Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Although the circumstances motivating me to rise and move this motion are deeply saddening, I'm proud to be able to do so—proud to represent the people of Tasmania, proud to stand here as a representative of Lyons, an electorate which includes many people in communities whose lives have once again been disrupted by natural disaster, and proud to show my sincerest gratitude to all the men and women who dedicated their time to battling bushfires that ravaged our state this summer. They are men and women like those in the Tasmanian Fire Service, their interstate and overseas peers who provided assistance and, of course, Tasmanians who opened their doors and homes to strangers and volunteered in affected communities and evacuation centres and who, of course, rallied around to support firefighters, communities and people in need with donations and moral support.

As all in this chamber are aware, the bushfires that wreaked havoc upon Tasmania resulted in more than 200,000 hectares of land being burned in a few short weeks. That is three per cent of my state's surface, almost half of it in Tasmania's precious Wilderness World Heritage Area. It was so bad that the smoke could be seen from space. Three years ago, fire destroyed other World Heritage in Tasmania, including in my electorate, blazing its way through 100,000 hectares and destroying irreplaceable alpine vegetation. Six years ago, fire destroyed much of the township of Dunalley, in the south of my electorate.

Tasmania is well known for its natural environment. It is one of the reasons that we have record numbers of people visiting our state. It is the reason why so many people move to Tasmania. Across Tasmania, stunning landscapes and unique and diverse flora and fauna have remained largely unchanged for millennia. As Tasmanians, we are proud of our natural environment, our remote island surrounded by wild seas. Mainlanders who watched David Attenborough's documentary on our island did so with a sense of envy and longing.

But now, in a short few weeks, so much has been lost. As a percentage of Tasmania's entire wilderness, what went up in smoke is not great, but that does not reduce its significance. The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, a network of parks and reserves and one of the last expanses of temperate wilderness in the world, suffered enormous damage. Significantly, this is an elevated temperate area, untouched by fire for thousands of years. The flora never evolved to deal with the flames. It will never regenerate in the same way that lowland woodlands will.

The Tahune AirWalk, in the south of the state, in the electorate of my colleague Julie Collins, was one of Tasmania's premier and iconic tourist destinations. Visitors could walk amongst the tall canopy of forest and watch the wild waters of the Huon and Picton rivers come together. Damaged by fire and now surrounded by burnt forest, it's closed for the foreseeable future, ending an experience for tourists, ending jobs for locals and dramatically impacting business for the town of Geeveston.

Two weeks ago, we welcomed cooler, wetter weather, and then we watched in disbelief as snow fell on the Central Plateau, often just metres from where fire continued to burn. The past weeks have been all about battling the blazes, but now we turn to the recovery, which will cost millions. The impact on regional communities will be particularly hard felt. These fires came during peak tourist season. Accommodation providers, cafes and restaurants, hotels and pubs, coach companies, wilderness guides and more—all were closed; all had staff and volunteers out on the front line; all bear the economic scars.

We've learned that Tasmania's $10 million leatherwood honey industry has been hit for six. The unique rainforest leatherwood takes decades to mature and flowers annually. Many trees have been lost and will take years to regrow, if ever, because the soil is likely no longer to support their vegetation.

In Lonnavale, the Ta Ann veneer mill was damaged to the extent that it may not be able to resume operations for months. The Southwood timber-processing site was also damaged. Thousands of hectares of working forest have been lost, including many trees ready for harvest. The impact of the loss has not yet been calculated, nor has how the state intends to respond to ensure that timber communities maintain production.

As bad as the devastation was, it could have been so much worse. Thankfully, our state suffered no fatalities or serious injuries, a testament to the training and skills of our firefighters. Firefighters and volunteers worked countless hours in heat and thick smoke, placing themselves in danger to contain the bushfires. At one point, the TFS reported that 755 fire personnel, including 159 who had travelled from interstate and New Zealand, were fighting fires across our state. Another day saw 520 crews fighting fires, while 14 emergency warnings were in place. In late January, it was estimated that more than 70,000 hours had been spent fighting fires in Tasmania.

I want to commend the many volunteer firefighters who form the backbone of Tasmania's regional firefighting capability. Without them, our state would be in cinders today. There are too many to mention by name, but they hail from 80 brigades in my electorate alone and many more in the electorates of Braddon, Bass, Franklin and Clark. Their importance, their dedication, their courage and their endurance can never be overstated. They were the difference between victory and defeat.

Many volunteers took time off paid work to help their communities. It has always been the case that volunteer firefighters use their own annual leave. There are others, like shearers and business owners, who were unable to work, and they also lost significant income—but they have no access to any leave at all. I think this has to change. Fighting fires is no longer an occasional event. We've had breakouts in Tasmania every summer in recent years, some of them very serious. I know that many volunteers want to keep alive the volunteering spirit. But I also know, from speaking to many, that they are feeling the economic, let alone the emotional, strain of the continuous call-outs. We need to take another look at how we, as a community, can better support the men and women who we call upon to support us.

I am open to suggestions. For example, do we offer up to two weeks leave for emergency services duty, similar to how we treat armed services reservists—perhaps funded jointly by the Commonwealth and state—or do we offer something like an emergency duty payment? I do not profess to have the answer here, but it is time to ask the question. We all benefit from the sacrifice that these men and women make, and I do not think it much to ask that we shoulder some of their burden.

Beyond the line of fire, we saw the Tasmanian community come together in a way that elevates the soul. Residents like Sandra in Bothwell opened their doors to strangers. Hoteliers offered rooms for free. Farmers offered paddocks for displaced livestock. Catteries offered free board for pets. Thousands of Tasmanians donated food and water—and beer; so much beer!

Kaylee Hattinger will hate being singled out, but she deserves it. Kaylee owns and runs the Great Lake Hotel in Miena, which was the eye of the storm of the fire that blazed through the Central Highlands. Roads in and out of the Central Highlands were closed to all but essential traffic throughout much of the weeks of battle, so Kaylee saw her trade drop off a cliff. Still, she opened up her hotel to firefighters, allowing it to become the hub of the Central Highlands firefighting effort. Volunteers were provided with a place to rest and plenty of food, by Kaylee and her staff, to ensure that they had the energy to go out and do their jobs. During the height of the 50,000-hectare Great Pine Tier bushfire, Kaylee and her staff fed more than 120 firefighters, and made upwards of 120 packed lunches and 120 hot dinners every day for more than two weeks. Dinner at the Great Lake Hotel would be served from 4.30 pm and often not end until after midnight. She even took out time for a small birthday party for Andrew Nisbet, known as 'Sugar', a Central Highlands volunteer who spent his 50th birthday fighting fires. Visiting Miena a couple of weeks ago, I saw firsthand what a mighty effort had gone into saving the township: a massive firebreak, excavated overnight; a line of controlled burning that kept the blaze from getting too close.

There are so many other volunteers I was hoping to mention today, and other issues. I'm sure my colleagues in Tasmania who are speaking on this motion will follow me with their own stories. I would like to thank, with my deepest respect, the Tasmania Fire Service and all the volunteers across our state who made such a magnificent effort in tackling that terrible fire.

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