Hill threat to insurers on tradies
THE Townsville Toy Library was devastated by the floods, which contaminated more than 1600 toys, leaving the organisation with no choice but to throw them out.
The Royal Australian Air Force was enlisted for the clean-up after raw sewage ran through the Railway Estate library.
Library vice-president Erin Kiernan said the 40-year-old community organisation was devastated by the wild weather system.
“We decided we couldn’t salvage any of the toys because of the risks of children taking them home,” she said.
“The RAAF were amazing; they really stepped up. It was extremely beneficial because of all the bacteria from the raw sewage.”
Ms Kiernan said she did not know when the Townsville Toy Library would reopen again.
“We don’t have any premises yet. We may be able to go (back to the Railway Estate building) but we have outgrown that building,” she said.
“We can’t put a date on it (reopening).” Ms Kiernan said the volunteer-operated library offered 350 members different toys.
She said the floods were a devastating blow but vowed the toy library would return.
“We do apply for grants, which we will continue to do, and we do take donations so we will continue to do that,” she said.
The Townsville Toy Library offers families access to quality toys at flexible and affordable fees. Last year, it was awarded the national Large Toy Library of the Year gong. INSURERS who hire tradespeople from southeast Queensland for Townsville flood repairs instead of using local labour will be publicly “named and shamed”, Mayor Jenny Hill has declared.
Cr Hill made the extraordinary promise to call out insurance companies who failed to use North Queensland builders and tradespeople for repairs to homes, businesses and other infrastructure.
“Some of the stories I’m hearing from local tradies now are appalling; we put those insurance companies on notice, so that if we find that there’s irregularities, I will personally go out there and name and shame them,” she said.
“At the moment the insurance companies, the big companies, need to understand we’ve got local capacity; use it.”
Cr Hill said she was “sick and tired” of hearing about tier-one contractors coming to Townsville and threatening to bring up southeast Queensland workers.
“We’ve got a difficulty at the moment with housing; we don’t want to see a flood of tradies coming up here and literally causing our locals to be homeless,” she said.
Cr Hill joined Deputy Premier Jackie Trad and other stakeholders at an insurance roundtable yesterday.
Ms Trad said local tradespeople needed to register on the Queensland Building and Construction Commission website so insurers could refer recovery work to them.
“If you supply construction materials here in Townsville we need to get you on the QBCC register of local contractors,” she said.
“Insurance companies have committed to making sure that list of local providers is embedded in their procurement process.”
Ms Trad said the insurers had also indicated they would offer more case management and a “compassionate” response to small businesses who are doing it tough.
“We want to make everybody who has in Townsville sure an insurance policy gets a fair go,” she said.
“If you have an insurance policy and you have been told by a broker, or you have been told by an initial assessor not to bother putting in an insurance claim, then you need to disregard that advice and put in an insurance claim.”
Insurance Council of Australia chief executive Rob Whelan said the deployment of resources and expertise by insurers was the “fastest response to a catastrophe on record”.
“So far 15,571 claims have been lodged, with losses of about $606 million,” he said.
“Insurers are prioritising 457 residential properties identified as unliveable.”
Mr Whelan said insurers had committed to “do their best” to help both residential and business customers.