Opinion
How often do you hear of people on the land complaining that the quality of help from the rescue authorities does not match their budget, nor the calibre of their equipment?
But carry on the conversation and it soon becomes clear that the people whinging the loudest don't offer their time with the state-funded armies that are tasked to deal with flood or fire. This is not to say that the complainants don't give freely of their time - most of them do very much, and remain at the backbone of their community. It's just that the volunteer work force - often from afar - dressed in white overalls, or reflective yellow, fail to garner respect from those who have lived locally all their lives.
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Why is this so? During the 2019 bushfires hundreds of eager volunteers travelled to distant communities to lend a hand, taking time away from their own work and families to help others. Yet their actions frustrated those on the fire grounds when they were found to be unwilling to drive across paddocks on the edge of the fire front for fear of falling into a melon hole and becoming bogged.
In some localities landholders fought those fires on their own, or with near neighbours, packing water tanks on the back of their own utes and taking the risk themselves.
After the disaster was over it was a point of conversation among those who had been left to fight their own battles that the inexperience of visiting forces failed to do the job properly.
Fast forward to the ultra-wet season of 2022 and a similar airing of grievances can be heard from the multitude of residents and landholders who feel they have been left high and dry by state emergency services volunteers who in the thick of chaos left them clinging to slippery roof tops while the wake of the passing rescue vessels broke windows and pushed-in garage doors.
Again the argument rose claiming that volunteers from distant corners had no local knowledge, and weren't prepared to handle the rough waters required of them.
I hear the same complaint on the beach, while patrolling the learn-to-swim zones between surf club flags. Why don't those who wear the red and yellow uniform understand as much about troubled waters as the so-called local experts? Good question. It seems to me that those who whinge the most refuse to join the ranks of those in uniform because the very nature of the so-called pompous citizens' military is too formal for their liking.
Sadly, all emergency response organisations need more help from knowledgeable volunteers and yet there is a shortage of boots on the ground, or bums on seats.
Unlike in the US, where the federal government funds groups like the National Guard, the Forest Service and the Coast Guard, Australia is limited by a lesser population and deals with a vast landscape by calling on people like you and me to give a little of their time and a lot of their expertise to help others in our community.
Without the volunteers - Country Women's Association included - our society falls apart. However, it takes an act of bravery to shrug off the ego and kow-tow to the leaders of these volunteer armies. Without expert local knowledge, our volunteer emergency services suffer.
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