Hon. Catherine Cusack MLC. Photo Facebook.
NSW Liberal MP Catherine Cusack’s office has confirmed with The Echo that she has announced her intention to resign over the failure of the Federal Government to announce extra disaster payments for the Tweed, Byron and Ballina local government areas (LGA) that are in the Labor held seat of Richmond.
This follows the announcement that the local government areas (LGA) of Lismore, Richmond Valley and Clarence Valley, that are in the National Party held seat of Page would receive the extra payments.
Ms Cusack was reported in the ABC stating that ‘The idea that being a flood victim in a National Party-held seat makes you more worthy than a flood victim who is in the Richmond electorate… is probably the most unethical approach I have ever seen.’
‘I can’t defend it and I’m outraged by it.’
‘The whole Northern Rivers should have been given funding according to their need, not according to their LGA, it’s unprecedented.’
A recovery centre to assist Tweed flood victims is open in the Murwillumbah Civic and Cultural Centre auditorium offering a range of support services. Photo supplied
500 houses in Tweed uninhabitable
Tweed Mayor, Chris Cherry spoke to The Echo and said that ‘as an independent you don’t think politics can enter these decisions, it’s not part of the thinking process. I think in my heart that once the PM is made aware he will. I don’t understand why it has taken so long.
‘There are 500 houses that have been declared uninhabitable and more than 2,000 damaged. Surely those figures would meet any kind of threshold they [Federal Government] have. A flood doesn’t go by LGA boundaries it goes by river systems.
The Mayor of Byron Shire Michael Lyon had told the Byron Council meeting last Thursday that ‘In our own community there’s been just as much loss [as those LGAs in Page]. Perhaps not in terms of the numbers, but the scale of loss on an individual level has been just as severe as anywhere else. But he said ‘the said the Federal Government deserved “the benefit of the doubt”.’
“Unethical”, is surely the understatement of the year, Kudos to Catherine Cusack.
Covid – Domicron’s ‘Let it Rip’ was unethical.
Covid – Not my Glad’s ‘Ring of Steel’ around parts of Western Sydney was unethical.
Flood Disaster – Federal Government’s unethical treatment of flood victims but the Federal Government never had any ‘ethics’ to begin with.
The rot starts at the head, with Morrison. The dude is bereft of empathy, ethics.
He just does not care.
An add on.
Geoff Provest, the Nationals MP for The Tweed has also come out slamming President ScamMO / Federal Government for the treatment of flood victims.
Kudos to Geoff Provest but President ScamMO just does not care.
Catherine Cusack is demonstrating a standard if ethical behaviour rarely seen in the political class and she has done it before.
Michael (benefit of the doubt) Lyon is demonstrating the brand of political slippery rhetoric that made me relieved when he quit the Greens.
Unfortunately enough voters knew so little of him that they made him mayor!
Congratulations to Catherine Cusack MLC, your integrity in leaving politics shames the Liberals who have stooped so low as to abuse disaster funding with their usual pork barrelling tactics, what disgusting creatures they are.
Hell’s Bells. Welcome aboard Catherine Cusick. I do hope you stick to your word.
Tweed Shire Council made the decision to only protect the CBD of Murwillumbah, everyone else being left to their own devises. That was more than 25 yrs ago, so why hasn’t Council done the right thing since that time?
So easy to be critical in these times Catherine Cusack good bye and good riddance.
And so easy, it didn’t need any thinking to do the very obvious from the get go.
Scott Morrison, good bye and good riddance, May election.
I believe that it was Cusack that was featured with Aborigines at Rocky Creek dam a few months back – where she showed such empathy, compassion and understanding. These are the kinds of Liberals that we need!
Like back in the terrible days of the corrupt Joh Bejlke-Petersen QLD LNP, all we needed, was for one honest National party person to make a stand against it’s leader and ideology and Bill Gunn made that stand. Now we have Catherine Cusack making a stand. She’s not attempting to stop the corruption, the rorting, the terrible policies and the catastrophic failures they repeatedly cause. She’s just quitting in disgust, but that may well be enough to open the eyes to all those National and Lieberal voters that for so long have looked the other way and allowed this terrible behaviour to fester.
Geoff Provest, it’s is up to you to call this LNP Coalition behaviour out. Geoff has already stated he can no longer support the Morrison Govt, thats a good start and we all support him, but the Tweed is going to need funding for all the road and bridge damage and that is going to require an alliance of all our Tweed reps to fight this Morrison/Perrottet, failed ideology and empty rhetoric? Perhaps the threat of Geoff Provests resignation and a by-election may just get that funding Tweed Shire needs?
You forget Terry White of Terry White pharmacies who crossed the floor on Joh as well.
So, There was a Liberal with a conscience ????
I wonder how she ever got through preselection, I’ll bet it won’t ever again.
Cheers, G”)