Opposition Leader Shane Love slams State Government for response to emergency relief

Opposition Leader Shane Love says the West Australian Government has “failed” regional families as the cost-of-living crisis continues, specifically in being able to provide fresh food to people in remote areas.

But the State Government believes its team “moved swiftly” to recover and rebuild the East Kimberley community after it’s “one-in-one-hundred-year flooding.”

The leader of the Nationals WA made the comments on a trip to the South West on March 10, announcing the Opposition’s $300 million plan to support organisations helping communities in need, saying “no person, especially no child ... should go hungry”.

Speaking at Bunbury Foodbank, he praised the organisation for helping struggling communities in times of need.

“The (Bunbury) organisation uses a lot of their local produce around the South West, which was donated by the farmers in the area, and coordinated by the organisations who come and provide food relief for people in the Bunbury area,” he said.

“I think that’s a great testament to the organisational skills ... and it’s great to see volunteers here from local prisons are working their way back into the community and helping do a tremendous job to help the organisation in serving people right across the State.”

However, he slammed the McGowan Government’s “lack of concern” when dealing with the recent food shortages to the Kimberley region, resulting from severe flooding experienced in the area earlier this year.

“The West Australian Government has failed to properly plan for the needs of the Kimberley,” he said.

“There should have been earlier planning done on the very likely contingency that during the wet season another flood would occur somewhere in the Kimberley ... instead, people have been left to fend for themselves largely since they’ve been cut off for a week now and more.

“Now the community there, right through the Kimberley, is suffering now.”

“Why did they not look into what could be done months ago? It actually shows a lack of concern and the lack of proper funding.”

A State Government spokesperson said it “moved swiftly” to recover and rebuild the East Kimberley community after it’s “one-in-one-hundred-year flooding.”

“When the East Kimberley was cut off from the Northern Territory, we moved swiftly to secure ADF assistance to fly food into Kununurra. That operation was a success,” the spokesperson said.

“As of Friday, barges had arrived in Wyndham to deliver fresh meat and vegetables, on top of the non-perishable food flown in.

“With floodwaters receding in the Northern Territory, retailers can now resume transporting produce by road.”

The spokesperson listed numerous measures the McGowan Government had put in place to help WA communities, including $160 million for community service providers, $96 million to support Western Australians with disability and $34 million for family and domestic violence measures.

It follows the Government trebling Lotterywest’s emergency and crisis relief support, bolstering the community grants program to $30 million.

“All these measures are about providing genuine relief to ensure this money goes directly to the people who need it most,” the spokesperson said.

“As a result of WA’s responsible Budget management, we have been able to provide cost of living support measures to families right across WA.”