Flood not a political footy: OPINION

"THERE'S a growing sense of abandonment as politicians ... have come and gone and failed to really help with the nitty gritty job of cleaning the region up."

A WEEK or so on from the major flood event which hit our region, many in our community are still mired in the mud, quite literally, while others have moved on.

There's a growing sense of abandonment as politicians of all persuasions have come and gone and failed to really help with the nitty gritty job of cleaning the region up.

Our Prime Minister has even been slammed for his failure to eat a sausage sandwich.

This may serve as a warning to future visitors: If you are offered free food from a bunch of volunteers in a disaster zone, bloody well eat it and act like it is the best meal you've ever tasted.

I've got precious little time for the NSW Opposition and at least one union for turning this disaster into a political football.

Criticising Essential Energy for its service when crews worked their absolute arses off to restore power to 11,000 homes without it, smacks of opportunism.

The Health Services Union also took a shot at the location of the Westpac chopper bases (both old and new) which were in a flood zone.

The chopper and its crew managed to keep on serving us, performing vital rescues at the height of the flood event, before cleaning up its base and moving back in when appropriate.

Scoring cheap political points when people are in desperate circumstances is just poor form.

There's a time and place for constructive criticism, but when people are displaced, without power and flooded out of their homes it's best to shut up and support their efforts.