Senator Perin Davey rebuts MP Andrew Gee in Molong on Tuesday

Senator Davey was responding to stinging criticism made by Andrew Gee on Monday, in which the Calare MP lashed her appearance in the region saying her visit was "ten months late, and tens of millions of dollars short".

The shadow minister for water and emergency management, Ms Davey revealed she and other members of the Nats were in fact asked to keep their distance from the region by Mr Gee in the wake of the devastation in the area.

In the months since the November, 2022 disaster in Cabonne, Mr Gee's Facebook page has been sprawled with on-the-ground shots of a smiling politician amid the debris in Molong and Eugowra.

Ms Perry also noted since Mr Gee's resignation from The Nats in December 2022 there's been a radio silence from the Calare MP to date.

"Mr Gee has not been in communication with me at all," Ms Davey said on Tuesday, "and in November when the floods hit, and he was still a member of our party, he actually asked us not to be ambulance chasers, not to come in during the early recovery stage.

"Which I completely understand, because when communities are in trauma, the last thing they want is a bunch of people coming in for a photo opportunity.

"But since Mr Gee has become an independent [politician], we hear a lot about what we did or didn't do, but we're not getting any correspondence [from him]."

Some 12 hours prior to Ms Davey arriving in Molong on August 29, Mr Gee wrote on the evening of August 28: "Why has it taken the Shadow Cabinet Minister tasked with the opposition's disaster response and recovery policy almost ten months to set foot in these disaster-hit communities?," the post said.

"Sadly, Senator Davey's visit to our disaster-hit towns is a case of ten months late, and tens of millions of dollars short."

But Ms Davey claims Mr Gee himself "has not invited" the senator to the Cabonne Shire, saying she's heard a lot from the former Nats' member about what is wrong, without offering many solutions.

She said he's also "claimed credit" for an inquiry he's not been at the helm of.

"He's claimed credit for having the insurance inquiry [but] he's not on the committee, he's not a participating member," Ms Davey said.

"The insurance council are also having a review into [its] own response and they have written to all MPs in flood-affected areas, and Mr Gee has declined to participate. Whereas other MPs ... they're happily participating.

"He can attack me for not being here for 10 months, but as I said, I've been right 'round the country looking at devastation all around the place and had I had correspondence from Mr Gee requesting a meeting, I would've responded to him appropriately, whenever."

Ms Davey closed her response by reiterating that her "door is always open" and said she remains willing to take representations from Mr Gee at any time.

"And I don't always read his Facebook posts," she said, "but that appears his preferred method of communications."

Mr Gee replied to a query from the Central Western Daily on the issue, which regarded Ms Davey's claims of not hearing from the Calare MP since the deluge.

"This response shows just how out of touch The Nationals are," Mr Gee said.

"It defies belief that the shadow minister for emergency management has been sitting around for 10 months waiting for an invitation to do her job, and never once in that time thought to drive three hours out of Canberra to see the devastation in our communities."

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