Anika Wells MP on 4BC with Scott Emerson

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
4BC DRIVE WITH SCOTT EMERSON
FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 2022
 
SUBJECT: Brisbane floods
 

SCOTT EMERSON, HOST: Normally on Friday, we have our version of Question Time. Well, obviously we're in flood recovery at the moment. And I know our next two guests, regulars here every Friday, have been out in their local communities working hard for the local area, local residents. And they're trying to help with the recovery and the emergency. We're joined now by Labor's member for Lilley, Anika Wells and the LNP Member for Ryan, Julian Simmons. Anika, first up, great to have you back on the show. After a very busy week, I'm sure.

ANIKA WELLS, MEMBER FOR LILLEY: Thanks, and it's good to be back. I think it's been a little while because I've had COVID and my family have had COVID. And now we've had a natural disaster. Big February.

EMERSON: Well, it's good to have you back even though Graham Perrett was an excellent guest, indeed. But we prefer to have you back Anika, if we can. And obviously a stalwart of the show, Julian Simmonds, he's back as well. How are you Julian?

JULIAN SIMMONDS, MEMBER FOR RYAN: G’day Scott. And Anika, very good to have you back.

EMERSON: Now Anika, it is good to have you back. First off, I know you've mentioned you've had COVID. You've had to be in isolation. Now, we've had the floods. I know we spoke to you very early, I can't even remember what night it was. Was it Sunday night? Was it Monday? I'm losing track of all this. But tell me what's been happening in your area of Lilley?

WELLS: Well, we are in recovery mode. We were lucky in that the weekend obviously hit us pretty hard. But unlike, I know some of Julian's suburbs, the water had receded by Monday. So we are now navigating the tricky recovery process, things like power outages, things like disaster payments, things like what we do with rubbish, people dealing with their insurance companies. All of those things, people have been working together. I've got lots of heart-warming stories. And I think at the moment, I'm really heartened by the community spirit that northsiders are showing.

EMERSON: I'm going to get to those stories. So hold on to them. We’ll get to them, back to them in a moment there. But just first off Anika, in terms of…just explain what suburbs Lilley covers.

WELLS: We go from Toombul shops, basically the Kedron Brook up to the bridge to Redcliffe, up to Brighton. So that takes in the Cabbage Tree Creek catchment, that takes in Nudgee Beach, Shorncliffe, Sandgate, Brighton - 27 kilometres of coastline, I think. So the northside is used to flooding and a lot of people were hit by the 2011 floods. But I think what we saw on the weekend, that rain bomb that dropped across 24/36 hours, meant that plenty of people that have never had flood-affected properties before were at the depot. At the sandbag depot in Zillmere, frantically trying to save their homes. That is a trauma that we're all going to need to support each other with. And I guess probably public policy for Julian and I to consider in the months and years to come.

EMERSON: Well, let's go to you, Julian now. You're the member for Ryan. Just explain to the listeners where, what Ryan covers?

SIMMONDS: Well, we had a couple of different experiences in the flood. We've got communities like Moggill/Bellbowrie which were cut off for a number of days. And then we had you know, Mitchie and The Gap, and a little bit of Indooroopilly and Fig Tree Pocket which suffer from creek flooding. And then of course, Fig Tree Pocket, Indooroopilly and St. Lucia were some of the hard…and then Auchenflower, were some of the hardest hit for river flooding when the river came up. So you know, that was what made this event different from 2011. Which was that it wasn't just the river rising, it was the creeks at the same time and just an incredible volume of water. But I'm just absolutely devastated for them. You know, I've been in the community for a long time and I was there cleaning up their houses after the 2011 flood. And here we are again. It's um, it's very difficult for them going through that. And we'll just be here to help them as long as they need us.

EMERSON: Now quite a few of those areas are still without power. Those they're near the river there. But of course, and it was almost a repeat of 2011 for this. We saw parts of your electorate becoming isolated. Those areas out into the western suburbs there, Moggill, Bellbowrie, Pinjarra Hills those areas around there. Well, they got cut off once again.

SIMMONDS: Yeah, they did. Luckily, they didn't have the same level of inundation. But you know, again, there's great stories. I think Dan the tinnie man is pretty famous now. You know, he was sitting at one of the places where Moggill Road was cut by the floodwater. And you know, for days in the sun and the rain, he was ferrying people across in his private tinnie. You know, the chefs who needed to get across the water to go to the aged care home to cook for those residents. People who were getting out to go to shifts at the hospital. They were being ferried across by Dan who brought his tinnie down. So everyone was banding together. And at one point we did have to drop in some extra supplies to help them. But we were always in touch with the SES commanders out there and we were in there the moment that we could get in.

EMERSON: Big thanks to Dan particularly from me because you know, my dad's in the Fairview Pinjarra Hills nursing home there too. So, I know he said that the staff were tremendous out there and in very difficult circumstances. So thank you, Dan, for getting the cook and the chefs out there to do those good meals…
SIMMONDS: That’s right, he owes those good meals he was enjoying to Dan the tinnie man. Yep.

EMERSON: Now let's get back to you Anika. You mentioned some heart-warming stories. Let's start with you. Yeah, give me an example of one of them.

WELLS: We have a couple of tInnie men as well. I'm currently hunting down the tinnie man of Finnie Road, who was doing laps of Finnie Road getting everybody out. And we also have the story of Beryl and Gloria, who were rescued from their street, one over. This was in Deagon where pretty much the entire suburb went under. She didn't want to go. She was urged to go. Eventually, she agreed and she's bought her you know, those sort of floral upholstery suitcases. And there's this great photo of her sitting with the suitcase on the back of the tinnie and seven men marching the tinnie waist deep through the street to get her out. So that was Operation Beryl and Gloria. We had a barbecue Monday afternoon because everybody's still you know, their ovens aren't working, power's out. So we put on dinner. And it was actually a really lovely opportunity for people to come and try and find the people that had helped them the day before. So a lot of people came because they said: “Oh there was some guy came and helped me pass everything out of my front door and get me to higher land. I don't know his name. I don't know where he lives, but I know his face.” So we had a barbecue to get the Deagon community together. We're going to do the same in Brighton tomorrow at lunchtime.

EMERSON: Sounds wonderful. And operation Beryl, I like that a lot. Julian, what about another story from you?

SIMMONDS: The community has been fantastic. Well, you know, St. Lucia didn't have power, still doesn't have power. And after the…once the skies cleared, we held a barbecue out there. And the owners of the St. Lucia supermarket, the stock that they had managed to save before their shop went completely under…the sausages and the bread and everything. They were putting on the barbecue for the community. Didn't have power to cook for themselves. And you know that kind of selfless stuff is fantastic. And our Charlie from ATC, you know, ATC school has gone under. But little Charlie stood outside the Woolworths, the local Woolworths for two days with a trolley, collecting donations for flood victims. And others have been cooking. And I've done a, you know, I've just dropped this afternoon some clothes and toys for a family whose home was flooded. And they've got a little two year old, a little five year old. And those are clothes and toys that the community have donated. So everyone’s just been wonderful.

EMERSON: Great stories there. Next week, we might be back to normal Question Time. But good today to hear from both of you. I know you have been working very hard in your communities. It's great to hear those stories from your local communities. Labor's Member for Lilley Anika Wells and LNP Member for Ryan Julian Simmons, great to talk to you today. We'll catch you again next week.

SIMMONDS: Thanks Scott and look at everyone out in my community has really appreciated 4BC’s continuous coverage. So thanks for that.

EMERSON: Thank you for that Julian. Alright guys, we'll catch you again next week.

ENDS