Anika Wells MP on ABC Brisbane

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC MORNINGS WITH REBECCA LEVINGSTON
THURSDAY, 3 MARCH 2022
 
SUBJECTS: Northside Brisbane floods; looting reports. 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON, HOST: Anika Wells, who is the member for Lilley, has called in this morning. Anika, good morning.

ANIKA WELLS, MEMBER FOR LILLEY: Good morning, Rebecca, thank you for all of your coverage. I've been listening as I've been driving around.

LEVINGSTON: A pleasure. That's what the ABC is here to do. You have some news that is not so good though.

WELLS: I do. I had to come out to Aberdeen Parade, which is the street that runs alongside North Boondall train station. Because there's been reporting…there's been looting reported overnight. And it's a tricky one, like we've been going door to door doing welfare checks. And there's good Samaritans here like Monica, who's a volunteer for the RSPCA. You know, she was asking residents if she can take the, you know, their plastic toys, because you can sterilise them and use them for the puppies at the RSPCA. That's a good example of how we can make the best of a bad situation. But also, residents like Brooke were just telling me that they were literally standing on their driveway, and someone would come past and put their broken, wet, beer fridge into their ute, while Brooke was watching them. People are really unabashed about this looting. So, we've called the police. The Queensland Police are onto it. And also, council have turned up now to close the road, so that you can only get through if you're an actual resident.

LEVINGSTON: So that's Aberdeen Parade in Boondall. 

WELLS: And various reports elsewhere. 

LEVINGSTON: Yeah.

WELLS: That's just where I am at.

LEVINGSTON: So just to be clear, and you do have people taking stuff off the ends of people's driveways as opposed to going into homes.
 
WELLS: It's a mixture. The people I've been talking to this morning have been talking about what's out on the streets, because you know, obviously council is now out and about collecting stuff, but it's sort of ad hoc. 

LEVINGSTON: Because I think, I think, of course, it's incredibly distressing for people who've lost their, you know, they're goods and possessions, and if they’ve put them out at the front of the house, they don't want to see someone else come along and get it. So but, you know, are people making the argument: “Well, you're chucking it out. So can’t I take it away?”

WELLS: Well, it's a bit more brazen than that. I mean, people are at, you know, on people's front decks, people are in, you know, open doorways. Because everything's open while everyone's trying to air stuff out. And, you know, when neighbours have questioned them, they’ve said “oh no I’m here collecting stuff for the owners,” but then upon further questioning, they’re not. They’re not doing that at all. They're just looting. So, it's really, really disappointing and, and like I said that these people are not Queenslanders, they are grubs.

LEVINGSTON: Yeah, that's disgusting. And just stay away. Anika, thank you for being out and about this morning. What is your sense broadly of how people are feeling in in around the areas that you've been to over the last 24 hours or so?

WELLS: There’s a fair bit of anxiety today with the severe storms predicted, you know, several of them across the course of today, and another 150mls predicted in rainfall for the next 24 hours. Obviously, that is nothing… sorry you can hear the trucks coming past while I'm walking along, apologies for the noise. Obviously, that is nothing compared to the 700 or 800mls that people experienced on Sunday. But given how sodden everything is, it's not going to take much for water levels to rise again and everyone who has just spent 48 hours you know gurneying out their lower level and putting all of their last belongings on the street for collection, they are going to watch that get stormed over, not to mention the actual risk of large hail, damaging winds. And risk of flash flooding, so people are really worried. People have just lived through the trauma of the weekend and unfortunately that's something that's not over for us for at least the next 24-48 hours.

LEVINGSTON: Yep, well we’re going to the weather bureau next so we can, you know, one way to kind of…not mitigate but at least make that anxiety informed to find out exactly what's forecast. Anika, appreciate your call this morning and let's hope people do the decent thing and don't steal from others. Thank you.

WELLS: Thank you and my office is 3266 8244if people need to report stuff so we can hop on to it. 

LEVINGSTON: Anika Wells, the Federal Member for Lilley. 
 
ENDS