Ms JENNY AITCHISON (Maitland) (17:29): Today I pay tribute to so many people in my community who really stood up when we had our massive floods in July and have been working hard since then. I will take a few minutes—there is such a long list of them—to mention them by name. Their names should be recorded in theHansard of this Parliament as people who have gone above and beyond. I start with Sonia Gannon, who organised the hub at Gillieston. She was an amazing helper in 2015, but she stepped up again in 2022. The way that woman wrangles other volunteers, our emergency services and our local government people—and even State members like me!—is just something to behold. She is a force of nature who is always there for her community. She was ably assisted this time, particularly, by Katie Ferguson, who also stood up. She is president of the local P&C at Gillieston Heights. Katie has also been a great advocate for our community and really helped to organise during the flood.

I will go through the rest of the list in no particular order; it is really just as the names have come in. We have had lots of people making nominations. We had Steve Collins, from 21st Century Meats at Rutherford; Melissa Brett, who was moving cattle to higher ground; Luke and Kayla McCarthy, who were also rescuing animals to higher ground; and Harley Little and Greg Irvin at the boats at Testers Hollow. We had Hannah Griffin and Jodie Griffin running a basketball clinic during the floods. I also pay tribute to the barbecue cookers: Brandon Stephens, Curtis Watts, Crystal Loken, Gee Mac, Kate Lindsay, and Tameka Weeks, who came in with bread.

We had people such as Damian Knapp delivering food to the elderly and checking in on those who were not being looked after by anyone. Callieanne Liokos provided hot food to road workers. Jodie Gifford provided groceries and cooked meals, while Rebecca Neil supplied gazebos, tables and chairs to SES workers and boat people. From Gillieston Heights Pharmacy we had Olivia Dawson, Wahno Noh, Beth Lawford, Brooke Stanley and Stephen Boyle. We had people at the hub who helped out, including Rachel Applebee, who gave me a bed for a couple of nights. People with a disability were helped by Georgina Cali. Others helping at the community hub were Liz Ray‑Dobson, Chris Redshaw, Rebekah Knapp and Sara Bird.

Steve Wright organised insurance for the barbecue and car show. Chris Aquilina provided a forklift for the supplies. I thank the Thermomix ladies, including Kirsten Dover. People who went around local retirement villages included Emily Molachino and Gabrielle Chiles. We had people working at the SES on the Maitland side such as Angela Harrison, Barbara Isaac, Amanda Andrews and Anna Brint. We had food supplies from Meg Lathan, Paul and Oliver from Dominos Gillieston Heights. The evacuation centre at East Maitland Bowling Club featured Steve Duggan and Bill Hopkins, OAM. Nick Merriman was on the Gillieston Heights residents' Facebook page keeping people informed, while Raymond Tuckwell helped on his West Maitland Community Awareness Facebook page.

Others who provided assistance during the floods included Dane Reilly, Nadia Ghazali, Jo Colefax, Carley Hasler, Jason Watson, Jenny Robinson, Robert Robinson, Tracy Osmond and Natarsha Lawton. They all did an amazing job at the hub. We called them the Gillo Angels, along with Sonia, Katie Ferguson and Michelle Viola. Georgina Grine from Happi Chicken supplied food to people. Andrew McIntyre from Hunter Valley Flood Mitigation Scheme has now resigned from that position, but he was great. I thank Brett Miners from Local Land Services. I thank all the crew at Lovey's Grocers IGA, including Kylie and Russell Dean. I will not go through all the names at the IGA; I might table them for Hansard because I am going to run out of time! There is also Ash Kavanagh, Kathleen Formosa and, of course, David Evans from Maitland City Council.

I also thank Sarah Adams from Maitland Region Community Support, formerly Maitland Neighbourhood Centre; and Craig Parsons and Tracey Martin from Maitland SES. Over in Millers Forest we of course had, as we always do, Gloria Green and Bill and Pat Munton. Gloria's husband, Selby, was unwell but he has really helped out. There was April Scott from Millers Produce. Wayne Humphrey and Gerard Lawson from Port Stephens Hunter Police were amazing. Amorelle Dempster from Readers Cafe at the library donated food. We had Red Frogs Australia, represented by Alyssa Harding and Dominic Collins. Of course we had those amazing women from Resilience NSW, particularly their amazing leader, Mel Gore, and Natalie Meskauskas.

We had Allyn Purvis from the Rural Fire Service, Allan Watson and Travis Hall from the SES—and, of course, Gillo's own SES unit on her own, Olivia Lane. From St John Ambulance we had Helmut Wirth, Judy Hastings, Katrina Wirth, Jim Klumpp, Rachel Margery and Damien Wardrope. We had Mark and Nicole Standing from Telarah Butchery and many, many other people who helped. Those I have named are just a few of the local legends that stood up. I thank the House for its indulgence regarding time. It is really important that we recognise those people.

TEMPORARY SPEAKER (Mr David Layzell): I thank the member for Maitland. I concur with her comments regarding the great people of Maitland who helped out during that flood.