Voice of Real Australia: Living in an unlivable world

When I visited the Northern Rivers a few weeks ago - nearly two months after the record breaking floods - many roads were still washed out. We were driving in the pitch dark, our GPS not up to date with the dozens of road closures. We'd follow the directions down a road for a bit then a bright yellow road closed sign would materialise out of the gloom.

It was a mad dash through unlit backroads dodging car-swallowing potholes on the edge of one of Australia's most destructive natural disasters.

But for all the stories of devastation and despair you hear from the flood zone - and the nervy drive - our destination, The Eltham Hotel, was a vision of light and energy. Live music rang out from the beer garden as people spilled out onto the road from within. It was a little island into which the troubles of a short while away couldn't penetrate.

A few weeks earlier the pub had been an actual island. The Wilsons River bends around The Eltham Hotel and houses just twenty or thirty metres up and down the road did flood while the hotel itself was spared. So people flock to it, one of the only pubs in the area in which it's possible to forget you're in a flood zone.

I was up in the Northern Rivers working on a special multi-media series, Disaster Country, which we'll be launching soon. Journalist John Hanscombe is writing some excellent feature articles and award-winning Newcastle Herald photographer Marina Neil has taken some moving images. There'll also be a two-part Voice of Real Australia podcast to listen to.

For Disaster Country, we travelled up and down the east coast talking to victims of fires and floods, trying to figure out how we live in a world more prone to more intense and more frequent weather events.

"Australia is getting hard to live in because of these disasters," Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared during a tour of the Northern Rivers in March.

Some commentators saw that as yet another TV soundbite-worthy but ultimately meaningless utterance from ScoMo in typical all-talk, no-action mode. Others heard a rare acknowledgment of the impact of climate change by the latest Australian PM to drag his feet down the tricky road to net zero.

For those still deep in the mud and disaster of a flood zone with no time for luxuries like political analysis, Mr Morrison's comment probably struck them as nothing more than a statement of the screaming obvious.

For our Disaster Country special, we wanted to hear from the people who actually know how hard it's getting to live with Australia's changing climate. Their personal stories and the insights they share - about the realities of natural disasters and the resilience of their communities - are inspiring.

Look out for more coming soon on Disaster Country. In the meantime, stay safe and thanks for reading.

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