Petro Georgiou (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to support the condolence motion on the devastating tragedy that bushfire has inflicted on the state of Victoria. Victoria has endured this nation’s worst natural disaster. The fires that raced through many townships around the state have produced tragedy and immense loss. Almost 200 lives have been confirmed lost, many hundreds of people have been injured and hundreds are in hospital—some of whom are in a critical condition. Literally hundreds of properties have been reduced to ashes and entire towns have been wiped off the map. For many Victorians, the pain and suffering continue as they search for their loved ones who are still unaccounted for, as they grieve for those they have lost and as they wonder how they will rebuild their properties, their communities and their lives. Many people are unable to return to their properties, as roadblocks continue and townships remain closed off. In some cases they are closed off because the fires are still burning and in others because victim identification continues.

The images that we have seen on the news convey only part of the devastation that has afflicted Victorians. But these images convey some of the terror that has been and is being felt by so many. One of the things I have noticed is that, every time you think you are inured to the images, new ones come up that reimpact. For example, in today’s Age a profound impact was made by photos of the people who, just a few days ago, were alive and happy and who have been killed by the fires. The costs of the catastrophe are staggering: 181 people are confirmed dead and the expectation is that more will be found as the task of going through burnt-out shells of houses continues. Close to 600 people have been hospitalised, many in a critical condition with burns and smoke inhalation and some remain in intensive care. More than 5,000 people are refugees; 1,000 homes and 400,000 hectares have been destroyed; people have lost everything and rely on welfare centres and emergency evacuation facilities as makeshift homes.

Most of the people of Marysville, whose town no longer exists, eat, sleep and wake in the community hall of a high school in Alexandra. They wait for a future that is uncertain. They have no homes to return to and their town has stopped existing. The people of Victoria and of Australia have been deeply affected by the tragedy, and all our hearts are heavy this week as we read the newspapers, listen to the latest updates on the radio and watch the images of horror on the TV news. Beyond this, there has been a response from the international community, as the Prime Minister outlined yesterday.

The stories of loss, anguish, fear, escape and survival make us shake our heads in bewilderment and disbelief. One phrase that keeps cropping up in speeches on this condolence motion is that it is very difficult to express in words what people are feeling. In part, it is from the expression of these feelings and the inability to quite express them properly that we can see a community that is pulling together and acting as one as the distinctions between state and state, city and country, are erased. While those affected have been consoling and comforting each other, the support from the broader community has been phenomenal. The Red Cross has received over $31 million from over 153,000 donors. The blood bank in Melbourne has been overwhelmed with thousands of online pledges to donate blood, and many people are streaming through the doors. Many corporations have pledged donations or are facilitating appeals within their businesses. I note with some pride that the members of the Australian parliament, who are so often divided by principle and interest, have on this occasion come together in unity and in a commitment to do whatever is necessary to try to restore as much of people’s lives in the affected areas as is humanly possible. I think that that is, as the member for Berowra said, a sign of a very strong democracy. And I think the leaders on both sides of politics have given the Australian people the sort of leadership that they are entitled to and do not always get.

I join with others in acknowledging the courage and determination of our outstanding emergency services personnel, our police, our military and particularly the thousands of volunteer firefighters committed to battling fires and saving whatever they can, despite facing the most extreme conditions ever. I would just like to close by quoting from the quite remarkable speech by the member for McMillan yesterday. He closed by saying:

To those who pray, I say: pray now; do not leave it until next Sunday. To those who fight, I say: all strength to your arm; stay safe. To those who serve, I say: we in this parliament stand with you as one.

I commend the motion to the House.

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