Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to express my deep sorrow at the devastating, tragic loss experienced by my fellow Victorians. We now hear that 176 people have been killed, in excess of 5,000 people are homeless and some 750 homes have been destroyed as a result of what has now become known to all of us as Black Saturday. I join with my colleagues in offering my condolences in this parliament, and I do so on behalf of my constituents in Calwell who, like every Victorian and indeed Australian, would have been profoundly touched by this catastrophe.

What makes this tragedy especially hit home is that my electorate borders the federal seat of McEwen, which has sustained some of the greatest loss of life. We have many similar historic and picturesque semirural townships, and it could easily have been us. In fact, when I woke up on Sunday to awareness of these tragic events, my thoughts went to the township of Sunbury with its rolling hills, the quaint and picturesque town of Bulla and the vineyards of Wildwood, Goona Warra and Craiglee, to name but a few, as well as the historic Emu Bottom Homestead and the Woodlands National Park. When I think of these towns, I cannot begin to imagine them not being there. Tragically, this is the reality for townships such as Marysville, Kinglake, Churchill, Flowerdale and many others. I want to take this opportunity to express my sympathy to the member for McEwen, Fran Bailey, and to other members whose electorates have sustained such tragic losses.

When we left here last week, Victorians, including me, were going home to a warning from the weather bureau that we must prepare for extreme temperatures on Saturday. We had already experienced three consecutive days of extreme heat the week before, so I, like many, spent most of that day at home indoors, unable to venture out because of the oppressive heat and strong winds. It was a very ferocious and ominous wind; I guess it was a foreboding of something very evil that we were about to be hit with. Of course, none of us could possibly have anticipated that on Sunday morning we would wake up to the news of deaths, the beginning of an unthinkable death toll that continues to mount.

The announcement late Sunday night that former newsreader Brian Naylor and his wife, Moiree, had perished I think initially put a face to the tragedy and to the mounting number of deaths for every Victorian, because Brian was someone we all knew. Brian Naylor lived in Kinglake, a popular location—one well known to me, anyway, and many others. In recent years, Kinglake had become a preferred destination for families to build their homes, and many did. Today, as newspaper photographs emerge of those who have perished, we are becoming even more painfully aware of the people who have not survived this tragedy. Entire families have died, children have been taken from their parents and many more remain missing and unaccounted for. Most tragic of all, though, is the extinguished lives of the young children, with so much to live for; it touches us and leaves a most lasting impression.

Like many others I have listened to people talk about their experiences—the stories of miraculous escapes and the stories of those who did not make it. Survivors have spoken of the speed and ferocity with which the fire raced through their communities, and we grieve with them because they are our community and we share their pain and we most certainly feel their loss.

We always marvel at the selflessness of our emergency services personnel, but it is also important to acknowledge those men and women who represent our volunteer contingent. I want to pay special tribute to these people who choose to provide this service to the community. We are grateful to them. We are dependent on these volunteers at times such as these. Often we take them for granted because we expect them to always be there and we do not appreciate the magnitude of their work, nor do we fully understand the dangerous environment that they operate in, often at great personal cost. We therefore praise their efforts and offer them our deepest gratitude.

In particular, I want to acknowledge the contribution of my own local Craigieburn CFA staff and volunteers who are helping to battle the fires around the state. I know them well. Their members come from a long family tradition of involvement in CFA activities. My local paper, the Hume Leader, reports one of the many examples of the dangers Craigieburn CFA staff and volunteers face, and I just want to record that for the purposes of this debate. On Saturday many of the Craigieburn CFA volunteers had a very lucky escape when their official five-seat ute went up in flames at Kinglake. Craigieburn CFA volunteer John Payne, who helped fight the fire in Kinglake on Saturday, was grateful that no-one had been hurt but reflected on the experience as being ‘the worst day of my life’. Despite this near miss, he has pledged to continue to serve the community, saying:

“… while they need us we’ll be there for them.”

CFA fire officer Joe Cardamone, also reflecting on the impact of this tragedy, said:

We are trained to fight wildfires but when it comes to dead bodies, you just can’t train for that … but we have a community to protect.

My other local paper, the Sunbury Leader, reports of the involvement of the Macedon Ranges and Sunbury CFA volunteers attending the fires in the townships of Wallan, Kilmore and Wandong. Sunbury First Lieutenant Steve Riley reported that two trucks with 10 Sunbury members went into the devastated areas on Saturday night. He said that 30 Sunbury members were now being rotated with the capacity to keep going for another week. The station had received about 15 to 20 calls on Saturday night due to the heavy smoke. He said, ‘Our volunteers are making an enormous effort.’ He also said that, even though they were seasoned firefighters, he describes the fire scene as ‘horrific’, with no-one being able to anticipate there would be so much devastation in so little time.

The Premier of Victoria, John Brumby, and the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, have rightly said that we will rebuild these communities—and rebuild we will. We will rise to this challenge, as Australians have done many times before. Of course, it is easier to rebuild buildings, but you can never bring back those who have died. The best we can do is support their loved ones and help them deal with the emotional trauma that inevitably follows such a horrific event.

It is not just Australians who have been horrified by this tragedy. The international community has also seen the devastation through lead stories in news bulletins across the world. Our expats and Australians who live abroad share our grief. They have family and friends here in Australia and they are also anxious about the events unfolding in Victoria. I have had a number of phone calls from my friends and families who live abroad who want to know how they can help and what kind of assistance they can offer. Many of them are making contributions through the Australian Red Cross.

The reality is that our community is in deep trouble but the reality also is that all of us are pitching in. We see this through the actions of the Australian government and the Victorian government but we also see this outpouring of support from the corporate sector. I am talking about the banks, the supermarkets, the insurance companies and other organisations who are donating considerable amounts of money to the bushfire appeal fund. Everyone is rallying to provide whatever support they can to the victims of such unspeakable devastation. As a people, we have always been generous in coming to the aid of other disasters abroad, and now that same generosity and support is overflowing for our fellow Victorians. But even with this support, we can never replace the more precious loss of life and memories, and we therefore grieve for those who have lost their lives.

While most Australians have come together to help at this time and support each other, it really defies comprehension that there are people amongst us who could have willingly and wilfully set in train some of these events, and this hurts us even more. Being overpowered by the forces of nature is one thing, but succumbing to a deliberately instigated disaster is incomprehensible. It is, as the Prime Minister said, an act of murder.

Finally, when the dust settles, we have to feel for the people who are going to have to make decisions as to whether they stay and rebuild their homes and their lives. Whatever they decide to do, whatever their deliberations, they should be certain and secure in the knowledge that the Australian community stands with them.

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