Diary of a Flood Survivor

malnutrition and torture by their captors.

Even the Allied forces were a danger, as there were continual bombing raids over their camps.

By 1945, only Singh and ten other soldiers had survived the rigors of their capture when they were rescued by Australian forces.

To rub salt into the wound, as the other ten soldiers were ying back home - Singh had travelled to Australia - their plane crashed and they were killed.

Singh was the sole survivor of 2400 Indian POWs. But the story doesn’t end there.

Singh became the chief witness in the Australian War Crimes Commission as they investigated the atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army.

e story adds a level of poignancy when it is told by his son, Narinder Singh Parmar, the author of this book.

e book is written in his father’s words through diaries and notes which he kept, written on whatever paper he could nd during his ordeal.

ose notes later became evidence at the Commission.

e book is available through amazon.com.au

You know how last week I asked if you had forgiven the food?

Well, I probably should ask you the same about the State government.

Last year we were being promised almost the world, well, at least the support to help our communities get back on their feet.

More recently, we have been promised a shadow of that.

In fact, it is kind of like the story of a young lad who had been told by his father that for Christmas he was getting a car.

The lad thought, ‘Great,

I will be able to drive myself to school, my part-time job, my friends’ places. I won’t need to depend on my parents for lifts. It is the frst step to making my way in the world.’

Then on Christmas morning, there was a small box under the tree.

He thought, ‘They must be the keys’…but no, it was a matchbox car.

Thank you to the State government in recent days, we have been handed our matchbox car, with the announcement that the promises given last year, have been scaled back from 6,000 homes to be dealt with in the Resilient Homes Fund through Buyback, House Raising or Retroft, down to just over 1,000.

It seems, when questioned, the Government’s only comeback was the previous government didn’t budget for it.

The Minister in question even admitted the local government member had been in his ear, so he is aware of how urgent and desperate the need is, but preferred to play politics.

I don’t know, I would have thought if a government was taking over such an important role, such as helping their constituents, the people they are in service to by taking on their public role, they would fnd the money.

My understanding is the Federal government was funding at least half the scheme, so that is half as many cake stalls they have to run.

It may take a little longer to forgive the government for only providing their version of a useless matchbox car, but I will work on it.