The inquiry examined the state’s preparedness to deal with major flooding events, while considering the gaps in the emergency response that left inundated residents in the state’s north to be rescued by private boats.
The independent report will recommend that Resilience NSW boss Shane Fitzsimmons be dumped and the disaster management and response agency dramatically scaled down. It will also suggest a new deputy police commissioner be appointed to emergency and disaster management.
A familiar source with the report said it was damning of the SES’ response.
The news is the latest slap in the face for the agency days after a separate NSW parliamentary inquiry criticized the SES and Bureau of Meteorology for its “incorrect and out of date” information during the flood disaster that left 13 people dead and destroyed 4000 homes in February and March this year.
SES Commissioner Carlene York is currently on pre-arranged leave, but a spokesperson for the agency said she had been working with her senior leadership team throughout the week to review the findings and recommendations from the parliamentary inquiry. York will return to official duties on August 13.
A NSW SES spokesperson said the agency would review each recommendation which would form part of the government’s response. An RFS spokesperson gave the same statement.
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NSW Police said it could not comment until the report was publicly released.
The SES submission to the parliamentary inquiry notes that restructuring of the organisation, merging and deletion of regions had been a cost-cutting measure by the NSW government and prevented it from delivering “training, support and provide services to the communities across NSW when they are at their most vulnerable”.
Perrottet has yet to publicly release the inquiry’s findings and his response to them, but a NSW government spokesperson said it would be done soon.
“The report includes recommendations that will have impacts for communities, volunteers and first responders,” the spokesperson said.
SES Commander in Woodburn Ashley Slapp told 2GB on Thursday his unit worked around the clock even while their own houses were going under.
“We didn’t knock-off, we didn’t sleep on a bed, we slept on a floor,” he said. “Myself and all the team of the SES, especially in that flood, we were on the phone until three in the morning, we were working 24/7, we used every resource we had available to us. There was nothing we couldn’t do more.”
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Last week Deputy Premier Paul Toole said the government wanted to report back to flood-affected communities as soon as possible, committing to releasing the report in August.
“I think there are going to be things the government can do in the short term, the medium term and the longer term and this is about giving some clarity and certainty to the community.”
The report comes as the possibility of a third consecutive La Nina event for this year remains at 50 per cent. In the latest update from BoM released on Thursday, four of seven models showed a La Nina event occurring by mid-spring.
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