Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of this condolence motion. In all that has been said in the last three days, the recurring theme has been the utter inadequacy of words to describe what we have all seen and heard, and certainly that feeling bears down upon me now. The last fortnight has been simply horrific. Saturday was the hottest day in Geelong’s history: 47.4 degrees. It was a day that was quite different to any we have experienced before, and we have been left wondering whether such hellishly hot days are now part of our lives. The heatwave which has engulfed south-eastern Australia is likely to become the worst natural disaster in terms of lives lost in Australia’s history, outstripping the deadly heatwave of 1939. The macabre stories of mortuaries in Adelaide and Melbourne filled beyond capacity are a terrible reminder of the numbers who died even before the weekend’s events. In all that has occurred, we must remember them.

It is the utter horror of 7 February 2009 which, outside of war, is the most calamitous in the history of our nation. The loss of life speaks of an event we did not imagine could occur. It manifests on this day in a collective misery that is gripping so many ordinary Australians who, only last week, were as oblivious to their fate as the rest of us.

Geelong has in part been represented in this disaster by the Victorian Minister for Community Services and member for Bellarine, Lisa Neville. She has been visiting fire scenes and ensuring that her department’s services are properly responding to this disaster. In speaking with her many times in the past few days, the nature and magnitude of what has occurred has revealed itself to me as truly shocking. In one case, she told of the fire bearing down on a line of cars, each filled with people in a desperate race to safety. The fire spared one family, but the cars both in front and behind were engulfed in flames. There is randomness in this that is both confusing and at the same time stark. Children loom large in this disaster. Many have witnessed unspeakable horror, images they should not have had to see. Others have perished and will account for many of the dead. When I heard this, I tightly hugged each of my three.

Yet Lisa also makes it clear that standing tall in the midst of this nightmare are human qualities that are inspiring and wonderful. There is the heroism of young Rhys Sund, who, the Age reports, twice braved the burning paddocks in a tractor to save many of his family from what would likely have been their deaths. There is the desire of the survivors of Kinglake to have one relief centre at Whittlesea, not two, so that they could stay together and be there for each other. In the darkest hour, people want to be with people. They want to share their experience of trauma together. This is a tragedy that will be overcome through a collective community spirit. That is the case among those in Kinglake and, at a broader level, it is the case for all of us in Victoria and throughout Australia.

On behalf of the people of Geelong, I wish to say to all those touched and hurt by the fires that we are with you. Geelong grieves with you, and we will offer our prayers for you in a memorial service in St Mary’s church this Thursday night. Geelong wants to help, and a benefit concert is being organised for 1 March. In this we are no different to every other Australian town and city. Already more than $15 million has been raised through the Red Cross relief fund, in an extraordinary demonstration of Australians helping Australians.

I would like particularly to remember Danny Shepherd, an instructor and relief manager at the City of Greater Geelong’s Leisurelink and Splashdown centres. Danny went to Kinglake on Saturday to help members of his family and, in the process, lost his own life. Our thoughts are now with Danny’s family and friends. He will be greatly missed. I would also like to give thanks for the life of the mother of Kylie Fisher, which was spared on Saturday. Kylie is a friend of mine and a councillor at the City of Greater Geelong. On Saturday evening her mother, who lives in Kinglake, was caught in the fire. Kylie was in contact with her. In Kylie’s words:

I had one phone call from her saying they had to evacuate, then about five minutes later she rang back hysterical. She said she was in a shed with no electricity and there was smoke and she wanted to say goodbye and that she loved me.

It would be another two hours before Kylie discovered that her mother had survived. There was unimaginable trauma in those two hours. There was unadulterated joy at the end of it. Kylie tells me that as soon as the road to Kinglake is reopened she will be up there in a flash. Many hugs are needed, she says. In the meantime, Kylie has been giving her time staffing phones for the Geelong Advertiser relief fund. She has asked me to investigate the best way she can donate some of her tax bonus to those affected by the fires.

The Country Fire Authority, the emergency services, medical services and support workers and the thousands of Victorians and the Australians who have put their own lives in harm’s way to fight these fires have, by all accounts, been utterly remarkable. It is clear that without their efforts many more homes would have been destroyed, many more lives would have been lost. Among their number have been 400 members of the Geelong and Colac CFA brigades. They returned to Geelong as heroes.

Yet Geelong’s greatest connection with these fires is a shared experience of the country in which we live—country Victoria. Terrible memories come flooding back of Ash Wednesday 26 years ago, which struck closer to our home on that occasion, leaving our city shrouded in smoke; and of Linton 10 years ago, which tragically took the lives of five CFA volunteers from the Geelong West Brigade: Christopher Evans, Garry Vredeveldt, Stuart Davidson, Jason Thomas and Matthew Armstrong. We spare a thought today for their families, for whom the grief of years past will be rising again to the surface.

For all of us, our emotions at this time are swirling. We feel horror at the carnage. We ask why and how. We feel anger at the prospect that arson may be to blame. We feel helpless at the inability to change what has happened. We feel shock that this could so easily have occurred in our own region. Time will provide a certain clarity, but right now some things do feel clear to me. I feel profound grief for those who have perished and those who have suffered loss. You are in our thoughts. I feel pride for those who have come to the aid of their fellow Australians and defined what is best about our country. You have our utmost praise. And, most of all, I feel for those who are continuing to fight the fires and those others in hospital who are continuing to fight for their lives. Our prayers are with you.

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