Bundeena resident to quite SES after denied ute in Royal National Park town

A member of the SES will become inactive after his request to start a local volunteer group was denied despite living deep in the Royal National Park past a road that often floods.

Matt Ilic has been denied access to a vehicle to help him respond to emergencies and get recruit members. Picture: Supplied

A remote town in southern Sydney that regularly faces the risk of floods, storms and fire will be left without a dedicated State Emergency Services member in its community after he was denied basic resources for his volunteer work.

SES operator Matt Ilic – who is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the army – will become an inactive volunteer after he was told he could not be allocated one vehicle through the agency.

Mr Ilic has been a member for three years and has served the Bundeena Maianbar community during some of the most difficult flood and storm seasons the town has seen, including in 2021 and 2022 with Audley Weir often flooding cutting off direct access to the towns.

The weir floods frequently in heavy rain events – meaning any emergency services outside the town have to take a long detour in if someone on the right side of the river cannot assist.

He wants to build a team of volunteers in the community who can assist him because he has, for the most part, been the only local volunteer doing the role and has depended on members of the Rural Fire Service and Fire and Rescue NSW to assist in times of emergency.

“Unfortunately I have been denied this relatively small resource despite explaining how cut off we are during storms and the vanilla response is the same – that there are four SES units and 230 SES volunteers that serve us and a vehicle is not warranted,” Mr Ilic said.

Matt Ilic during his volunteer work. Picture: Supplied

“I am being reasonable in my approach and not asking for an extravagant bull to be filled.”

Mr Ilic said the four units were based out of the Sutherland cluster and were stationed on the other side of the Royal National Park, past the weir.

In the short term, Mr Ilic requested a beacon, which is a SES management tool, to be extended to the Bundeena RFS to enable a ready-reaction force that can attend storm events as part of the SES.

He said currently there needed to be a formal handover at SES headquarters to a RFS member, and that took up to an hour last year which resulted in trucks outside the area being sent to assist even though the local RFS was waiting.

Mr Ilic said in the medium term a small ute – carrying equipment and safety gear – needed to be allocated to a SES member active in the Bundeena area to enable fast responses and immediate intervention in the national park, as well as to assist training volunteers.

Matt Ilic wants to great his own team. Picture: Supplied

In the long term Mr Ilic hoped there would be a local sub-unit of six members under the Heathcote unit, with an appointed team leader.

Mr Ilic said volunteers in Bundeena were expected to travel 40 minutes through the national park on a weekday evening to attend training, which was a difficult commitment for volunteers.

As a capable and skilled retired Lieutenant Colonel, he said he could manage a small team.

He said the SES Heathcote unit and Sutherland cluster had been very supportive but they did not have the vehicle to allocate.

Mr Ilic said he would serve until after the Christmas break, hand back the equipment on January 29 and would become inactive before resigning on July 1 if nothing changed.

Mr Ilic works closely with other emergency agencies. Picture: Supplied

Mr Ilic will instead concentrate on his roles with the RSL, RFS, and Day Club (Senior Citizens).

In response to his request, Minister for Emergency Services Jihad Dib said the SES had reviewed capability requirements for all units in the metropolitan zone including Bundeena but acknowledged further community engagement and exploration would be of benefit.

Mr Dib said in a letter that SES would ensure adequate coverage and response by reviewing the number of incidents in the area for the past three years to inform consideration of the viability of establishing a presence in the area.

There would also be a review of the current response arrangement and advertise for residents to join the SES.

SES has been contacted for comment.