NND.600.00093_0001

Attention of the Royal Commissioners:

Air Chief Marshall Mark Biskin AC

Hon. Dr. Annabelle Bennett AC SC

Prof. Andrew Macintosh

Locked Bag 2000

MANUKA ACT 2603

31 March 2020.

SUBMISSION/(PRESENTATION):

ROYAL COMMISSION INTO NATIONAL NATURAL DISASTER ARRANGEMENTS:

('Bushfire Royal Commission')

Dear Commissioners, Air-Chief Marshall Biskin, Dr Bennett and Prof Macintosh,

Thank you for your invitation to participate in the Eurobodalla LGA Community Forum component of

the Royal Commission sitting of 11 March 2020 convened at Batemans Bay.

As your office was advised, it was with no small measure of disappointment as concerned members

of our Community that we were unable to attend as originally planned and much anticipated.

Accordingly, on advice of your office, we would like to transform our Presentation into written

submission form in lieu. Please be assured we would have much preferred to have done so in

person, directly addressing you.

We respectfully submit that the information this submission tenders for your learned consideration,

amongst other things, raises a particularly significant scenario component in any appraisal and

scoping of adequacy of current levels and standards of risk management planning, mitigation and

resilience as they particularly relate to core issues of Public Health and Safety in Eurobodalla LGA.

We have been given to understand that Eurobodalla Shire Council representatives were also in

attendance at the above sitting. Accordingly, regrettably we cannot assume, despite its very

considerable significance, that the above major issue in particular would have been brought to your

attention. Therefore, as it relates to our community's fundamental safety and healthcare, we would

wish to make doubly certain that it is not passed over by cause or want of omission .

Again, we commend your welcome efforts and thank you for kindly providing us with the

opportunity to make this submission and giving your valuable time to consider the serious matters of

Public Health and Safety as herein described.

Most sincerely,

/Attmt

NND.600.00093_0002

SUBMISSION

Royal Commission into Natural Disaster Arrangements

As adapted from Presentation for RCNDA EUROBODALLA LGA Community Forum 18th March 2020.

Venue: Catalina Club, Batemans Bay, NSW 2536

ATTENTION OF THE COMMISSIONERS:

We thank the Royal Commission and Commissioners for giving us the opportunity to make this

representation on behalf of our community, and trust that the Commission's recommendations will

be accorded the appropriate respect of the very fullest adoption and implementation by those in

legislative authority in line with the broader community's clear expectations and wishes.

After addressing the primary focus of this Submission we would like to scope three further localised

but nonetheless important Health and Safety issues, reflective of further serious vulnerabilities and

weaknesses pervading Crisis Management Planning in Eurobodalla LGA if currently it may be

described as such.

As we feel sure the detail of many other important issues will be eloquently and comprehensively

addressed through the submissions of other Eurobodalla community organisations and community

advocates, we do not wish to take up the valuable time of the Commissioners by further repeating

the detail they have already heard, and will sensibly refrain from so doing.

Should it be a commonly presenting theme, however, the one single element we would wish to

endorse in those community and local association submissions would be a shared disappointment in

the general standards of planning, acquittal and of community support during the bushfire

emergencies from Eurobodalla Council's management executive and those carrying senior office­

holding duties of responsibility as elected representatives. It would not be unreasonable to

characterise levels of performance in the above department, in stark contrast to neighbouring

shires, as invariably well short of the mark and worryingly inadequate. The term 'negligent' might

reasonably be deployed in respect certain areas of conduct. In contrast, whilst Council was in holiday

recess and closed for business to residents, frontline Council staff often went above and beyond the

call of duty in the conduct of their own responsib ilities. Common perceptions within the community

has been that it was largely their individual dedication and commitment which effectively rescued

Local Council's reputation and credibility from terminal disrepute. Our performance report card for

Council's executive management and senior officeholders, put at its absolute politest, would be

'must try harder', as it has been painfully apparent managerial responses were often woefully ill­

prepared and/or embarrassingly unequal to the task. We suspect that there is a very great deal that

now needs to be done by them to win back community trust and confidence. With the

Commissioners' purposeful guidance and encouragement, a large dose of humility and honesty

would be an excellent position for them to start from.

1

NND.600.00093_0003

1: DISASTER AND RESILIENCE PLANNING FOR EUROBODALLA: EMERGENCY HEALTH SERVICES:

We speak as inaugural members of the Eurobodalla community's new level 4 Eurobodalla

Hospital group which has been constituted to advocate for the construction of a properly accredited

level 4 hospital in the Eurobodalla. This major issue has attracted the overwhelming support of

Eurobodalla's community and medical healthcare workforce alike (please refer Facebook

page for verification). Acknowledging leading contribution, this call has most

recently also been joined by Council.

The potential catastrophic consequences accompanying the deficiency exposed by the recent fire

emergencies are deeply concerning and, we earnestly submit, are extremely pertinent to the Royal

Commission's deliberations as they pertain to public safety and mitigation of hazard.

Widely acknowledged as a function of Climate Change (notwithstanding, rather strangely in the

circumstances, Eurobodalla Council's dissenting view of the science), given that a further recurrence

of the recent extreme heat weather conditions may almost certainly be anticipated, we further

submit, with the Commissioners' indulgence, that it is entirely incumbent upon relevant authorities,

as a matter strictest urgency, to properly plan for and address this specific challenge as an absolute

and immediate Duty of Care.

By way of a necessary background, the hospital community advocacy group is convened by

, who is one of the

Eurobodalla's most senior medical professionals. As a great many members of the community will

vouchsafe, indigenous and non-indigenous residents alike, abiding concern for the

community's and medical workforce's healthcare interests has been outstanding in every respect.

His integrity and standards of conduct are widely admired and held in the highest regard by both his

professional colleagues and the community at large.

For the Commission's scoping reference: The Eurobodalla's baseline population outside of holiday

seasons when it doubles (as witnessed by the recent post December/New Year traffic jams

associated with a mass visitor exodus) stands at 37,000. By way of comparison, neighbouring Bega

presents at 33,000 and Goulburn at 30,000. Despite lower populations, both latter areas have level 4

base hospitals. It is crucial to grasp that with no level 4 hospital capacity whatsoever, across its

130km span, Eurobodalla's population and swelling visitor base, has NONE of the following on­

ground healthcare and specialist services: Orthopaedic, Paediatric, Ear Nose & Throat, Mental

Health/Counselling, Perioperative, Perinatal: And, most relevantly to the purpose of this Submission,

NO (ICU) INTENSIVE CARE UNIT or even ventilator capability. Presently, patients can at best only be

stabilised before being ambulanced or medivaced out of the area to properly equipped hospitals in

other parts of NSW (Sydney, Wollongong, Bega) and ACT.

We respectfully ask that the Commissioners take particularly close note that this 'patient export'

protocol is, by definition and practice, based on an automatic expectation of a now completely

discredited presumption of full and unimpeded road access and of adequate visibility: An absolute

dependence whose vulnerability was sorely and frequently exposed during the recent fires, with

access to level 4 hospital care in all directions cut and, in some directions (north for ACT), for weeks.

2

NND.600.00093_0004

The commissioners may also wish to note that the Eurobodalla has one of the highest proportions of

Aboriginal and retiree populations of any LGA/LHD catchment in NSW. Federally, only the Gold Coast

surpasses its seniors and aged demographic. This carries extra responsibilities in terms of planning

and provision of Healthcare Services infrastructure to meet these and other realities.

Through prevailing circumstances, along with thousands of other fellow residents, we had our own

experiences of multi emergency evacuations where we found ourselves acting as carers for elderly

and infirm neighbours with compromised mobility and underlying conditions requiring ongoing

medication (The Crisis Planning issues clearly highlighted by this situation are addressed in item 2).

As we personally witnessed on a number of occasions, with no formal obligation or requirement to

do so, and generously made their practice available to both

staff and elderly or seriously disabled residents as a place of refuge and respite from surrounding fire

fronts and thick smoke haze. This latter detail is moot as there was no place or space available for

seriously handicapped, or even quadriplegic residents with ongoing medical needs, at Moruya's exposed level 3 hospital.

From his surgery where he stayed overnight sleeping on the floor in order to ensure a response

capability for emergency calls from patients or hospital colleagues, was often present to

assist the hospital's medical team in intense preparations for the many catastrophic emergency

scenarios in addition to the ongoing care required for the patients already hospitalised.

It was and other staffs descriptions of looking through the hospital window at the

approaching fire front which underscored both the hospital's physical vulnerability and, even with

the best possible managerial deployment, the wholly inadequate level of resources at hand and in

place to meet the range of immanently possible catastrophe scenarios.

The implications set out in a recent public letter from to the current NSW Minister for

Health, the Hon Brad Hazzard MP, are so serious that with permission and the Commissioners' kind indulgence, we are tabling this letter, marked Submission Annexure 1,

as a supporting attachment to this Submission. As we all look with trepidation towards the not far­

off prospect of the next fire season, letter speaks with the force of objective

professional medical expertise and as incontrovertible evidence of the profound fault-lines and

wholesale inadequacies of medical resources currently available and deployed in the Eurobodalla.

(please refer Annexure 1 as provided herewith)

The recent emergencies have made it resoundingly clear beyond any shadow of doubt that

construction of a proper Level 4 Eurobodalla Hospital, securely sited, is essential and must be started

NOW with the utmost urgency.

On behalf of the entire Eurobodalla community, not least its hard-pressed medical workforce, we

earnestly appeal to the Royal Commission to hand down a finding that commencement of this task

should be immediately taken in hand without any further delay, excuses or obfuscation.

Thank you.

3

NND.600.00093_0005

2: PLANNING FOR AND PROVISION OF EMERGENCY SUPPORT SERVICES AND EVACUATION

FACILITIES TO MEET THE NEEDS OF DISABLED, SEVERELY HANDICAPPED AND ELDERLY

COMMUNITY RESIDENTS:

Evacuation planning in the Shire was clearly deficient in several ways:

Only two centres (one in Moruya, one in Batemans Bay) had been identified, for a total

population of more than 37,000 plus at least as many visitors, and a shire stretching on a

coastal strip for 110 km served by only one road (Princes Highway) often cut in all directions

by fires raging on both sides. Residents were advised to go to a centre, tried to motor North

or South, and in the end had to go back home(?) to a place threatened by fire fronts pushed

by 80km/hour+ winds.

We would suggest any emergency planning include an evacuation centre every 30 km or so.

The "official" evacuation centres were hopelessly inadequate; on New Year's Eve, we

witnessed the Moruya evacuation centre totally submerged by a 2000+ crowd in a very small

space, including their pets and horses. Few toilet facilities, no cleaning organised, resulted in

a fast spreading gastro. The building was not air-conditioned, and when the power was cut

as the fire approached generators were not in place. Things only improved when an army of

volunteers started moving in, although here again there was an "official" team of volunteers,

from an NGO under contract with the council/state emergency services and others but the

relationship did not appear to be smooth or operating at a desired optimum.

We would suggest that the strategy around what constitutes an evacuation centre, and what

should be in place to take care of evacuees be thoroughly reviewed, to include proper

management, proper hygiene facilities, and a reasonable degree of comfort. As most of us

retreated to the town's Bowling Club, or other Clubs in other towns, may we strongly

suggest the review includes provision for the use of these facilities during emergencies.

There was clearly no plan to provide adequate support for people with disabilities or

needing special care. One of our neighbours was refused a place in the local hospital

(already overcrowded), could not physically stay at the evacuation centre, and

notwithstanding urgent appeals from medical professionals and community associations, the

council refused access to one of its public halls with disabled facilities. Another neighbour,

just out of hospital from major surgery, ended up spending the night in his small car in an

evacuation car park.

We would suggest that an evacuation centre be earmarked as a refuge for people with

disabilities or ongoing medical conditions, and that these people also receive early

evacuation orders to enable them to arrive at the centres in good time.

3: REVIEW OF FIRE FIGHTING STRATEGIES FOR OUR "NEW NORMAL" FIRE CONDITIONS

In our conversations with RFS centres during the Fire Emergency one concept clearly emerged: the

fire fronts were so huge there was nothing the fire fighters could do, except concentrate on asset

protection. Time and time again, we were told that "it was too late" to attempt anything else. In

October/November 2019, as the fronts started to build up in our neighbouring forests, we were told

the fires were too far away, and it did not matter as nothing much was threatened there, just bush.

4

NND.600.00093_0006

We would suggest that had action been taken at the start of these fires to stop them developing into

raging fronts we might well have avoided the disaster. We now have technologies enabling us to

spot a bush fire in remote areas, and to fight it: let's change the Australian mindset, and fight fires

when still manageable. The cost of such actions would surely be less than the cost of recovery now

faced by our shire. We respectfully invite the Commissioners to investigate and consider the

effective implementation of the above strategy in other countries around the world, such as France,

where deployment of this strategy has proven highly effective in reducing the impact of seasonal

bushfires.

4: PUBLIC SAFETY: COUNCIL MANAGED/CONTROLLED LAND MAINTENANCE AND UPKEEP:

We are residents of a group of some thirteen households, all owner-occupied, located at Turlinjah

and situated between heritage-classified Historic Tuross Grazing Lands and Tuross Lake. It is located

off the Princes Highway close to one of Eurobodalla's well-established townships, Tuross Head,

roughly 45 minutes due south of Batemans Bay. It has a very high seniors demographic.

We share a range of concerns in common with the residents ofTuross Head. As current members

and past honorary office-holders of its active and well-known community association, Tuross Head

Progress Association (THPA), we endorse the credibility and probity of its separate submission to the

Royal Commission, in regards the issues of fire hazard safety and mitigation it addresses, and that of

fellow THPA member and THPA Bushfires Community Forum convenor and retired ACT Chief Safety

Officer, , whose very considerable expertise we are somewhat disappointed to note

Eurobodalla Shire Council has failed to call upon or take the benefit of consulting.

In similar fashion to the residents of Tuross Head township, key tracts of land next to which our

group of residences is both situated and adjacent is in the control of Eurobodalla Shire Council as the

managing authority. Despite the topographical associations possibly conjured by the previous

description of the terrain, it is important to clarify that there is still a very considerable amount of

thick bush and tree canopy within the environment. Due to well over a decade of neglect and

inattention under the aegis of the present Council, prior to which it was well managed and regularly

kept clear, some of the formerly Crown Land involved and one lot in particular, a Council Reserve

(part of Lot 1 DP 1081596), has negligently been allowed to build up substantial ground fuel to

unacceptably hazardous levels in the form of dried brush, long grass, and copious branch and stick

debris along with fallen trees, creating a clear fire hazard in respect a sole narrow single lane access

road for all families which include severely handicapped and elderly residents. Further, there are

also fire hazard implications of tree-line crown burst and windstorm-driven fire ember spread fire for

nearby Tuross Head township. The above categories of hazard played a devastating role in

effectively determining the speed, frequency and ferocity of Eurobodalla's local fire fronts and,

concomitantly, the on-ground Emergency Fire Services' compromised capacity to deal with them.

In the above's respect, during the bushfire emergencies, two different emergency units, including a

visiting team of RFS fire tenders, on inspecting our residential cluster at different times separate of

each other, did not even attempt to disguise their concern. They termed the fuel build up in the

surrounding environment, and in particular the adjacent Council managed Reserve, variously as a

"tinder box" and a "death trap" which they would not be able to defend against if prevailing winds

brought the fire into the area. In both above instances we were strongly urged to leave our homes

ahead of the inevitable official evacuation calls which occurred a number of times in our locale.

5

NND.600.00093_0007

Because of the apparent absence of any coherent vision or commitment, Council's senior management,

unlike neighbouring shires, appear unable or unwilling to make meaningful efforts, such as via community

forums, to gather valuable learnings and important asset status information like the above to assist it in its

duty of care towards its rate-payers.

Rather than hazard reduction burn-offs, it is often a simple matter requiring land clearance

management. whose responsibility Eurobodalla Shire Council invariably chooses to avoid by the

convenient expedient of deeming it an RFS matter. This places the problem in an effective

procedural gridlock in which the absolute primacy of residents' safety is relegated to a secondary

consideration.

We urge the Commissioners in the strongest possible terms to close this procedural loophole in such

essential circumstances so that Duty of Care by a Local Council in respect land under its

management control is mandated and cannot be avoided . It is our view the Local Council has a Duty

of Care and a responsibility to properly maintain such land so that it does not degenerate to a public

safety issue. In this matter, Council have consistently neglected to fulfill their inherent Duty of Care

by manifestly failing to keep such land appropriately clear of such dangerous fuel loads when such is

perfectly possible.

Eurobodalla Shire Council's inherent conflict of interest in self-determining its responsibilities in

scenarios of this kind and such as above, clearly requires a publicly accessible 'circuit breaker' in the

possible form of an impartial and suitably qualified third party or inspectorate, potentially RFS or an

environmental agency, who may make the determination as to what remedial/maintenance works

are required and, given the issue of public safety, which must be complied with and undertaken

within a stipulated timeframe with administrative sanctions and/or financial penalties for non­

compliance. Given this Council's invariable disposition and entrenched practices, there would appear

to be little alternative than to mandate such measures in the greater interests of public safety over

bureaucratic obfuscation.

An estimated 80% of Eurobodalla Shire's land mass has been assessed as fire impacted. Those

remaining areas left inexplicably intact, including ours, were succinctly described by one highly

qualified and very experienced arborist with extensive local knowledge as having merely "dodged

the bullet" this time around. As further repeats of Climate Change-driven weather extremes appear

inevitable, it is patently unacceptable for destructive devastation and associated human and

material costs to transpire which could so easily be mitigated by timely actioning by a Council willing

to face up to its responsibilities of long overdue maintenance.

We are confident we are joined by a great many in our community who would wish to express the

hope that the Royal Commissioners will not resile from conveying the voice of the community to all

those it particularly concerns in the most effective and clearest possible manner, leaving absolutely

no room for equivocation or doubt.

We conclude this Submission by sincerely commending the Royal Commission and Commissioners

for their diligence and dedication in this complex and arduous task.

6

NND.600.00093_0008

The Hon Brad Hazzard MP Ll COPY Minister for Health and Medical Research

19/1/20

Dear Mr Hazzard,

During the period of December 2019 and January 2020, the community of the Eurobodalla within

the SNSWLHD experienced the most significant natural disaster in its history.

Specifically, from New Years Eve 2019 to Saturday 4th January 2020, our region suffered widespread

material destruction of homes, property and businesses. Our neighbours to the near south bordering

the Bega shire were subject to the loss of life of their residents.

At that time I personally experienced th·e emergency preparations at Moruya District Hospital which

were led by the Director of Accident & Emergency, supported by all levels of medical, nursing, allied

health and hospital service staff. These staff members worked above and beyond their roles in both

time and effort to provide care for their community and visitors who were stranded in our region.

Our hospital was being prepared for a mass casualty situation which fortunately did not eventuate

but would have exposed the lack of service capability to deal with a large scale event whether it

would be bush fire, major bus accident on our highway or aircraft accident at our local airport.

The specialist staff at that time consisted of a single FACEM specialist, a General Surgeon and an

Obstetrician & Gynaecologist. We were fortunate that a paediatrician volunteered his services and

came to Moruya from Bega. The remaining staff were highly skilled and committed rural General

Practitioners who could provide emergency services including anaesthesia.

Moruya District Hospital fortunately was serviced by pathology, blood transfusion service, radiology

and operating suites. Batemans Bay Hospital, which was more closely threatened by the bush fires,

was unfortunately separated without these resources and there was no possibility of providing

support from Moruya District Hospital

There would not be any region in NSW where 2 hospitals were so imminently endangered and at

their threshold on service capability.

It was evident that our region was vulnerable due to the lack of clinical services. This has been

evident without natural disaster from the number of residents transported outside our region for

medical care because of a failure to provide level 4 services.

I have corresponded with you many times over the past two years indicating the need for

improvement in hospital services and the inequality of the services in the Eurobodalla relative to

smaller and less active regional and base hospitals in the SNSWLHD.

This recent experience should accelerate the development of a single new regional hospital for the

Eurobodalla. The local destruction should not be used as an excuse to delay this process further.

NND.600.00093_0009

It should reinforce the need for the Clinical Services Plan to include level 4 Intensive Care, Medical, Surgical, Paediatric and Adult Mental Health services. The Plan needs to be ratified as soon as possible.

It should stimulate the Federal Government to contribute to the capital development of infrastructure for the new hospital as part of the rebuilding of our community.

The disaster should inform NSW Infrastructure of where not to build a new hospital. We need a site which is safe from fire and flood, in a location of equitable access for residents from north of Bate mans Bay to south of Narooma. It needs to be a location with prompt access to aeromedical retrieval and appropriate options of road access.

Our community will suffer the physical and mental consequences of this disaster for a generation.

A just society should provide shelter, food, education and health care equally for its members.

I implore you now to accelerate the process of initiation of works on a single regional level 4 hospital for the Eurobodalla as much as an emergency as the rebuilding of homes and businesses for our community.

Yours sincerely,