Grantham residents go home

Shocked and grieving, Grantham residents have begun returning to the
once-picturesque town that now resembles a war zone.
Parts of the tiny Queensland town, home to 370 people, were literally washed away by
a fierce wall of water last Monday.
It's only now that residents are being allowed to return home.
They've been kept out for eight days as police searched through flooded waterways
and massive piles of debris for their dead and missing. That search continues.
They'll be given at least another week on their own to grieve, with the Lockyer
Valley town closed to non-residents.
Grantham resident Linda Weston said the townsfolk wanted privacy.
"The privacy is so the people like myself ... can actually just go down and just
evaluate what's on their property, evaluate the situation," she told the ABC.
"They're going to sit on their step maybe for an hour and cry."
Most of the 20 deaths from the Queensland floods have been in the Lockyer Valley.
Twelve people are still listed as missing.
Lockyer Valley Mayor Steve Jones said Grantham locals wanted time to grieve away
from the attention of the nation's media.
"I think a lot of them want to go in, find their things and grieve," he told AAP.
"Some of them haven't been there since it happened and now they're going back to
have a look at where there lives were."
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said going home would be another traumatic event for
Grantham residents.
"This has been a shocking event right across Queensland, but nowhere more so than at
Grantham," she said.
"The shocking loss of life, the very fragile community where so many have been
affected, the awesome destruction that has been wrought by this water, I think
people are going to relive a very traumatic event all over again."
Visiting Toowoomba, which was hit along with the Lockyer Valley on January 10, Ms
Bligh promised that rural and regional Queensland would not be forgotten as the
state rebuilds.
Ms Bligh said the clean-up was only the first stage in putting the state,
three-quarters of which has been affected by flooding, back in working order.
"I intend to be making sure that every single part of Queensland recovers," she said.
"It doesn't matter that you're living and affected by this event in the capital
city, in our largest regional centres or our tiniest country towns, every single
person affected by this event is going to be looked after.
"You're going to get the same political attention from my government as every other
person affected."
Ms Bligh has launched a commission of inquiry into the floods while Prime Minister
Julia Gillard on Tuesday announced Australia's brightest business minds would form a
taskforce to help Queensland recover.
The group will seek corporate donations and use its expertise to help with
rebuilding and recovery efforts, Ms Gillard said.
Queensland's opposition Liberal National Party wants the commission of inquiry's
terms broadened to bring its investigative powers and reach into line with the royal
commission held after Victoria's Black Saturday bushfires.
LNP leader John-Paul Langbroek said the terms of reference should include any other
matters the commission deemed appropriate.
Ms Bligh has ruled out going to an early election in Queensland, despite speculation
she may try to capitalise on the positive response to her handling of the flood
disaster.
"My commitment to the people of Queensland is this: 2011 is a rebuilding year. 2012
will be an election year, not 2011."
While the floodwaters have subsided in many areas including the capital Brisbane,
the state's floods crisis isn't over yet.
The southwestern town of St George is preparing for its second major flood in a
month, expected to hit on Saturday.
A major recovery effort is under way in the Darling Downs town of Condamine as its
150 residents prepare to return to the town on Wednesday following their second
evacuation in a fortnight.
Ms Bligh dismissed opposition criticism that the terms of reference for the inquiry
into the disaster were not broad enough.
"The terms of reference for the inquiry are the broadest possible," she told reporters.
"I would just say to those in the opposition, please don't play politics with the
commission of inquiry.
"There will be time for oppositions to whinge and complain and raise questions but
right now, this commission of inquiry has a very serious job to do."



------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This email is intended for the use of the addressee only. If you receive this email
in error, please delete it immediately. This email may contain information which is
confidential and/or legally privileged. You must not use or disclose the contents of
this email, or add the sender's email address to any database, list or mailing list
unless you are expressly authorised to do so. The statements or views expressed in
this email are those of the individual sender and are not those of Australian
Associated Press Pty Ltd (AAP). These statements are not binding on AAP, except
where the sender expressly and with authority, states them to be. AAP is unable to
review the contents of all the email on its system. To the extent permitted by law,
AAP disclaims all liability for any loss or damage caused by the contents of this
email. www.aap.com.au


Delete & Prev | Delete & Next