Appreciation award for Debbie aid team
STATE Recovery Co- ordinator Brigadier Christopher Field AM CSC is handing over the ongoing recovery following Cyclone Debbie to the Queensland Reconstruction Authority.
Brigadier Field met residents, small businesses and farmers impacted by the cyclone, inspected landslips and road and bridge damage and helped local recovery groups.
He will now hand over to the State Recovery Co- ordinator duties to QRA CEO Brendan Moon, who will be supported by QFES Acting Assistant Commissioner Kevin Walsh in the north and Queensland Police Service Chief Superintendent Charysse Pond in the south.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Brigadier Field, the Government and the QRA had been working closely in the past month to get Queensland on the road to recovery.
“The devastation wreaked by STC Debbie in late March and early April saw 36 local communities activated for Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements, 118,000 people provided with assistance through the Personal Hardship Assistance Scheme and more than $ 1 billion worth of damage,” said Ms Palaszczuk, who met Brigadier Field in Townsville yesterday.
“I want to sincerely thank Brigadier Field for his hard work and dedication during Debbie and in her immediate aftermath to set Queensland on a path to recovery.
“He, alongside his dedicated team of Australian Defence Force personnel, have worked around the clock to recover and rebuild the eight local government areas worst affected by STC Debbie in Rockhampton, Isaac, Livingstone, Mackay, Whitsundays, Logan, Scenic Rim and the Gold Coast.”