Andrew Gee (Calare, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

How bizarre it is that those opposite come into this place and lecture this House on leadership. These are the same people who took an uncosted emissions policy to the last federal election. These are the same people who carried out a shameless attack on the retirees of this nation and tried to spirit away their savings. These are the same people who sold working Australians down the river in a naive bid to pander to inner-city voters while turning their backs on working Australians and working families. You turned your backs on the mining communities and told them you wanted to put them all out of a job. You turned your backs on the power workers of Australia. And you dare to come into this place and lecture us on leadership!

There is one thing on which I do agree with the Leader of the Opposition, and that is that this has been a very uncertain time for our nation. We've had the tragedy and destruction of these bushfires, the coronavirus and, of course, the debilitating and devastating effects of this drought. On all of these issues, this government and the Prime Minister have shown leadership.

Many parts of my electorate of Calare are reeling under the effects of these bushfires. They have swept from Clarence to Lithgow, up the Castlereagh Highway, through to Ilford, Running Stream into the Bylong Valley. We've seen large amounts of federal funding go into the bushfire fight and the relief effort; and there has been state and community funding as well, which has been gratefully received. But one form of assistance that has been particularly well received has been the involvement of the Australian Defence Force. I'll elaborate on what they're doing in my part of the world shortly, but I just want to give the House a bit of background about how they came to be in our area and many others around Australia. Before Christmas it became clear to me and others in our area that, as this emergency continued and resources became increasingly stretched, more help was going to be needed in terms of logistics and also actual firefighting, because we were asking so much of our volunteers and they were stretched to breaking point. I was at the Ilford hall one night during the RFS shift change. The fireys were there having a meal and I was having a coffee, and we were talking about what was needed. It was a pretty long list. It included things like more hazard reduction burning in national parks. They were talking about having to wade through leaf litter that was knee-high. They wanted the national parks opened up. At the moment they're all padlocked; you can't get into them. The fireys want fire trails cleared and maintained, which is not happening at the moment.

But they also said that you can see how tired our volunteers are, and wouldn't it be great to have some ADF assistance out here? They wanted it in terms of logistics but also for the firefighting role, and I'll come to that in a minute. As I sat there in the Ilford hall, amongst our wonderful volunteers, I asked, 'Would you like me to invite the PM to look at it?' And they said, 'Yes, we'd like to talk to him.' I told them they could tell him firsthand what they needed, and they said that would be great. So, I did. I contacted the PM's office and asked his staff if they could please invite the PM to Ilford, because we'd like to see him. I also spoke to Captain Matthew Maude, who is the captain out at Ilford, and he was very keen to get the ADF involved in all manner of assistance in our area. Matthew Maude personified leadership through this crisis. He worked himself to the point of exhaustion. He led his team. He led his community. If those opposite want an example of leadership, well, Matthew Maude is your man there.

The Prime Minister did turn up, to his credit. He came to Ilford and he spoke directly to Captain Matthew Maude, and we both said to him, 'Prime Minister, we do really need the ADF out here, not only for logistical support but also for firefighting.' Matthew Maude could not have made it clearer. We both knew—we all knew—that there was an issue with New South Wales actually requesting ADF assistance. I was aware of that, and so were the RFS members. And Matthew Maude and I both said to the Prime Minister, 'Can you have a chat to New South Wales and get them to agree, because we really need some help out here as this thing goes on and on and on.' The Prime Minister listened, and do you know what happened then?

On 4 January, the compulsory call-out occurred. This is what appeared on the New South Wales RFS Ilford/Running Stream Brigade website after the call-out: 'Well, he did listen, and look what is happening. Great to see. Even if our fire is now contained, it now is set in history, so for anything moving forward, this will happen.' And they were grateful for that announcement. Then, two days after that, the Army arrived on the ground at Ilford. So the Prime Minister, to his credit, came to Ilford and listened and delivered the ADF. It's fair to say that we don't often get Black Hawks at Ilford—or anywhere else in our area. So, that was an experience, but it was great to see the Prime Minister there and listening.

They've been clearing fence lines in the Ilford and Running Stream area. We've lost so much in terms of pastures and fence lines, and the ADF's been there clearing fence lines so that farmers can get the stock back inside the fences and off the roads. They've also been clearing trees on private property. Up at Clarence and Dargan, the community said very clearly at a bushfire recovery meeting that they need the ADF to get involved in tree clearing, because these trees are burnt out and there's a danger that they're going to fall down and kill people. It's a huge issue, besides the fencing. And the ADF got up there to Clarence and Dargan, and we had community members organising these lists of people who need the assistance. They've been out there felling those trees. The local councils have been working with them. They send in a team of arborists to identify what trees need to come down and then they go around and take down the trees that are in danger of falling on fence lines and also buildings. That work has been crucial. So that's leadership: getting the help to where it's needed.

The fireys in my area—and I put out the call myself. I put it out on social media before Christmas: 'We need the ADF out here.' To his credit, the Prime Minister not only came out but listened in the heat, the dust and the wind of Ilford. He took on board what they were saying and he delivered the ADF. And that's leadership. I was very pleased to hear that we've got the royal commission that has been announced. That's leadership too. I want that royal commission to look at all the causes of these fires. Did we get the fireys in there early enough to put them out when they started, like at Gospers Mountain? We want it to look at things like hazard reduction. We want it to look at all aspects of the emergency, like how we can make things better and the things that went right. Getting that royal commission in here is leadership. We're talking about a very serious issue here, and yet it's all about the politics for them.

I'd like to see that royal commission come to our area, because I want the royal commission to hear our stories from our people who are out there on the front lines. I want them to hear the experiences of those fireys—Matthew Maude and Captain Richardson from Glen Alice. I want the royal commission to hear those stories so that we don't have to go through this again. In terms of the ADF, wouldn't it be great if we could get a recommendation that ADF personnel be trained in firefighting so that our senior fireys, some of whom are probably in their 80s, don't have to go day in, day out, knocking themselves out in goat-and-goanna country, fighting fires for the rest of the community? Wouldn't it be great if we could get them some relief? That's leadership, and it was delivered by the Prime Minister on both counts. He got the ADF here—he knocked the heads together and got them here—and also has that royal commission.

We've also had the Prime Minister out in Blayney recently on the drought, and we can't overlook that. We need to make sure that, despite this national effort on the bushfire emergency and recovery, our drought-hit communities are not overlooked. The Prime Minister came to Blayney just a few days ago and he heard firsthand from farmers what they are experiencing. He listened to them. He was out there delivering more help for local councils, looking at our Drought Communities Program and the great work that's happening.

If those opposite want an example of leadership, look to those who are delivering it, but don't come into this place with phony and bogus arguments about who is doing what or who isn't doing what when their track record is absolutely appalling. (Time expired)

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