Brett Raguse (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On indulgence: I rise today to speak about the Queensland floods. Of course, it would not be fitting to fail to mention the other adversities that our communities around the country are experiencing at the moment. So I would like to pass on my sympathies to the people of Victoria, in this time of great sorrow and mourning. We know Australia to be a country of extremes. In the words of Dorothea Mackellar, who wrote that wonderful poem, My Country, we talk about ‘her beauty and her terror’—the beauty and terror of nature in this country. The recent tragedy in Victoria and the floods in Queensland just show the complex fabric of our society—not only the people, but also the natural conditions under which we live.

While no-one can predict these extreme circumstances, we do live in a land of extremes. The contrasts in this country are tragically obvious as we deal with the conditions of fire and flood and consider how we, as a community, deal with the issues that confront us right now. Through these disasters, however, communities tend to band together and governments will also band together. This was quite obvious in the chamber in our previous sitting week where both sides of the House came together to offer condolences and to speak about those tragedies in Victoria and also the tragedies that confront us in Queensland. These are more extreme when there is a large loss of human life. We must commemorate the loss of life and understand the tragedies of those communities. But the people who are affected by flood have to go on living in their communities, and the rebuilding is no less of an effort for that. In North Queensland, those communities are confronted with this difficulty.

I was honoured to attend, last Friday evening in Logan City, a fund-raising event, called ‘Logan Cares’. The newly-formed Logan City Council—formed after the amalgamations of last March—brought together a larger community and one which was very diverse. It was a wonderful opportunity for this community to come together on an initiative of the President of the Logan Chamber of Commerce, Mr Bill Richards, and the new mayor of Logan City, Mayor Pam Parker. That event was supported by many businesses and many other community organisations. So some good can come out of adversity. And when you looked at the community coming together, you could see the multicultural nature of the city of Logan, with 160 countries and cultures represented. The dance acts and the performances that were put on to raise money were an amazing coming together, and people who were part of that event saw what wonderfully diverse cultures we have in the city of Logan.

On that evening it was announced that the city would make a $100,000 contribution to the donations to support people in Victoria and those in the Queensland floods, with 70 per cent going to Victoria and 30 per cent to Queensland, providing much-needed money at this time. On the evening, while that $100,000 had been committed by the council, there was also the offer to match, dollar for dollar, any money raised at that event.

The community of Logan is very diverse. They are not necessarily a wealthy community by any standard but they were able to raise $36,000 on that evening. Matching that dollar for dollar would obviously double that amount. I was very proud on that evening not only to be a resident of Logan City but also to be the federal member. I promised the people who were involved in that fundraiser that night that I would certainly pass on to this House my appreciation of what they were able to do as a community. I want to give special commendation to Mr Bill Richards, the President of the Logan City Chamber of Commerce, who, through the Chamber of Commerce, organised all of the businesses to contribute in so many ways. I also commend Mayor Pam Parker for the initiative and what she was able to bring to that particular night. In fact, as the mayor of that city, she was very touched by the fact that people gave so much on that evening.

One organisation in particular was the Bendigo Bank, which for a whole range of reasons is associated with Victoria and the fires in that state. The Bendigo Bank has spread its tentacles all over this country in community banking and is very large and proud in the city of Logan. Mr Col Nelson, who is the chair of the Queensland arm of that banking group, contributed $5,000 on that evening. It was wonderful to see the involvement of the Bendigo Bank, which was affected in both communities by the events of the last few weeks.

Over 62 per cent of Queensland has been disaster declared as part of this cyclonic event—over one million square kilometres has been affected, in about 48 shires within the region. To give you an idea, it is an area almost the size of South Australia. Of course, the member for Kennedy made representations in the House during our last sitting week about the way that it was affecting his electorate, with a vast area of his electorate under water. The Queensland government estimates that there is about $234 million worth of damage to roads and local and state government infrastructure. Towns in Far North Queensland, like Ingham, have been affected as well as the residents of the Gulf of Carpentaria, Karumba and Normanton. As I mentioned, the member for Kennedy made representations about that the other week.

It is important to note that these large weather events are not foreign to these communities. In fact, if we go back in the history of Queensland, I certainly remember from growing up in Queensland—and I am sure the member for Blair remembers also—the cyclone warnings coming over the radio or the TV and putting us almost in a state of panic. We were certainly on alert but almost in a state of panic. I remember well that in the sixties this was quite a common event. Queensland has been significantly affected by cyclones for more than a century.

While we are making comparisons with Victoria now in terms of where events rate on the tragedy scale, it is interesting to note that probably one of the largest natural disasters involved Cyclone Mahina in Far North Queensland back in 1899, which claimed nearly 400 lives. It was probably not well recorded simply because of the vast and sparse settlement of the time. Tropical and cyclonic events can do major damage, we know, with the potential for loss of life. On that occasion, a storm surge created a wave nearly 10 metres high that swept inland and took so many lives. There have been others: Cyclone Ada; Cyclone Tracy, which of course hit Darwin; and Cyclone Wanda, when a depression settled over Brisbane back in 1974. The member for Blair would remember that very well.

That experience certainly made me understand what floods and flood damage could do. I remember the city being under water for nearly seven days and, as a 14-year-old, venturing into my aunt’s home to try and help salvage her belongings. I remember, as the water was going down, wandering through water chest high, watching refrigerators float and seeing all those personal possessions that were just ruined by floodwater. I will never forget the stench of opening the fridge after it had been under water for nearly seven days. Of course, the people in North Queensland are experiencing that right now. It is tragic, it is awful, and it is not dissimilar to the effects that people in these fire ravaged areas of Victoria are also experiencing now. It is all loss and it is something that people will take a long time to overcome.

In 2006, Cyclone Larry devastated many people, and the damage to banana plantations in North Queensland caused the so-called banana drought. The reality is that it significantly damaged a community. At that point in time, as a ministerial adviser in Queensland, I had a firsthand view of the effects. You understood the dedication of the emergency services workers there on the ground and the generosity of the community—generosity we see currently in Victoria and with the floods in Queensland. You understood the resilience and the tenacity of the people who were affected. Our best wishes go to those people who are affected in Victoria and certainly, too, to those people who are currently suffering the ravages of flood in North Queensland.

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