Maxine McKew (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Early Childhood Education and Child Care) Share this | Hansard source

It is not my intention to take up much of the Committee’s time, but I do want to join my parliamentary colleagues in recording my sorrow and my solidarity with those many thousands of families in Victoria whose lives have been so bitterly transformed by the most destructive natural disaster in our history.

Like many others, we watch each news bulletin, each newspaper edition, and the tragedy deepens. This morning on the front page of the Daily Telegraph there was that stark number: 300. Each day we consider the stories, the detail. I think the sorrow is in the detail: the excruciating way that so many faced their last minutes, how mothers attempted to protect their children, to save animals, to do anything to survive, and the selflessness of those who moved heaven and earth to save the lives and property of others. For so many—too many—it has been an experience that brings us back to primal basics. How many would have offered up a final prayer: ‘Just let me live. Let my family survive.’

I sense that there is a shocked stillness across the country this week. You can certainly feel it here in the nation’s parliament, and elsewhere, as we all try to absorb what has happened. That is an almost impossible task. As we look at those photos of families, of young children, of grandparents in happier times, we think of lives cut short by a brutal act of nature. Three schools have burnt to the ground, teachers have been lost, and there is the news today that one of the country’s most respected educational researchers, Dr Ken Rowe, is missing.

Children are resilient, but many will never forget the playmate they have lost. For some who have survived but lost a partner, friends or neighbours, along with property and much-loved animals, there will be a life, but it will be a deeply altered life. This is hard to say, but I think for some it will be contemptible to hear the oft repeated phrase, ‘It’s time for the healing to begin.’ This is a banal sentiment, and it misunderstands the nature of unbearable loss. No parent or grandparent ever truly recovers from the death of a young child. As the poet Wordsworth said, albeit in a different context, there are ‘thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears’.

I know, as well, that we all feel so much for the professionals, the police, the victim identification teams and the others who now have the hard task of minutely combing through the destruction to look for bodies. What shocking sights they must confront. They are trained for this, of course, but how many of them must be asking: how could this happen? How could so many die such gruesome deaths? This numbs us. The scale of it seems too much.

But alongside this, as so many of my colleagues in this House have remarked this week, we are a practical people. We are responsive and we have a lot of grit. I have felt immensely proud to be a member of this parliament this week as we have all said in unison that we will do whatever it takes to rebuild those communities in Victoria.

I would also like to record the generosity of many thousands of people in my own community of Bennelong, in the north-west of Sydney, who are giving money, sending clothes and donating blood. I would like to thank the many businesses who have made large donations and to record in particular the comments from the manager of the North Epping branch of the Bendigo Community Bank, Sharyn Hubert. The bank plays a marvellous role in my community, promoting social capital and community partnerships, so it was not surprising to hear Sharyn say this week that the bank had been flat out. She told my office that one lady came into the bank the other day in tears. She was an artist and had spent a lot of time in some of the affected areas of Victoria, and she said: ‘I can’t afford much, but this is all I have to give.’ Another local resident came in yesterday and donated $5,000—just one individual.

I would also like to put on record my thanks to the Child Care Centres Association of Victoria for their offer of help in wanting to restore a level of normalcy to the lives of children as quickly as possible. The CAA have been working to identify vacancies in suburbs and county areas to help with families who may have relocated. Equally, at an institutional level, I am very pleased to see the fast and flexible response of the National Childcare Accreditation Council. They are moving on a range of initiatives—phoning validators and moderators to see if they are safe and checking various services.

Finally, as someone who has spent most of my professional life working for the national broadcaster, it has been so heartening to hear so many of my colleagues commend the unique role of the ABC, and ABC Radio in particular. Just think about this: here we are in the 21st century, talking about digital platforms and the vast reach of the internet, but at a time of crisis all you need to stay connected to the outside world is a battery charged $10 transistor tuned to your local ABC. It is old technology, but what a lifeline it is. What a treasure. I am sure Managing Director Mark Scott has taken note. I support the motion.

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