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Accountant in flood-stricken Victoria battles to help community despite inundated office.
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‘It went over the top of the sandbags — water got in regardless’
19 October 2022
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“It went over the top of the sandbags — the water got in regardless,” said accountant Adam Menadue from the front line of the Victorian floods. “We just didn’t anticipate the height.”
Mr Menadue, a director at Brian McCleary & Co Accountants, said the firm’s Rochester office (main picture) was already inundated and the one in Echuca (second picture) was trying desperately to prepare for rising waters.
Based at the firm’s Deniliquin premises, he had raced between its other offices to help move files and keep the business going.
“Any client information that was in Rochester we moved prior to the water coming up and we did some precautionary sandbagging but it just wasn’t enough,” he said.
“Thankfully we were prepared — there are plenty of people that just didn’t have that opportunity.”
He said the priority now was to help others get government support and start the long clean up process.
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“The first step is to be on the ground whenever you can and then in the second instance we’ll be looking to support them through our more conventional channels, helping with claims support, finance, tax and things like that which they need to be back up and running,” he said.
“Accountants — as part of our make-up — like to help people and I think where we will probably first be is out into the community and helping.”
The effect of the floods in the Riverina region of northern Victoria and southern New South Wales would be felt Australia-wide, Treasurer Jim Chalmers warned yesterday.
“This is primarily a human tragedy and our focus is on what this means for people in affected communities,” Mr Chalmers said. “But it will also have an economic cost and it will also push up further the cost of living when Australians are already under the pump.
“We're talking here about some of the best farmland in the world gone under water and that means crops and livestock damaged.
“That will have implications for what Australians can access at supermarkets and it will push up the cost of living as a consequence.”
“I think Australians will be bracing for even more expensive groceries as we head towards Christmas as a consequence of what's happening here.”
CPA Australia said government help needed to be available quickly if was going to be effective.
“We need a better process to help businesses suffering during disasters,” said senior policy manager Gavan Ord.
“We want standardised support that can be scaled up or down to meet the unique challenges and scale of each disaster.”
“We have asked the federal government to introduce scalable disaster support in the upcoming budget, a ready-made support package will ensure all businesses know what to expect should disaster strike.”
Mr Menadue said he would be pitching in physically as well as helping with the paperwork for support funds.
“We’re faring a lot better than others when it comes to what we had to do. We’re not a store full of clothes that have been damaged, we’re not a supermarket that’s having to throw out produce that it can’t sell. There are plenty of other people that are going to have to do a lot more than us.”
“It’s just going to take a long time for the community to get back up to where it was. The clean-up is massive.”
As the rivers around Echuca continued to rise, Mr Menadue said the firm told its employees in the area and stay with their families rather than try to go into the office.
If you have been affected by the floods and are looking for support, visit https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au.
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