Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Deputy Chairman , Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to rise and join with other members on this motion that was moved to take note of the statement made by the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs in the main House on 9 February. It is a motion to commemorate the second anniversary of those tragic bushfires. It is a time to remember. It is a time to reflect. It is also a time to look forward now with the benefit of two years behind us.

At the outset, I pay tribute to the minister for her words in the main chamber and to the shadow minister, the member for Menzies. I think both members encapsulated what occurred on that tragic day and what occurred in the hours and days afterwards and has occurred since. As I said, it is natural for us to remember and reflect. All of us—particularly Victorian members like you, Madam Deputy Speaker Vamvakinou; the member for McEwen, who is here; the member for Kooyong; and the member for Wannon, who has just joined us—remember that day—the heatwave, the weather and the wind. All of us had that fear that something terrible could happen, but I think all of us hoped and prayed that the day would just pass as the previous couple of days of the heatwave had.

When the news that fires had broken out was heard on the radio and on our televisions, we as Melburnians instinctively thought the worst. When we thought the worst, we thought of Ash Wednesday, which was our previous reference point for the worst. I think intuitively none of us thought it could be worse than that because that was the boundary psychologically. As I have said before in the House, I remember opening the curtains of our house, which is just on the edge of the Yarra Valley near Lilydale, on that afternoon and seeing the mushroom clouds down the Melba Highway, which must have been at Kinglake and then approaching Yarra Glen. Of course all Melburnians know the Dandenong Ranges and the Yarra Valley. Pretty much wherever you are in suburban Melbourne you can see them. What unfolded over the next hours and the next days was truly tragic, and I think the minister and the shadow minister captured that.

In remembering Black Saturday, we think of the families who lost loved ones. We remember the 173 who died, those who were injured and all the families who were affected. We think of the communities affected. Wherever those communities are, we Melburnians know them even if we do not live in them. We have been there on school camps as kids and on family outings. That it as true of Kinglake as it is of Marysville and the other towns. We also reflect, as I said, on the incredible efforts of our emergency services personnel and the incredible efforts of members of the community.

To speak of those events two years on brings back memories of the many efforts at so many levels. We are right to feel sympathy for the heartbreak and heartache of those who we know are suffering so much at this time and simultaneously to feel pride in the community spirit and in those who helped so much. I say that because it has become fashionable at times for commentators to say that we have lost our sense of community spirit in the last 40 or 50 years. While that might be true at a superficial level, instinctively we suspected that was not the case and we know it is not the case from what we have seen.

I cannot possibly mention everyone, but I do want to mention a couple of people. One of them is Lex de Man from the CFA—and I know the member for McEwen will have heard of Lex. A loyal senior officer for many years, he retired recently.

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