The man appointed to oversee the recovery of the Hunter, Brigadier Darren Naumann, made his first moves to understand the scale of the devastation with a helicopter flight to Dungog yesterday.
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“I want to understand, for myself, the things these communities are facing,” he said.
Brigadier Naumann also confirmed he would establish one-stop-shop recovery centres in Maitland and Dungog, with the latter to open today.
The centres will have representatives from across government to help with financial, medical and emotional recovery.
He did not announce a date for the Maitland centre.
Brigadier Naumann said it was still too early to give an assessment of the full extent of the damage.
“I’m not going to limit myself to [consulting with] people in uniform,” he said.
“Entire communities have hooked in and helped and they will have their own concerns and ideas, and I’m keen to seek their help in reaching solutions.”