What resulted was a Response into Recovery action plan that was effectively executed within six months. This strategic position made it far easier for Shoalhaven City Council to get the ear of State and Federal governments, and it is pleasing to hear from the Commissioner for Resilience that they are streamlining the way data is collected, and taking on the issue that survivors face telling their story multiple times to multiple agencies.

Shoalhaven Council reached out to hundreds of businesses to ensure that those who were eligible for financial assistance got it, resulting in a whopping $36 million in $10K grants – that represents about half of our local businesses receiving assistance.

Our environment was badly damaged, but with investment of over $1.4 million into managing fire-affected waterways, coir logs were deployed to assist in managing debris and runoff – this project ran across three councils and is still running today.

A major issue during any disaster is the loss of communications and power. The first Mayoral Minute that I put to SCC in January 2020 was to improve power with solar and battery installations and to add in a satellite connection to the community halls to ensure that there was some way to get to the outside world for our isolated one-road in and out communities. It is pleasing that with joint Federal and State government assistance, a $2 million grant is now paying for the delivery of SCC’s Resilience program.

COVID of course threw a massive spanner in the works for social recovery and, as we all faced March and April of 2020 with a lockdown, everyone’s economic future was unclear. However, I took a very clear view to the CEO of SCC that there were to be no job losses on our Council, that redeployment to other tasks was to be the focus. The feedback was terrific and the work that was completed was useful for the City as it gave a bit of a lift to see things improved when mobility was improved. Staff had fun too, challenging themselves in new work situations.

Directions were also given to the CEO and senior staff to rapidly audit projects that Shoalhaven had perhaps not quite completed planning and to give them priority to get them ‘shovel ready’. The results are in and this year is the year of announcements as we have received record amounts of State and Commonwealth funding for projects to make our place better, from small-sale parks and amenities to ambitious projects such as the Ulladulla Harbour boardwalk, which was created to stimulate redevelopment of some key properties in the town.

I never thought I could have felt the great sense of optimism that I currently do feel for our area so soon after all this sorrow, but it is that sense of optimism that has driven the hope that our future will be brighter and better than where we came from. I am proud of the work our Greens team has achieved on Council against horrendous odds and I hope the community values our contribution enough to return me as Mayor and our new candidates as councillors in 2021 for we have optimistic, future-driven plans that have been informed by our communities’ needs.

Bring on 4 September!

Amanda Findley is the Mayor of Shoalhaven.