Flood-affected voters blame the federal government more than state, insurers

People in flood-affected areas of NSW and Queensland are angrier with the federal government than with state politicians or even insurance companies over its response to the natural disasters.

A third of those in affected regions said they thought the federal government’s response had gone badly, the exclusive Resolve Political Monitor conducted for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age finds.

Gloria Grande lost her home of 60 years in the recent flood in Coraki, northern NSW. Credit:Elise Derwin

This was higher than the proportion who thought the NSW and Queensland governments (19 per cent) or insurance companies (18 per cent) had handled things poorly.

However, slightly more people said the federal government had responded well (38 per cent) while almost another third were undecided.

More than half of the respondents (52 per cent) said their state government had responded well or very well.

People were overwhelmingly happy with the actions of emergency services, with 84 per cent saying they had dealt well with the disaster and just 4 per cent saying their response was bad.

In the immediate aftermath of the first round of flooding across Brisbane, southern Queensland and northern NSW, angry residents questioned the speed of support available from governments at all levels.

State leaders have clashed with the federal government over the response, including the deployment of troops and funding recovery efforts.

Defence force personnel were on the ground in Lismore the day after the floods in late February, but locals said the support was initially slow and insufficient. It later emerged the NSW government had asked for the support to be in place before the floods.

Former defence chiefs and analysts say the nation should not be reliant on the military stepping in every time there’s a natural disaster, and have suggested a civilian emergency response force similar to the Army Reserve be established.

This week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison agreed to help fund a $721 million flood recovery package with Queensland, after initial resistance. He accused the Queensland Labor government of “playing politics on the eve of an election, trying to weaponise politically the flood experiences” of people in the state.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has ended up having to go it alone on a $112 million scheme to give grants to help people rebuild flooded homes, although Mr Morrison said on Thursday the Commonwealth was still considering the state’s requests to share the funding.

So far, the federal government has committed more than $1.3 billion to flood-affected communities in Queensland, and more than $2.25 billion in NSW.

The survey of 1618 eligible voters was conducted by Resolve Strategic with online respondents between March 30 and April 3, before the latest scraps over funding. The questions about the response of governments, insurance companies and emergency services were only asked of people who said they were in flood-affected areas.

Just over two in five respondents in NSW were affected by floods, although only 5 per cent said their home was “severely affected”. In Queensland, half of those surveyed lived in an area hit by floods and 3 per cent were severely affected.

Jacqueline Maley cuts through the noise of the federal election campaign with news, views and expert analysis. Sign up to our Australia Votes 2022 newsletter here.

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