Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Prime Minister’s condolence motion on the natural disasters which have occurred over the summer. On 16 January this year I spoke at an ecumenical service that was pulled together by Father Kevin Dillon in Geelong. I thank Father Kevin Dillon for pulling together that service, which I think was an important occasion for the people of Geelong to express their grief and their solidarity with the people of Queensland and, of course, a growing number of people in Victoria.

During the ecumenical service, I spoke of a story which had been reported in the Courier Mail and referred to in the Prime Minister’s contribution on this motion earlier this week. It was the story of a young pregnant woman who was swept from her home by the wall of water in Grantham. As she was swept away she was able to grab hold of a downpipe while holding onto her young baby, but from there she lost her grip and was swept to a nearby railway line where her foot was caught by a sleeper. And from there she was literally in a struggle against the force of nature, a struggle which she could not win. Her baby was torn from her arms, and it is thought that her baby is the youngest victim of these terrible floods. She herself would have been a victim but for the fact that a few minutes later she was saved by a helicopter pilot whose story also featured in the Prime Minister’s contribution on this motion.

You can look at all these statistics, as terrible as they are, around this tragedy. Almost all of Queensland was affected, more than 10,000 people were evacuated and more than 30,000 homes were affected. There were record flood levels in Victoria. I echo the comment by the member for Higgins that some of the events and stories that have occurred in Victoria have not received the same airplay given to the events that occurred in Queensland. But there are enormous difficulties being experienced by people in parts of Victoria associated with these floods. Indeed, within my own region, in the Barwon area there were 500 calls made to the SES associated with local flooding. Of course, in our region it was nothing like it was in other parts of Australia.

You can look at all of that, and you can look at the 35 people who have lost their lives. But to truly understand the significance of these floods, you have to think of that young woman who a month ago held her baby safely in her arms but is now faced with an unimaginable pain for the rest of her life. Whilst this was a moment of incredible tragedy, it was also a story of tremendous courage. That helicopter pilot I mentioned, Mark Kempton, and his crew plucked 28 people from the raging waters. I am sure that many of their lives were saved by the actions of Mark Kempton and his crew.

You can look at the selfless actions of Pauline Magner, who perished in these floods in Grantham but, it is thought, in the process was able to put her grandson Jacob in a position of relative safety within their house such that Jacob was able to survive the floods and is alive today. You can look at the courage of Rob and Jim Wilkin, again from Grantham, who saw this unprecedented wall of water coming towards them. They had the opportunity there and then to get to higher ground themselves but in that moment decided instead to take the time to warn their neighbours about what was coming and to get them out so that they could reach higher ground as well. When the wall of water came through they then got in their boat and managed to pluck a number of other people from the torrent. It is thought that their actions, in the space of just a few moments, were the difference between life and death for another 16 people. And, of course, you can look at the amazing story of Jordan Rice, which has been spoken of by many people in this debate. He asked rescuers to save his younger brother first but, unfortunately, they were unable to save Jordan.

This is also an extraordinary story of Australians pulling together in a really tough time. The number of volunteers who put their hands up to help in the clean-up and rebuilding of Queensland in the immediate aftermath of the floods was truly amazing. Tens of thousands of people registered to provide their assistance in the clean-up. In the days immediately after the floods went through Brisbane, we were all struck by the visions on the television of queues in excess of one kilometre long of people registering to volunteer to help clean up. Of course, across the nation, in a very short period of time indeed, $180 million has been raised by ordinary Australians to help their fellow Australians in a really difficult time of need.

In all of this, one group, from my electorate, have not had their story told and I would like to spend a moment describing their contribution in the last few months. Centrelink’s emergency call centre in Geelong is our country’s only 24 hours a day, seven days a week emergency call centre operated by the Commonwealth. I was glad to see that the Minister for Human Services in her contribution to this debate specifically mentioned this call centre. As it happens, the call centre is located just around the corner from my electorate office in the centre of Geelong and it is designed to be the first to go into action when natural disasters such as bushfires and floods occur. It gives the Australian government an immediate response capacity, not to replace 000 calls but to offer information on evacuation options and recovery plans, to deal with requests for financial assistance and to cope with the overflow of calls being made to state and local emergency services.

One can imagine that these are very difficult calls to deal with. In my time I have had a bit to do with call centre workers and I think it is hard to imagine more difficult calls to have to deal with than those coming into Centrelink’s Geelong emergency call centre in recent times. These calls would be emotionally taxing and would have to be handled with the utmost sensitivity and professionalism.

During the floods, more than 100,000 calls were made to Centrelink’s Geelong emergency call centre. They included calls from people who had lost their homes or businesses and people who were unable to locate their families and friends. Four teams of 10 people worked rotating 12-hour shifts in the call centre and it was in constant operation during this crisis. So I would like to place on the record the appreciation of the Australian people for the work of the staff of this call centre. They did great work for their country and they certainly made their community very proud. Today it is my honour to acknowledge them as being part of the local Geelong contribution to the events of the last month or so.

Many emotions are felt in the context of natural disasters. We feel an enormous sense of grief for those who have perished, and today during this debate we think of their families and friends. We stand in solidarity with all of those Australians who have been affected by these natural disasters. We let them know, as the member for Higgins stated in her contribution, that they are most definitely not alone. I think it is also appropriate that, as a result of this crisis, Australians feel a quiet sense of pride in the amazing coming together of the community and the nation. People really pulled together as one, in the most Australian way, in the most difficult of times.

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