Three years ago my town of Mullumbimby, and many other towns in the Northern Rivers, flooded. That’s not news to most, but it was news that three years later, just last week, Justine Elliot had come to town to talk to the residents of Mullumbimby, and that upon hearing, for the first time, from the flooded in Mullum about their experience and how they have been managing or not she offered her empathy.
I have been working in the flood space as a resident, and as a part of groups of flood-affected and RA-affected, to get the fully-funded flood recovery we were promised by the Liberal and then Labor governments. I have done this with a band of volunteers meeting weekly. We held a meeting and action day with as many community groups as we could get from across the seven affected LGAs, 75 representatives in all, and attended by Janelle Saffin, Tamara Smith, Mandy Nolan, the RA and other politicians during the weeks, months, and years. Tamara and Mandy have consistently supported us in our work attending numerous meetings with us in person, by phone, and online, and have been generous with advice and their time, actioning and calling in parliament for action.
Where were you Justine Elliot?
Despite many requests to talk to us Justine has been unable to answer our emails our invitations and in the three years has attended one meeting online. She was unable to contribute to the meeting as she appeared to have only a basic understanding of who had flooded and where.
I have been a Byron Shire resident for 37 years, I have no political agenda, I would just like everyone to know who has actually been putting in the work actively supporting the flood-affected, and talking to residents specifically to find out what their needs are and then to push for action, whether that be Feros Care, house-raising and retrofit, Wallum, Fletcher Street Cottage, violence against women, Cabbage Tree Island rehousing, Airbnb caps, reducing coal and gas reliance – the list goes on. We want empathy, but mostly we want a plan and action.
Thank you Tamara, Mandy, Janelle.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
