals in
other parts of NSW (Sydney, Wollongong, Bega) and ACT.
We respectfully ask that the Commissioners take particularly close note that this 'patient export'
protocol is, by definition and practice, based on an automatic expectation of a now completely
discredited presumption of full and unimpeded road access and of adequate visibility: An absolute
dependence whose vulnerability was sorely and frequently exposed during the recent fires, with
access to level 4 hospital care in all directions cut and, in some directions (north for ACT), for weeks.
2
NND.600.00093_0004
The commissioners may also wish to note that the Eurobodalla has one of the highest proportions of
Aboriginal and retiree populations of any LGA/LHD catchment in NSW. Federally, only the Gold Coast
surpasses its seniors and aged demographic. This carries extra responsibilities in terms of planning
and provision of Healthcare Services infrastructure to meet these and other realities.
Through prevailing circumstances, along with thousands of other fellow residents, we had our own
experiences of multi emergency evacuations where we found ourselves acting as carers for elderly
and infirm neighbours with compromised mobility and underlying conditions requiring ongoing
medication (The Crisis Planning issues clearly highlighted by this situation are addressed in item 2).
As we personally witnessed on a number of occasions, with no formal obligation or requirement to
do so, and generously made their practice available to both
staff and elderly or seriously disabled residents as a place of refuge and respite from surrounding fire
fronts and thick smoke haze. This latter detail is moot as there was no place or space available for
seriously handicapped, or even quadriplegic residents with ongoing medical needs, at Moruya's exposed level 3 hospital.
From his surgery where he stayed overnight sleeping on the floor in order to ensure a response
capability for emergency calls from patients or hospital colleagues, was often present to
assist the hospital's medical team in intense preparations for the many catastrophic emergency
scenarios in addition to the ongoing care required for the patients already hospitalised.
It was and other staffs descriptions of looking through the hospital window at the
approaching fire front which underscored both the hospital's physical vulnerability and, even with
the best possible managerial deployment, the wholly inadequate level of resources at hand and in
place to meet the range of immanently possible catastrophe scenarios.
The implications set out in a recent public letter from to the current NSW Minister for
Health, the Hon Brad Hazzard MP, are so serious that with permission and the Commissioners' kind indulgence, we are tabling this letter, marked Submission Annexure 1,
as a supporting attachment to this Submission. As we all look with trepidation towards the not far
off prospect of the next fire season, letter speaks with the force of objective
professional medical expertise and as incontrovertible evidence of the profound fault-lines and
wholesale inadequacies of medical resources currently available and deployed in the Eurobodalla.
(please refer Annexure 1 as provided herewith)
The recent emergencies have made it resoundingly clear beyond any shadow of doubt that
construction of a proper Level 4 Eurobodalla Hospital, securely sited, is essential and must be started
NOW with the utmost urgency.
On behalf of the entire Eurobodalla community, not least its hard-pressed medical workforce, we
earnestly appeal to the Royal Commission to hand down a finding that commencement of this task
should be immediately taken in hand without any further delay, excuses or obfuscation.
Thank you.
3
NND.600.00093_0005
2: PLANNING FOR AND PROVISION OF EMERGENCY SUPPORT SERVICES AND EVACUATION
FACILITIES TO MEET THE NEEDS OF DISABLED, SEVERELY HANDICAPPED AND ELDERLY
COMMUNITY RESIDENTS:
Evacuation planning in the Shire was clearly deficient in several ways:
Only two centres (one in Moruya, one in Batemans Bay) had been identified, for a total
population of more than 37,000 plus at least as many visitors, and a shire stretching on a
coastal strip for 110 km served by only one road (Princes Highway) often cut in all directions
by fires raging on both sides. Residents were advised to go to a centre, tried to motor North
or South, and in the end had to go back home(?) to a place threatened by fire fronts pushed
by 80km/hour+ winds.
We would suggest any emergency planning include an evacuation centre every 30 km or so.
The "official" evacuation centres were hopelessly inadequate; on New Year's Eve, we
witnessed the Moruya evacuation centre totally submerged by a 2000+ crowd in a very small
space, including their pets and horses. Few toilet facilities, no cleaning organised, resulted in
a fast spreading gastro. The building was not air-conditioned, and when the power was cut
as the fire approached generators were not in place. Things only improved when an army of
volunteers started moving in, although here again there was an "official" team of volunteers,
from an NGO under contract with the council/state emergency services and others but the
relationship did not appear to be smooth or operating at a desired optimum.
We would suggest that the strategy around what constitutes an evacuation centre, and what
should be in place to take care of evacuees be thoroughly reviewed, to include proper
management, proper hygiene facilities, and a reasonable degree of comfort. As most of us
retreated to the town's Bowling Club, or other Clubs in other towns, may we strongly
suggest the review includes provision for the use of these facilities during emergencies.
There was clearly no plan to provide adequate support for people with disabilities or
needing special care. One of our neighbours was refused a place in the local hospital
(already overcrowded), could not physically stay at the evacuation centre, and
notwithstanding urgent appeals from medical professionals and community associations, the
council refused access to one of its public halls with disabled facilities. Another neighbour,
just out of hospital from major surgery, ended up spending the night in his small car in an
evacuation car park.
We would suggest that an evacuation centre be earmarked as a refuge for people with
disabilities or ongoing medical conditions, and that these people also receive early
evacuation orders to enable them to arrive at the centres in good time.
3: REVIEW OF FIRE FIGHTING STRATEGIES FOR OUR "NEW NORMAL" FIRE CONDITIONS
In our conversations with RFS centres during the Fire Emergency one concept clearly emerged: the
fire fronts were so huge there was nothing the fire fighters could do, except concentrate on asset
protection. Time and time again, we were told that "it was too late" to attempt anything else. In
October/November 2019, as the fronts started to build up in our neighbouring forests, we were told
the fires were too far away, and it did not matter as nothing much was threatened there, just bush.
4
NND.600.00093_0006
We would suggest that had action been taken at the start of these fires to stop them developing into
raging fronts we might well have avoided the disaster. We now have technologies enabling us to
spot a bush fire in remote areas, and to fight it: let's change the Australian mindset, and fight fires
when still manageable. The cost of such actions would surely be less than the cost of recovery now
faced by our shire. We respectfully invite the Commissioners to investigate and consider the
effective implementation of the above strategy in other countries around the world, such as France,
where deployment of this strategy has proven highly effective in reducing the impact of seasonal
bushfires.
4: PUBLIC SAFETY: COUNCIL MANAGED/CONTROLLED LAND MAINTENANCE AND UPKEEP:
We are residents of a group of some thirteen households, all owner-occupied, located at Turlinjah
and situated between heritage-classified Historic Tuross Grazing Lands and Tuross Lake. It is located
off the Princes Highway close to one of Eurobodalla's well-established townships, Tuross Head,
roughly 45 minutes due south of Batemans Bay. It has a very high seniors demographic.
We share a range of concerns in common with the residents ofTuross Head. As current members
and past honorary office-holders of its active and well-known community association, Tuross Head
Progress Association (THPA), we endorse the credibility and probity of its separate submission to the
Royal Commission, in regards the issues of fire hazard safety and mitigation it addresses, and that of
fellow THPA member and THPA Bushfires Community Forum convenor and retired ACT Chief Safety
Officer, , whose very considerable expertise we are somewhat disappointed to note
Eurobodalla Shire Council has failed to call upon or take the benefit of consulting.
In similar fashion to the residents of Tuross Head township, key tracts of land next to which our
group of residences is both situated and adjacent is in the control of Eurobodalla Shire Council as the
managing authority. Despite the topographical associations possibly conjured by the previous
description of the terrain, it is important to clarify that there is still a very considerable amount of
thick bush and tree canopy within the environment. Due to well over a decade of neglect and
inattention under the aegis of the present Council, prior to which it was well managed and regularly
kept clear, some of the formerly Crown Land involved and one lot in particular, a Council Reserve
(part of Lot 1 DP 1081596), has negligently been allowed to build up substantial ground fuel to
unacceptably hazardous levels in the form of dried brush, long grass, and copious branch and stick
debris along with fallen trees, creating a clear fire hazard in respect a sole narrow single lane access
road for all families which include severely handicapped and elderly residents. Further, there are
also fire hazard implications of tree-line crown burst and windstorm-driven fire ember spread fire for
nearby Tuross Head township. The above categories of hazard played a devastating role in
effectively determining the speed, frequency and ferocity of Eurobodalla's local fire fronts and,
concomitantly, the on-ground Emergency Fire Services' compromised capacity to deal with them.
In the above's respect, during the bushfire emergencies, two different emergency units, including a
visiting team of RFS fire tenders, on inspecting our residential cluster at different times separate of
each other, did not even attempt to disguise their concern. They termed the fuel build up in the
surrounding environment, and in particular the adjacent Council managed Reserve, variously as a
"tinder box" and a "death trap" which they would not be able to defend against if prevailing winds
brought the fire into the area. In both above instances we were strongly urged to leave our homes
ahead of the inevitable official evacuation calls which occurred a number of times in our locale.
5
NND.600.00093_0007
Because of the apparent absence of any coherent vision or commitment, Council's senior management,
unlike neighbouring shires, appear unable or unwilling to make meaningful efforts, such as via community
forums, to gather valuable learnings and important asset status information like the above to assist it in its
duty of care towards its rate-payers.
Rather than hazard reduction burn-offs, it is often a simple matter requiring land clearance
management. whose responsibility Eurobodalla Shire Council invariably chooses to avoid by the
convenient expedient of deeming it an RFS matter. This places the problem in an effective
procedural gridlock in which the absolute primacy of residents' safety is relegated to a secondary
consideration.
We urge the Commissioners in the strongest possible terms to close this procedural loophole in such
essential circumstances so that Duty of Care by a Local Council in respect land under its
management control is mandated and cannot be avoided . It is our view the Local Council has a Duty
of Care and a responsibility to properly maintain such land so that it does not degenerate to a public
safety issue. In this matter, Council have consistently neglected to fulfill their inherent Duty of Care
by manifestly failing to keep such land appropriately clear of such dangerous fuel loads when such is
perfectly possible.
Eurobodalla Shire Council's inherent conflict of interest in self-determining its responsibilities in
scenarios of this kind and such as above, clearly requires a publicly accessible 'circuit breaker' in the
possible form of an impartial and suitably qualified third party or inspectorate, potentially RFS or an
environmental agency, who may make the determination as to what remedial/maintenance works
are required and, given the issue of public safety, which must be complied with and undertaken
within a stipulated timeframe with administrative sanctions and/or financial penalties for non
compliance. Given this Council's invariable disposition and entrenched practices, there would appear
to be little alternative than to mandate such measures in the greater interests of public safety over
bureaucratic obfuscation.
An estimated 80% of Eurobodalla Shire's land mass has been assessed as fire impacted. Those
remaining areas left inexplicably intact, including ours, were succinctly described by one highly
qualified and very experienced arborist with extensive local knowledge as having merely "dodged
the bullet" this time around. As further repeats of Climate Change-driven weather extremes appear
inevitable, it is patently unacceptable for destructive devastation and associated human and
material costs to transpire which could so easily be mitigated by timely actioning by a Council willing
to face up to its responsibilities of long overdue maintenance.
We are confident we are joined by a great many in our community who would wish to express the
hope that the Royal Commissioners will not resile from conveying the voice of the community to all
those it particularly concerns in the most effective and clearest possible manner, leaving absolutely
no room for equivocation or doubt.
We conclude this Submission by sincerely commending the Royal Commission and Commissioners
for their diligence and dedication in this complex and arduous task.
6
NND.600.00093_0008
The Hon Brad Hazzard MP Ll COPY Minister for Health and Medical Research
19/1/20
Dear Mr Hazzard,
During the period of December 2019 and January 2020, the community of the Eurobodalla within
the SNSWLHD experienced the most significant natural disaster in its history.
Specifically, from New Years Eve 2019 to Saturday 4th January 2020, our region suffered widespread
material destruction of homes, property and businesses. Our neighbours to the near south bordering
the Bega shire were subject to the loss of life of their residents.
At that time I personally experienced th·e emergency preparations at Moruya District Hospital which
were led by the Director of Accident & Emergency, supported by all levels of medical, nursing, allied
health and hospital service staff. These staff members worked above and beyond their roles in both
time and effort to provide care for their community and visitors who were stranded in our region.
Our hospital was being prepared for a mass casualty situation which fortunately did not eventuate
but would have exposed the lack of service capability to deal with a large scale event whether it
would be bush fire, major bus accident on our highway or aircraft accident at our local airport.
The specialist staff at that time consisted of a single FACEM specialist, a General Surgeon and an
Obstetrician & Gynaecologist. We were fortunate that a paediatrician volunteered his services and
came to Moruya from Bega. The remaining staff were highly skilled and committed rural General
Practitioners who could provide emergency services including anaesthesia.
Moruya District Hospital fortunately was serviced by pathology, blood transfusion service, radiology
and operating suites. Batemans Bay Hospital, which was more closely threatened by the bush fires,
was unfortunately separated without these resources and there was no possibility of providing
support from Moruya District Hospital
There would not be any region in NSW where 2 hospitals were so imminently endangered and at
their threshold on service capability.
It was evident that our region was vulnerable due to the lack of clinical services. This has been
evident without natural disaster from the number of residents transported outside our region for
medical care because of a failure to provide level 4 services.
I have corresponded with you many times over the past two years indicating the need for
improvement in hospital services and the inequality of the services in the Eurobodalla relative to
smaller and less active regional and base hospitals in the SNSWLHD.
This recent experience should accelerate the development of a single new regional hospital for the
Eurobodalla. The local destruction should not be used as an excuse to delay this process further.
NND.600.00093_0009
It should reinforce the need for the Clinical Services Plan to include level 4 Intensive Care, Medical, Surgical, Paediatric and Adult Mental Health services. The Plan needs to be ratified as soon as possible.
It should stimulate the Federal Government to contribute to the capital development of infrastructure for the new hospital as part of the rebuilding of our community.
The disaster should inform NSW Infrastructure of where not to build a new hospital. We need a site which is safe from fire and flood, in a location of equitable access for residents from north of Bate mans Bay to south of Narooma. It needs to be a location with prompt access to aeromedical retrieval and appropriate options of road access.
Our community will suffer the physical and mental consequences of this disaster for a generation.
A just society should provide shelter, food, education and health care equally for its members.
I implore you now to accelerate the process of initiation of works on a single regional level 4 hospital for the Eurobodalla as much as an emergency as the rebuilding of homes and businesses for our community.
Yours sincerely,