Angry Lismore residents have dumped wreckage from their flooded houses outside Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s official Sydney residence to call for climate action.
The protesters brought pieces of their homes, toys and other belongings which were destroyed by the deluge that devastated the Northern Rivers region, and dumped them outside the gates of Kirribilli House.
They held signs including: “Morrison your climate mega flood destroyed our homes”; “Lismore now, where next?”; and “Your climate inaction killed my neighbour”.
Lismore resident Kate Stroud said she wanted Mr Morrison to "understand the level of loss our community has been through".
“Imagine piles 50 times this size outside every house,” she said.
Lismore resident Melveena Martin said people were angry Mr Morrison did not hold a public appearance where residents could share their stories.
The Prime Minister, who was in Queensland when the protest took place, travelled to Lismore after the floods but kept to a schedule of private appearances.
“To think that our Prime Minister came to our town and wouldn't even speak to us and hid from us is absolutely deplorable,” Ms Martin said.
Another resident, Koudra Falla, said: “I had to swim under my house at 3am in the morning in hectic rapids because we could hear our neighbours calling for help.”
In the hard-hit region of northern NSW, it is estimated that more than 3,000 homes in the Lismore local government area have been assessed as "not habitable".
At the height of the crisis, many residents waited for hours on roofs, surrounded by floodwaters, due to a lack of emergency personnel and equipment.
Acting NSW Premier Paul Toole said people were "free to go and protest".
"We are in a democratic society and people are free to go and protest but what people are concerned about here in the Northern Rivers is actually getting a roof over your heads," he said.
"This is not the time to be playing politics, this is not the time to be running your platform, this is about making sure that we help these communities rebuild."
The protest followed the announcement of an independent inquiry into the flood disaster, which will examine what happened in the aftermath and analyse the government’s response.
Retired police commissioner Mick Fuller and Independent Planning Commission chair Mary O'Kane will lead the three-month inquiry.
"We need a better response going into the future," Mr Toole said.
