Patrick Secker (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Like you, Mr Deputy Speaker Adams, I represent a rural area. We have to deal with bushfires but, hopefully, never to the extent of the horrific events that people in Victoria have experienced and will continue to experience for some time. I can remember, as a farmer in the Adelaide Hills, experiencing the 1980 fires and Ash Wednesday in 1983. Indeed, in 1980 the flames got to within about 100 yards of my farm. There was not much grass on my neighbour’s property to fuel the fire, but, probably more importantly, the wind changed and turned the fire back on the burnt paddocks, so they were able to stop it. Even today, 25 years later, people still remember those horrific experiences. I was a councillor with the Happy Valley council at the time. After fighting the fires on the day, my job for the next couple of days was to go out and visit properties to see that they were all faring well and hopefully not discover anything horrific. Thankfully, I did not. On a lighter note, I do remember stumbling into a nudist camp on that journey around the bushfire affected areas. They had been affected, but fortunately they were still able to enjoy their activities—although I must admit I hightailed it out of that place as quickly as I could!

I remember getting up on the morning of those fires and walking outside on my farm and immediately smelling the fire. It was 50 kilometres away at that stage. It nearly reached my place by the end of the day, but you could smell the fire 50 kilometres away and see it on the horizon. You could see ash already floating in the air from that fire. It was a very eerie feeling, and I suspect people had the same feeling on that horrid Saturday.

During the Eyre Peninsula fires, only about three years ago, my brother lost everything on his farm. It was only through a miracle last-minute intervention by a water bomb that his house was saved. Everything else—the sheds, the fences and the stock—was destroyed. He has taken a long time to recover from that, but we will rebuild, and I am sure we will rebuild in Victoria.

I have to say I was somewhat surprised by the contribution by the member for Wills. I thought it was quite insensitive to get up and say it was all about climate change. Frankly, why are we having a royal commission if we already know it is about climate change? I think there is going to be some disagreement about that. In fact, a Victorian parliament committee report, from the inquiry into the impact of public land management practices on bushfires in Victoria, very much downplayed the role of climate change and identified the need to reduce fuel loads by back-burning and slow burning, which, as has been mentioned by other members, was almost the natural way in Australia. The report actually recommended that the state government should triple the amount of back-burning and slow burning in Victoria from 130,000 hectares to 385,000 hectares. Unfortunately, the state government have not implemented that recommendation in full. I hope that they rethink that.

In supporting this condolence motion, I quote the former Chief of Army General Peter Cosgrove, who said:

Without doubt the best quality we observe across the entire Australian community is a natural willingness to pitch in and have a go, to help others. We see it of course whenever there is an emergency or a worthy cause. We see it in every community volunteer organisation from the lifesavers to the bushfire brigades through to the thousands of youth and mature age sporting clubs and those great international service organisations like Rotary—

Lions, Apex—

and many others. We see it in our professional bodies such as the police, fire and ambulance services and of course in the defence force. It is a generosity of spirit and a selflessness that is perhaps our most precious heritage to hand onto younger and newer Australians—a nation of people who care for and look out for each other.

Whilst General Cosgrove could not have envisaged the shocking loss of life and devastation of the Victorian bushfires of this past weekend—no-one could have—his words nonetheless sum up the spirit of Australians, whose enduring philosophy of ‘we’re all Australians and we’re all in this together’ is most evident.

I recently said in this place that rural and regional Australians are resilient because they have to be. The hardships of rural life, of drought, floods or bushfires, are part of our lives. Australians help each other. It is an old Australian trait. You do not have to have a degree in psychology to know that in Australia social bonding coincides with extreme hardship. It is the spirit of pitching in, getting your hands dirty and helping out a fellow Australian. Perhaps it has its origins in the hardships endured by early Australians, which caused them to feel a great sense of reliance on each other. Whatever its origin, helping each other is integral to the Australian spirit. It defines our unique strength of character and pride that is reflected through the courageous and selfless acts of Australians working behind the scenes every day, and it is most evident in rural and regional Australia.

Rural and regional people live and work in communities that have been devastated by bushfires throughout history. My own electorate of Barker was particularly savaged by the Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1983, at the same time as the Victorian ones. Sadly, those Ash Wednesday fires are now recorded as the second-deadliest bushfire disaster in Australian history, as we now learn that the 2009 Victorian bushfires have claimed more lives. Without fail, then as now, the Australian response is to pitch in to offer help in a variety of ways. I was moved by the plight of those who have lost family, homes and livelihoods and I was equally moved by the response of rural and regional Australians.

Those yellow uniforms of the CFA volunteers represent more than 3,000 rural and regional Australians tackling the blazes at the weekend, working tirelessly around the clock. Even while the extent of this disaster was still unfolding, South Australian producers and farmers with sympathy, generosity and plain common sense were already mobilising. They are donating hay and emergency stock fodder for the surviving livestock, materials for fencing, farm machinery, equipment, and trucks and fuel to carry these to Victoria. Rural businesses which are already challenged with the economic downturn have also pledged hundreds of thousands of dollars to help the victims rebuild their homes engulfed by the bushfires. Their response, an unprecedented outpouring of assistance, while extraordinary, is nonetheless typical of farmer helping farmer, country folk helping country folk and Australians helping each other. The practical help and unthinking generosity is all the more remarkable, coming as it does from families who endure isolation and years of drought. I commend and thank the wonderful people in my electorate who have been so immediately responsive and generous. It does not surprise me.

As a community we all learned from the Ash Wednesday disaster in South Australia, the fragile sense of our control over the natural world. We made changes in our planning in South Australia to deal with that. For example, in my electorate, any new developments had to have a full water tank—5,000 gallons or, in the new terms, 22,000 litres—during the fire season, with a diesel pump that could be used either by them to protect their house or by firefighters in need of quick access to water. We also ensured that new developments had a clearing around them. So, while the trees might have to be 20 metres away, they still looked beautiful and there was at least a clear area around the buildings, whether they were farm buildings or houses out in rural areas. I would like to think those things would help.

Like other members of this House I think we should be very interested in the idea of bunkers. The picture I saw in the paper was of a cement water tank with a bunker next to it. It would obviously give some relief from the heat as well as provide protection. That is perhaps something that planners all over Australia should look at, because it could save lots and lots of lives.

We have learned that when disaster strikes it is unimaginable. Nature means that even the best preparations are inadequate. Even though we can make changes to planning laws, I think on days like those of last weekend it is going to be very hard to stop that sort of wildfire situation.

Calamities like Ash Wednesday and the fires in Victoria last weekend show the capacity of rural and regional Australians to act in a collective way to support other rural communities and nurture those whose lives, families and properties have been affected. They remind us that we depend on each other for protection and help, and they reflect the healthy societies of rural and regional Australia, which are built on people who act collectively rather than with self-interest.

As I travel through my electorate, which thankfully was spared—we had very similar conditions to those in Victoria, so one can only wonder why; in South Australia on Saturday we had hot, windy conditions and they were shockers but thankfully we did not have a major problem—I am constantly reminded of local contributions and acts of community service which generally go unnoted and unrewarded beyond that community. Right now we are in shock and disbelief at the extent of this disaster, but there will come a time when we will reflect with less mourning on what is unfolding and when we might more fully appreciate the community’s generosity. But I and many other Australians will probably never know the full extent of the generosity of the people of my electorate and others. I know that they do not seek recognition. To the generous rural and regional Australians responding to the bushfire disaster I say: you bring light into what is a very dark day and make Australia a better place to live. I sincerely thank you.

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