Lismore flood survivors protested at Kirribilli House in Sydney this morning expressing their anger over the Prime Minister’s handling of the climate-fuelled megafloods on the East Coast and his government’s failure to respond to the climate emergency.
The group planned to dump a tip truck of flood-destroyed possessions outside the Prime Minister’s official residence at Kirribilli House but were stopped by police.
Survivors then unloaded damaged possessions from the truck, placing them at the front gate.
Lismore resident Kate Stroud sheltered in her roof cavity for 6 hours before being rescued by a civilian on a jet ski, and lost everything she owned.
“We’ve interrupted our clean up and travelled more than 700 kilometres to the Prime Minister’s residence to hold him to account. When Morrison came to Lismore, he was too cowardly to front the community outside his curated media stunt, because he knows that he’s again failed in a crisis and people are furious.
“This is our second major flooding event in 5 years. Myself and so many others in my community are traumatised by near-death experiences, the devastation of our town and the loss of all we own and the lives we have created. The disaster response was fatefully ill-prepared, but the most terrifying thing about the Morrison government’s failure is his ongoing funding and support for the coal and gas projects that are fueling these climate disasters.
“We’re here to demand that the Morrison government stops funding fossil fuel projects and redirects this funding to support flood and fire survivors and to build climate resilience in our communities.”
Another Lismore resident, Kudra Ricketts, rescued neighbours from flood waters and also lost all her possessions.
“Climate disasters, like the recent megafloods and the megafires only two years ago, are only the start of the climate emergency. If we do not stop funding fossil fuels and urgently transition to renewable energy, climate disasters will intensify beyond our ability to cope.
“It is our community today, but tomorrow it will be another. None of us are safe from climate catastrophe, and that’s what we wanted to show the Prime Minister by bringing it to his doorstep. The Morrison government says they care about our trauma and loss, but keep boasting about funding oil and gas expansion, and have offered no credible plan to respond to this national crisis.”
