Election 2022: South Durras residents welcome planned comms upgrades as Labor targets disaster infrastructure

When the Black Summer fires threatened homes in an isolated South Coast town, residents say they felt helpless as phone and internet lines went dark. Labor is pledging to change that.

When skies over the idyllic seaside town of South Durras blackened as out-of-control firestorms drew near, residents were left in the dark, cut-off by phone and internet infrastructure left in ruins.

Telephone poles were toppled and mobile internet towers destroyed by the raging bushfires of December 2019, with small towns like Durras left unable to access news or to contact friends and family.

“It was extremely isolating and scary,” long-term resident Carolyn Morey said.

“We were using generators for weeks after the fires, like many other communities on the South Coast.”

In the wake of the Black Summer fires, Ms Morey said the small community of little more than 300 people was left exposed to its own vulnerability – the town only accessible by a single road leading in and out.

In the two years since, residents still share many of the same fears.

Many, like Ms Morey who is a member of the Durras Community Association, believe little has been done to help prepare towns on the Eurobodalla coast for future disasters.

Labor’s candidate for Gilmore, Fiona Phillips, is hoping to change that.

Ms Phillips joined the party’s shadow minister for resilience, Murray Watts, at a press conference outside the town’s local hall on May 3, alongside Eurobodalla mayor Matthew Hatcher and local leaders.

The announcement: a pledge of $750,000 to help protect the nearby Mt Wandera telecom tower, as wells $221,000 to improve infrastructure in South Durras, including replacing timber power lines and re-laying internet cables underground to protect against fires.

Ms Phillips said the community had been pushing for improvements in the area to communications, and that they would help the town be better prepared for future bushfire seasons.

“The communities on the South Coast tell me they want to feel safer,” she said.

“That means preparing for the future. That means having better power, better telecommunications.”

Durras Community Association president Trevor Daly was pleased with the announcement after three years of lobbying for the funding.

He said the community had gathered after the fires to discuss how to better prepare, and had made an action plan, on the top of which was telecoms.

“This started back in the bushfires when we lost power, which was quite frightening,” he said.

“We have tried to get these things funded and there‘s just not been very good response.

“The current government has been appalling in communicating with our community and responding on these issues.”

The funds for the projects would be drawn from Labor’s planned Disaster Ready Fund, which would include amounts previously pledged by the Federal Government, namely the $4.8 billion Emergency Response Fund.

Mr Watts said the Morrison Government had failed to deliver on the promised funds, claiming “not a cent” had been spent on disaster recovery or completed any prevention projects.

“These communities were ripped apart by the Black Summer bushfires, and it’s clear that the recovery process is still very much underway,” he said.

“We’ve got every reason to think, unfortunately, there’s communities like this that might face these sort of fires in the future, and that’s why it’s important to invest now make sure that we‘ve got the infrastructure in place to keep communications lines going to make sure that people are kept safe.”

In the wake of the floods in Lismore, Mr Murray hit out at Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Liberal party’s candidate for Gilmore, Andrew Constance, who in recent weeks has been critical of what he has labelled a negative campaign by Labor.

“I can understand why Andrew Constance doesn’t want Labor reminding people about bushfires, and about Scott Morrison’s absence through those fires,” he said.

“Andrew Constance made his name by saying things about Scott Morrison during the bushfires and now he has signed up to be a yes man for Scott Morrison, and I think that badly lets down these communities who have been so badly let down by Scott Morrison in the past.”

The promised funds are the latest in a long line of projects promised by both parties, many in recent weeks.

In March, Andrew Constance announced plans to fix black spots along the Princes Hwy – another issues highlighted by the Durras committee – days before a similar announcement by Ms Phillips.

Mr Murray said, unlike the government, the Labor party was committed to delivering on the projects.

“All of these commitments are clearly funded,” he said.

“ We are absolutely determined to deliver them because we want to make sure that communities like this are kept safe for the future.”

For local Paul May who, like Ms Morey, is a member of the town’s community action group, there had been a lot of talk about “resilience” in the wake of the disaster, but little action.

“There’s been commissions and inquiries, but I don’t know if a lot of action has been implemented,” he said.