Nine Lismore residents have dumped flood-affected household items outside Kirribilli House and called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to act on climate change.
The residents brought a truck to the PM’s Sydney residence and dumped a number of items, including flood-ruined carpet, toys and furniture outside the front gate at 7.30am on Monday.
Lismore resident Kate Stroud said the group felt compelled to demonstrate after Mr Morrison failed to speak to residents while visiting the flood-ravaged town earlier this month.
Ms Stroud lost her home in the floods and said she sheltered in her roof for six hours before being rescued by another resident on a jet ski.
“Everybody that I know has lost their homes, they’ve lost their businesses. We have basically lost our entire town,” Ms Stroud said on Monday morning. “We tried to have this conversation with him face to face in Lismore, but he slipped through the back door of our council chambers. If our leaders can’t come to at least sit at a table with us and chat to us at times of devastation, what are they doing?”
Police had been informed of the demonstration ahead of time and shut off the street in response.
Ms Stroud said the residents were hoping to speak to the Prime Minister.
“We are so sick of the bottomless promises when there is a bigger picture to look at,” Ms Stroud said. “We need to fund the climate crisis [response], this is climate change and this will happen to somebody you love, someone you know, or it could happen to you personally.”
On Monday, it was announced two of the state’s former top public servants, Mick Fuller and Professor Mary O’Kane, would lead an investigation into the causes of the recent deadly floods, the emergency response and the future of building on floodplains.
The Lismore residents are calling for a response to climate change from the Prime Minister. Credit:Extinction Rebellion Sydney
The inquiry will examine the preparedness of NSW to deal with major flooding events, while considering gaps in the emergency response that left inundated residents in the state’s north to be rescued by private boats.
Acting Premier Paul Toole appointed Mr Fuller, a former police commissioner, and Professor O’Kane, chair of the Independent Planning Commission, to lead the independent inquiry. It is due to report to Premier Dominic Perrottet on causation, land use planning and management by June 30.
A further response to the government is due by September 30.
“We have always said we will take whatever action we can to improve our management of natural disasters, and this inquiry is an important step in that process,” Mr Toole said.
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