GREENS leader Christine Milne has fuelled early election speculation after declaring the party in “election mode” during a keynote speech in Sydney yesterday.
In a call-to-arms cry to the party faithful at its annual national conference, Senator Milne rallied members to begin reaching out to voters in a “very tough election”.
The Greens party, having an agreement with Labor to oppose any motions of no-confidence in the government, has taken a battering since its record 2010 vote, with party support waning at all levels of government.
Senator Milne blamed a shift to the Right, driven by Labor fighting for its life against the Coalition, for the trend.
“2013 is going to a very tough election,” she said. “We are now as a political party on election footing.”
A coastal storm some are describing as a nor’easter could hit New Jersey this coming week, bringing gusty winds, rain and possibly snow to weary residents still reeling from Hurricane Sandy.
During a phone conference on Friday afternoon, Bergen County executive Kathleen Donovan assured local officials the county’s office of emergency management is aware of the potential storm and taking steps to prepare for it.
Under water … the Inlet section of Atlantic City, New Jersey, shortly after superstorm Sandy ripped through. Now, the state is bracing for a possible repeat. Photo: AP
“We’re already working on the next one,” she told a local official who was concerned plummeting temperatures could cause water pipes to burst in homes without heat and electricity since Sandy barrelled through the state on Monday night, US time.
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The approaching weather system, which will not be nearly as powerful as Sandy, was expected to move into British Columbia on Friday night, work its way into the plains states on Sunday and Monday and then head southeast, turning up the coast on Tuesday night and Wednesday, said John Feerick, a senior meteorologist with Acuweather.
“The question is whether it hits New Jersey and the places that were hard hit by Sandy,” he said.
“It’s still too early to tell.”
The storm could pack winds up to 70km/h and drop between 75mm and 125mm of rain in the hardest-hit areas, Feerick said. There could be some snow along the northwestern edge of the storm, he added.
The storm could further delay efforts to restore power to those still in the dark.
Tom Raheb of Westwood said the threat of a nor’easter early next week was making him nervous.
“The lines at the liquor store are already as long as the lines at the gas station,” he said.
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A one in 1000 flood around the Hawkesbury Nepean, such as that in Queensland early last year, would cause up to $8 billion in total damages affecting 14,000 homes and requires urgent preventative measures, according to a group of 10 western Sydney councils.
A one in 1000 flood is one that has a 0.1 per cent chance of happening each year.
The Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils last night called on the state government urgently to address threats of potential floods around the Hawkesbury Nepean.
A repeat of the 1867 flood would cause up to $1.7 billion in direct damages and $3 billion in total damages, the group said.
“This would affect an estimated 7600 homes, with about 1200 of those destroyed, WSROC president Tony Hadchiti said.
Flood prevention measures could include raising the wall of the Warragamba Dam, which filled to capacity in March, spilling water over the wall.
Infrastructure NSW last month backed the implementation of Hawkesbury Nepean Flood Plain mitigation measures as a key recommendation of its 20-year strategy “First Things First”.
Cr Hadchiti said the flooding was a serious concern for key western Sydney councils including Liverpool, Penrith, Blacktown and Hawkesbury.
“Our councils have been calling for action on this issue for years,” he said.
A study carried out as part of the strategy had shown there were 21,000 residential buildings on the floodplain – 5000 more than previously thought, and that an additional 143 hectares of commercial and industrial property had been built since 1990, he said.
He said: “A flood of this magnitude would put 43,000 residents and 9000 employees of local business at risk.
“These are risks that we simply cannot afford to take and the NSW government needs to act on these recommendations as a matter of urgency.”
The issue was also raised at last week’s Local Government and Shires Associations conference in Dubbo with calls to both the NSW and federal governments for a study to determine the potential threat.
WSROC vice-president, Tiffany Tree, who is also the deputy mayor of Hawkesbury, said she strongly supported the need for action to fund key mitigation initiatives such as raising the dam wall.
“This is important because, although individual councils have conducted their own studies, we need an overall regional assessment in order to be truly effective,” she said.
In his book Hawkesbury Heritage, Stan Stevens wrote that the 1867 flood “from Riverstone to the Blue Mountains, and from Pitt Town to Kurrajong extended a vast inland sea dotted only by the islands of Windsor, Richmond and Pitt Town.
“Many residents of the Lowlands, as they were being taken to safety, watched heartbroken as uprooted trees, broken furniture and other debris smashed into their homes, pounding against walls and even caused some buildings to be swept off their foundations.”
Residents all over the Hawkesbury, clinging to roofs of their homes, fired gunshots to alert rescuers in boats to their location, he said.
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