CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
A mass evacuation is currently being carried out in the Queensland town of Mackay as the ever-growing Cyclone Debbie threatens to cause widespread destruction as it collides with a high tide.
Authorities are urging about 25,000 residents in “low-lying areas” of Mackay to evacuate their homes immediately.
“We are asking people that can move out of those low-lying areas that are depicted on the local maps on the council website to move now,” said the Dawson MP, George Christensen
“Everyonee else. I would advise to begin sandbagging, tying down loose structures and stocking up on emergency survival goods”
However, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has come out as an SES sceptic this evening, telling media that the commonly accepted attitude towards cyclone preparation is unsound.
“I advise parents to go out and do their own research with regards to cyclone preparation because they can “have an effect on some children”.
It’s not the first time Hanson has questioned cyclone preparation — last January, she made the long-discredited and rubbished claim that sandbags can cause autism, and even cancer.
“We haven’t done the research enough, what is causing these kids to have autism, what is having all the cancer in our community, have we had enough answers into the cancer?”
Hanson criticised the state of emergency laws which block welfare payments for parents who don’t prepare for cyclones.
“What I don’t like about it is the blackmailing that’s happening with the government. Don’t do that to people. That’s a dictatorship. I think people have a right to investigate themselves,” she said.
