Clubs “Provided Something That No Local, State or Federal Government Could”

Mr Minns also noted that a natural disaster declaration for Broken Hill has been signed off on and that everything is being done to restore electricity supplies.

“I want to make clear that when you have a regional, remote community, there must be a redundancy power in place, there must be a backup generator in place,” said Minns in a later interview with ABC Radio.

“Our immediate responsibility is to get electricity back on in Broken Hill, but straight after that we will be ensuring that there's an inquiry as to how this happened and so that regional communities know that power will be available when there is a natural emergency.”

Independent member for Barwon, Roy Butler, welcomed the Premier’s promise of an inquiry during a separate interview with ABC Radio and praised local clubs for their support of the community.

"The Musicians Club in Broken Hill, the Wilcannia Golf Club — they've just turned themselves into hubs where they've said, 'come sit down, sit in the cool, charge your phone, do what you need to do when the power's off'. Without that, it just would have been that much harder. So, they've provided something that no local, state or federal government could provide, which is amazing,” said Mr Butler. 

A storm which rolled through Far West NSW last Wednesday knocked out the region’s critical electricity infrastructure. Since then, more than 10,000 properties in Broken Hill and surrounding areas have been relying on diesel generators.

However, the town’s main backup generator failed on Monday evening, with intermittent power returning late last night.

More than 300 residents were sheltering from the heat in Broken Hill Musicians Club — which is being powered by its own diesel generator — yesterday afternoon as temperatures soared above 30 degrees.

General Manager Michael Boland said the Club is offering free soft drinks and coffee, as well as $10 meals. The Club has also ordered pre-cooked roasts from Mildura which Michael said would be distributed to those in need for free.

“It was a little scary this morning with issues getting diesel supply… but we finally got our diesel supply this afternoon,” Michael told 2GB Drive host Chris O’Keefe yesterday afternoon.

Anyone wanting to assist clubs in the state’s Far West can contact the ClubASSIST team at ClubsNSW on 1300 730 001.

So far, the team at Coomealla Memorial and Sporting Club has arranged the transport of diesel storage containers to Broken Hill Musicians Club, while CUB and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners are providing pallets of bottled water for Wilcannia Golf Club and Broken Hill Musicians Club — all of which will arrive within the next 48 hours.