Wednesday, 6 August 2025
Government House
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC

Bujari gamarruwa

Diyn Babana Gamarada Gadigal Ngura

In greeting you this evening in the language of the Gadigal, the Traditional Owners of the land on which we gather, I pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging. I extend that respect also to the Elders of the many parts of our State from which you have travelled tonight.

Commodore^[1], Air Vice-Marshal,^[2] Commissioners,^[3] Deputy Commissioners,^[4] Sheriff,^[5] Lord Prior,^[6] and, most importantly, representative members, officers, and volunteers from our Defence Force; St John Ambulance; NSW Police; Fire and Rescue NSW; Rural Fire Service; NSW Ambulance; the SES, VRA, and Marine Rescue NSW; Corrective Services NSW; the NSW Sheriff’s Office; the Salvation Army, Red Cross, and Surf Life Saving NSW,

What a privilege and honour it is to welcome you to Government House.

If I had to come up with a collective noun encapsulating the broad sweep of services and volunteer organisations gathered here, the closest I could come up with is drawn, like my words of welcome, from the language of the Gadigal.

It is this: Eora Bujeri—‘good people’.

It is a simple phrase that captures both the reason behind why each of you and your colleagues do what you do, every day, as well as the multiple and ongoing positive impacts those efforts have on our communities.

Initially, I thought it would be somewhat of a daunting task to know how best to acknowledge the many diverse challenges you face, given the wide range of organisations here and the work you do. Then I only had to think back on the last 6 years.

In the period between my swearing-in as Governor in May 2019 up until the beginning of last month, there have been 117 separate natural disaster declarations in NSW.^[7] We have been struck with bushfires, floods, storms, cyclones, tornadoes… and even earthquakes.^[8]

Sometimes these disasters affect a single LGA, but often the one disaster declaration affects dozens of LGAs. For example:

• the 2019-20 bushfires affected 52 LGAs;^[9]
• the storms and floods of January 2020 affected 96 LGAs;^[10]
• the storms and floods of March 2021 affected 78 LGAs;^[11]
• the severe weather and subsequent floods of February and June 2022 affected 64 and 52 LGAs respectively;^[12]
• the September 2022 floods affected 76 LGAs;^[13]
• Last year’s East Coast floods affected 34 LGAs;^[14] and
• Tropical Cyclone Alfred in March this year, which wreaked less damage than originally feared nonetheless affected 26 LGAs.^[15]

Indeed, of the 128 LGAs in NSW^[16], none have been spared a natural disaster declaration in the last 6 years, and many have experienced multiple.^[17] There have been 16 declarations in Wingecarribee Shire in the Southern Highlands—taken as an average that’s one every five months.^[18] Neighbouring Shoalhaven has had 14.^[19]

Each disaster has required a dedicated and integrated response, in preparing communities, saving lives, minimising damage, and helping to rebuild and support communities in the aftermath.

Added to the increasing burden communities felt, which in my visits I perceived was becoming a sense of fragility, there was the pandemic.

These all brought new challenges, requirements for flexibility, the need for collaboration and innovation, and increasing calls on Services beyond our traditional first responders, including on our Defence Force.

The outstanding work done during those times was additional to the everyday demands on each of our Services, vital work that keeps our community safe, protected, and reassured.

As Governor, I have the privilege of travelling across NSW. I have heard extraordinary stories of individual and collective action in times of danger. I have heard of the dangers you experience personally in undertaking rescues; I have heard of the judgement calls you have had to make; of the camaraderie you have developed in these challenging situations. Without you communities would have disappeared.

To say that you are the pride of our individual communities and of our State is an understatement. Thank you for your inspirational example, your selfless dedication and professionalism. I will walk out of Government House next year so humbled to know that I live in a community protected by you.

[1] Commodore Terrance Morrison DSM, RAN, representing Rear Admiral Christopher Smith AM CSM, RAN, Commander Australian Fleet, Royal Australian Navy

[2] Air Vice-Marshal Glen Braz AM CSC DSM, Air Commander, Royal Australian Air Force

[3] Commissioner Gary McCahon PSM, Corrective Services NSW; Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell AFSM, Fire and Rescue NSW; Commissioner Trent Curtin, NSW Rural Fire Service; Commissioner Michael Wassing AFSM, NSW State Emergency Service; Commissioner Alex Barrell ESM, Marine Rescue NSW

[4] Deputy Commissioner Dean Smith representing Interim Commissioner Thurtell, NSW Police Force; Deputy Commissioner Wayne McKenna ASM, Executive Director Clincical Operations representing Commissioner Dominic Morgan, NSW Ambulance

[5] Sheriff Tracey Hall PSM, Sheriff of New South Wales

[6] Professor Mark Compton AM, Lord Prior, St John Ambulance Australia (NSW)

[7] Collated from Australian Disasters database, Australian Government Department of Home Affairs Disaster Assist website, available here

[8] Muswellbrook earthquakes from 23 August to 12 November 2024 (AGRN 1159), see Natural disaster declarations for financial year 2024-25, available here

[9] NSW Bushfires: 19 August 2019 onwards (AGRN 871): NSW Government Natural Disaster Declarations for financial years 2019-20, available here

[10] NSW Storms and Floods: 15 January onwards (AGRN 898). Affected LGAs included every LGA in Greater Metropolitan Sydney: NSW Government Natural Disaster Declarations for financial years 2019-20, available here

[11] NSW Storms and Floods: 10 March 2021 onwards (AGRN 960): NSW Government Natural Disaster Declarations for financial years 2020-21, available here

[12] NSW Severe Weather and Flooding from 22 February 2022 onwards (AGRN 1012) and NSW Severe Weather and Flooding from 27 June 2022 onwards (AGRN 1025), NSW Government Natural Disaster Declarations for financial years 2021-22, available here

[13] NSW Flooding from 14 September 2022 onwards (AGRN 1034), NSW Government Natural Disaster Declarations for financial years 2022-23, available here

[14] NSW East Coast Flooding from 1 April 2024 (AGRN 1119), NSW Government Natural Disaster Declarations for financial years 2023-24, available here

[15] NSW Tropical Cyclone Alfred Severe Weather from 3 March (AGRN 1198), NSW Government Natural Disaster Declarations for financial years 2024-25, available here

[16] Local Government NSW website, available here

[17] Catherine Naylor and Nigel Gladstone, ‘The Most Disaster-Prone Council in NSW Says it has Run Out of Cash’, Sydney Morning Herald online, 11 November 2024, available here; NSW Government Natural Disaster Declarations for financial years 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25, available here, here, here, here, here, here, here

[18] ‘Wingecarribee Roads: Why Disaster Repairs Take Years, Not Months’, 11 April 2025, Wingecarribee Shire website, available here; Catherine Naylor and Nigel Gladstone, ‘The Most Disaster-Prone Council in NSW Says it has Run Out of Cash’, Sydney Morning Herald online, 11 November 2024, available here. The article, covering natural disaster declarations for the 5 financial years 2019-2024, cites “Shoalhaven and neighbouring Wingecarribee Shire recording 14 disasters each, on top of the pandemic—more than any other council in the state”: ibid. During the financial year 2024-25, Wingecarribee was subject to 2 more declarations: NSW Government Natural Disaster Declarations for financial year 2024-2025, available here.

[19] ibid.