Condolence motion for victims of the Victorian bushfires
9th February, 2009
I rise to support this condolence measure with the same feelings of shock, sadness and horror that are undoubtedly shared by everyone in this House, and indeed all Australians.Even Dorothea Mackellar, the woman who captured the contrasting nature of rural Australia as no-one has done before or since, would most likely have been lost for words today as she tried to explain the horror that has struck her country ... my country ... our country ... over these last few days.
It is the beauty and the wonder of our country; it can also be harsh and cruel. How can these idyllic landscapes also become killing fields?
No-one expected the horror of Victoria's Black Friday in 1939. No-one thought it could happen again, until Ash Wednesday struck with greater ferocity and death in 1983. Never again people said, on that occasion, but of course tragically we now know that it can happen again and with greater power and loss of life. And in fact it has.
This may be the worst natural disaster in Australia's recorded history in terms of lives lost, and dwarves almost any other peacetime disaster in its sheer scale and heartbreak.
It came upon the communities with frightening speed; it crept up on the nation without warning. Early reports on Saturday suggested there may not have been any loss of life, and as the evening wore we all fervently hoped that the rising death toll would be contained at levels that were already far too high.
Today, with Victoria still burning and destroyed homes, businesses, cars and bushland still to be explored, we still do not know what the final loss of life will be. I'm told the latest report of as a few minutes ago is that the death toll is now confirmed to be 128, and there may in fact of course be more.
One thing that I do know, however, today is that Australian resilience will again come to the fore. The towns like Kinglake, Marysville and Narbethong, and also Callignee, Koornalla and Boolarra will be rebuilt. Buildings can of course rise again, and as earlier speakers have said, can be rebuilt with greater grandeur.
Those who survived the weekend were born and bred in these places, or they were born elsewhere and chose to live there. They have grown to love these beautiful towns and communities. Most will want to stay and build their homes, in spite of the heartbreak and the hardship, and their businesses and lives will be resumed.
As the population has drifted over past decades to the cities and to the coast, Australians have retained our love and attachment and our admiration for the bush. We cling to it wherever we can.
What I think many of us in this place don't always understand is the attachment to the land that is felt by country Australians. What they will do, and the many hardships they will endure, to maintain that link is a precious part of Australia's heritage.
There might be some in the coming days who will ask why people live in areas that might be considered bushfire-prone. I will say in reply they are doing things that are important: important to them and important for their country. It is not bloody-mindedness, these are their homes. That's what's important to them and their families, and if it's important to them and their families it's important to our nation.
The first priority is of course to extinguish the fires that still seriously threaten lives and buildings. Hopefully the change in weather will mean that the worst is behind us.
But for the survivors, a new struggle is already on. I strongly support the measures announced today and any other government measures to ensure that the people of fire-ravaged Victoria can rebuild. We must stand ready to offer any further measures that may be needed to ensure that at the appropriate time, after mourning, re-construction can start promptly.
The short term assistance that the Government has offered will need to stretch into long term assistance, and I am sure that the three levels of government will do whatever is needed. And once again, the generosity of the Australian people will come to the fore.
The Federal Member for Gippsland, Darren Chester, has remained in his electorate today to offer whatever support he can to the people in his communities. I spoke to him just over an hour or so ago - 21 of the confirmed deaths are in the Gippsland area. While there has been quite a lot of media attention to the fires around Churchill, in the plantation timber forests and other areas, it is the little hamlets of Callignee and Koornalla that have been particularly harsh hit. These little communities near Traralgon have still got fires burning around them.
He reminds me of the families of Boolarra. Thirty homes were destroyed there in a much less reported fire just last week. Last Friday the local radio station launched an appeal and raised $100,000 locally for the people of Boolarra. Many of the people who gave to that appeal now need much more themselves.
We think very much with gratitude to those people who are working hard to maintain the spirit of local communities and start the planning for rebuilding.
He told me of some of the miraculous stories of people who have survived, and of others who seemed to be well-prepared but were just overwhelmed. He spoke of people standing in front of their destroyed homes, their lost businesses, their lost possessions, in shock and disbelief, but saying "we're the lucky one, we're the lucky ones, we're alive".
But he also spoke - and I refer to the matters raised by the Attorney-General - of a building anger, if reports that these fires were deliberately lit turn out to be true. How could there by any Australian who would do such a thing? The whole nation has every right to rise in horror at the actions of people who respond in this sort of a way.
He mentioned the emergency crews, the community workers, the councils who are doing all that they possibly could to ensure that the immediate needs of the people were being met. Through the work of so many on the ground today - the people helping the victims - they can be assured that all Australians are thinking of them . At a time like this, they are not alone.
Now the rest of Australia has begun to respond. The official appeals have already begun and members of Parliament are launching their own appeals. I'm sure that this is one in which we can all demonstrate our commitment to our fellow Australians and those who are suffering a particular difficulty.
The horror that these people have been through cannot in any full sense be shared with others. But we can offer them our loyalty, our support, our love and our care and commitment to the future. We think especially of the injured, many seriously. We think of the doctors and the nurses who are caring for them. We think of lost property, but also of the fire-fighters, the emergency workers, the police and the armed forces who are doing so much to provide assistance at this vital time. And the councils, and the people providing moral courage and support to so many in need.
I stand with the others who have spoken before me, and those who will speak after, and those who won't have an opportunity to have an opportunity today to speak but feel these same things in their hearts.
Fellow Australians, who have been dreadfully struck by these events, you are not alone. All Australians are with you and will help you in the years ahead.
