Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, 16 months ago I stood in the compound of the Australian consulate in Bali. That was the fifth anniversary of the Bali bombing. I spoke with families—the mothers and fathers, the sons and daughters, the husbands and wives and the brothers and sisters of those who were lost on that terrible day in 2002. On that day I did not expect that the day would come when the 88 Australians who were lost in Bali would find their numbers doubled on our own soil. As we speak, double that number have been lost, and the sad and tragic expectation is that there will be more. The sons and daughters, the mothers and fathers, the brothers and sisters and the husbands and wives in Bali now, sadly, have cousins in Victoria.

No Victorian is untouched by this. As a member representing a semi-rural seat to the south-east of Melbourne I know that 36 fire brigades from within our area have been or are currently fighting these fires. They have picked up their lives and themselves, taken their trucks and been at all the different fire fronts in Victoria. So we see at this moment that, where in Bali I had not thought it possible that we would face such a peacetime tragedy in Australia, it has been surpassed in all the worst possible ways. So to Black Friday and Ash Wednesday we now add our own Hell Saturday. To all those who have been lost, we will take care of those who remain. To all those who remain, we will help you. To all those who have helped—to the CFA, to the SES, to the volunteers from the Red Cross, to the churches, to the service clubs and to the police, whom I know from talking to others close to them have faced terrible and horrific sights and circumstances in their own towns—we say our greatest thank you. So we find the best and worst of Australia: the worst that nature delivers; the best in our humanity. And the best is something fine. There is no doubt about that. It tells us that as a society we are perhaps a little better than we had realised. Unfortunately, we have found that out under the worst circumstances.

I have spoken with many of the CFA group captains in my area, including Tony Brown from the Peninsula Group. Of the 36 CFAs in our area, his contingent alone includes Boneo, Dromana, Flinders, Main Ridge, Mount Martha, Rosebud, Rye and Sorrento. They have been fighting fires right across the state. We know that they have been in the Kinglake complex area. David Gibbs, a board member of CFA Victoria, who is the group officer for the Westernport Group, told me that, at Kinglake, there are firefighters from every one of his 13 CFAs: Balnarring, Baxter, Bittern, Crib Point, Hastings, Langwarrin, Moorooduc, Mornington, Red Hill, Shoreham, Somerville, Somers and Tyabb. They have seen it all. They have been in Gippsland, they have been at Bunyip and now they are at Kinglake. He said, ‘For those who are at Kinglake, we will need to help them.’ He knows this because he has spoken to them. He knows of one senior CFA officer who, in saving other houses, is likely to have lost his family. He said that every one of these firefighters will need special treatment when they come back. He said: ‘You put your hand to the wheel. That’s what they do. These guys just say to me that you put your hand to the wheel.’ His only joy in all of this is that, as the controller for the Westernport Group, he did get to close EastLink twice, and that brought him a certain measure of delight. But, at the end of each conversation that we have had, he remembers that this is as painful as it gets.

The other groups who represent the Mornington Peninsula and the Bass Coast come from the Bass Coast region—Bass, Corinella, Dalyston, French Island, Glen Alvie, Kernot, Kilcunda, Phillip Island, San Remo and Wonthaggi. In some cases, the CFAs have come from the smallest towns to protect the smallest towns. They have been in Mirboo North, Cranbourne, Bunyip and Churchill—names which we will remember. The CFAs from the Casey Group come from Clyde, Pearcedale, Warneet, Blind Bight, Devon Meadows and Tooradin. They have fought fires at home in Casey and they are now fighting them at Gembrook. The people in our local brigade from Cardinia come from little towns such as Bayles, Koo Wee Rup and Lang Lang. These are the people who have gone to the fires, who have faced the fires, who have protected people and property and who have done all that they can to help their fellow Victorians.

So, very simply, there has been no lack of short-term preparation. The day before the fire on Saturday, David Gibbs told me at length of the horror day that he thought they would be facing. They were forewarned and forearmed. They were prepared and deployed. Yet still this fire was too great. There may be long-term questions, which are questions for another day, about fuel reduction, building standards and the places in which we build. But that is for the future. For now, I say very simply: to those who are lost, we will take care of those whom you have left behind; to those who remain behind, we will support you; and to those who have fought the fires and to those who have supported those who have fought the fires, we thank you.

See this speech in context