INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD SPENCE 1350 2LF YOUNG

Tuesday, 11 February 2025

Subjects: Harden Hail Storm event, Cootamundra Pathology, Petition

Richard Spence: Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke, she was in town, and she witnessed firsthand what was happening, and I've got her on the phone right now.

Steph Cooke: Good morning, Steph, good morning, rich, and it's good to be with you. Yeah, thanks for joining me on our communities yesterday.

Richard Spence: Yeah, I know you were on your way to Parliament, so I won't hold you up too long, but you actually were in Harden yesterday morning when that storm hit, or soon after it hit, what did you see?

Steph Cooke: Look I arrived soon after, simply because I was on my way to parliament yesterday and decided that I really needed to be in Harden to support the community and get that recovery effort underway as quickly as possible.

And what we saw yesterday was 30 to 40 centimetres of hail in what seems to have been a storm front that was about five kilometres wide, and it really had a bulls eye over Harden Murrumburrah itself so significant damage and indeed, devastation in parts of that local area.

Obviously, the Mirabella Creek, the playground, the sporting fields there have been impacted. Roads have been impacted, so that's some of the public infrastructure. But as you move into the main street of Harden, there are many, many shops that have experienced roof damage from the hail and then the inundation from the rain that accompanied that hail.

And there are some parts of Harden, particularly east of Harden, which received on top of 30 to 40 centimetres of hail, around about 80 millimetres of rain. So, we've had some significant falls come through that area and locals, whether it be residents, business owners or indeed, our farmers and land holders, have been impacted by this event.

Richard Spence: There's some extraordinary pictures and videos from yourself and others on social media, it's difficult to comprehend.

Steph Cooke: It is Rich, as most people know, I've experienced my fair share of natural disasters right across New South Wales as Emergency Services Minister, and mostly during that time, it was a focus on floods and fires and just storms in general, but there's nothing quite like seeing the devastation caused by a hail storm, one that lasted between 25 and 30/35 minutes, according to locals that went through it.

I've spoken to locals who are in their homes felt as though they were under machine gun fire. It was just that loud and did that much damage. With their windows being broken, roofs being torn off, and then the hail sort of coming in, coming into their living room, so to speak.

So, there's no doubt that it is difficult to comprehend seeing front loaders by Council in the main street of Harden trying to remove some of that ice in the aftermath was not a sight that you certainly expect to see, particularly in the middle of summer, but that's the devastation, ultimately, that storms can cause.

Richard Spence: the way that hail built up and just didn't melt too quickly at all, just it looked like snow. You've called for a declaration of a natural disaster in Harden. If that is declared, what does that open up? as far as support?

Steph Cooke: Well, Council are working through that process at the moment. They're very focused on it, which is really great to see, and they will work through that with the New South Wales Reconstruction Authority, once that process is complete, a brief will go up to the New South Wales Emergency Services Minister, who I have already spoken to.

I am absolutely confident that the threshold for a natural disaster has been reached, so it's simply a matter at the moment of going through the process. Now in terms of support for residents, businesses and farmers and the like that, remains to be seen and is a matter for the government. So, there will be low levels of support initially, particularly for people who have been impacted in their homes and, it is then upon and incumbent upon the New South Wales Government to increase the level of support based on the evidence coming through.

So I'll be making representations that such is the nature of the damage done, particularly in the areas of primary production. We’ve have had paddocks stripped bare of feed for livestock. I genuinely believe there will be a need for fodder support, and, of course, the rebuilding of fences, of shed roofs, of internal roads on properties. There are a number of dams right across the region that have been completely silted up by this event. So, I genuinely believe that our primary producers, our farmers, will need additional support. I will be arguing for that alongside support for small businesses up the main street of Harden and in Murrumburrah and other places who have also been impacted.

Richard Spence: Yeah, it's going to take some time to recover. Thanks a lot. Steph, just something I want to touch on just briefly. We can talk in more detail in a few weeks when we chat in detail, but the coda mudra hospital pathology has taken a bit of a blow.

Steph Cooke: Yeah and has reached there's no question of that. New South Wales pathology have announced in the last 12 hours or so that they will be proceeding with plans to close the pathology laboratory at the Cootamundra hospital, those services or that work, will be partly relocated to Young as I understand it, and the rest of the testing that is done at the Cootmundra Hospital be will be relocated, If you like, to Wagga. There is a suggestion that they will engage four courier services a day to move the bloods around from Cootamundra itself to other laboratories in Young and in in Wagga.

This is a blow for the people of Cootamundra itself and those surrounding villages, and of course, and most importantly for our hard working pathology clinicians in Cootamundra, who are highly skilled, highly educated, highly trained and live locally in that community, and now they are facing a very difficult decision of either exiting the healthcare system completely or accepting a role which would require them to travel a minimum of 100 kilometres a day in order to do the same work that they are able to do in in Cootamundra.

So, I understand from pathology that this is a transition that they anticipate will take at least six months, and on that basis, our petition to stop this from happening will continue, and I'm encouraging anyone who is listening today, there are sheets of that petition in a number of businesses around young and in other villages and in other towns.

Please sign that petition, get it back to the PO Box or drop it into our office. We need to double down on our efforts to save this service. It's incredibly disappointing and disheartening. However, we have invited the CEO of New South Wales pathology to come down and meet with locals, which they have not yet done. They have met with the Mayor and myself at various times. They have also met with pathology staff, as they should. However, they have not come down and spoken to the community itself about these changes and what they will mean.

So, we've invited them to do so we will work hard to secure that meeting for locals, and in the meantime, we will fight to save this

service.

Richard Spence: Yeah, not good news for the Cootamundra hospital and pathology, and that just adds an additional threat to other services. Thanks, Steph. We'll talk more in that in our regular chat later in the month, and I thank you very much for your time this morning.

Steph Cooke: Thanks Rich. Thank you.