Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the people of the electorate of Blair I want to express my deepest condolences, thoughts and prayers for the families and friends of those 33 people who have lost their lives, including the nine firefighters who died keeping individuals and the community safe. This is a national emergency, a tragedy unprecedented—fires across our country, starting in Queensland and New South Wales and going into parts of Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia. The devastation and the carnage inflicted in our country towns across this country and the loss of life, the damage to habitat and the destruction of native fauna, houses, buildings, sheds, sawmills, crops and livestock is unimaginable. With great sadness we reflect on the loss of lives and property, the damage to economies and communities, and the trauma inflicted on residents.

I want to convey my deepest condolences to the victims and all those who've been affected directly and indirectly. And while the attention's been turned, rightly, to some of the southern states, it's important to note and remember the impact of the fires in Queensland, my home state, including my electorate of Blair, which has been badly affected by the fires, particularly in the Somerset region—forests and bushlands around Jimna and Linville outside Esk, along the Brisbane Valley Highway and other major highways. Before I continue I want to convey my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the ADF and the personnel at the RAAF base at Amberley, who have gone way beyond that which they need to do. Every day, almost, in the Queensland Times there are stories of heroism, of help and hope given by those men and women from that place in my electorate, and I want to thank them deeply for what they've done. And my thanks go to our rural fire brigades, the SES, the fire and emergency services across Ipswich and the Somerset and our wonderful police service for their resilience, commitment and bravery. I deeply thank you.

If you drive up the Brisbane Valley Highway in my electorate, up through Wivenhoe Dam and the Somerset Dam not far from there, you'll see great swathes of area affected by bushfires. It's affected families and farms in those areas, and fauna of course—places like Jimna, up in the state forest, having to be evacuated, and places like Linville. Last year I said in this place—I think standing almost in this spot—that I'd received a petition from 250 people from the Linville area in relation to inadequate mobile phone coverage, which prompted me to write to the communications minister, and it got a lot of publicity in the media back in Queensland. We saw that because those country towns in my electorate, including the city of Ipswich, were cut off badly in the floods of 2011 and 2013 as well as being significantly impacted by the fires. I recall sitting and having morning tea with some friends in Esk—Lionel and Doreen Shaw—who were evacuated twice in recent days from Esk because of fires in and around that township. I had been up in Moore, where we did a fundraiser in relation to koala conservation and protection, hearing stories from people in those regions about what they experienced.

So in this country we need to do better. I want to thank the emergency services, who are forced to spend precious time going door to door to evacuate people in these regions in my electorate. I also want to thank very much the rural fire brigades in these country areas. I could mention almost every single one—rural fire brigades like Pine Mountain, Marburg, Fernvale, Kilcoy, Ripley Valley and so many others. They are volunteers who have gone out of their way to help people and who are stalwarts of the local community. They're businesspeople, they're teachers, they're public servants, they're people who've gone way beyond what they are asked to do. They're not there because they want to be; they're there because they feel compelled to be there by their love of their community.

One of the saddest things I have experienced recently was at the Australia Day ceremony and citizenship ceremony in the Somerset Civic Centre in Esk. I heard the story of a Somerset local woman, Glynis Limberg. She and her husband, Ray, had a small cattle farm near Esk which was impacted not once but twice by separate bushfires. Their home was fortunately spared, but they lost their sawmill, their tools and everything they needed for their small wood-turning business. They lost about 90 per cent of their stock, she told me, and their fencing. Glynis described driving away as one of the scariest moments of her life. I was able to help her, showing her through my iPhone what help she could get through Centrelink and the Department of Human Services. My heart went out to her, because she was there as a volunteer helping in one of the local community organisations, and here she was on Australia Day sitting down over a cup of tea and telling me about the issues that affected her. I want to thank St Vincent de Paul, who helped her out enormously.

I thank the Red Cross, the churches, the organisations, the cafes, the businesses who have held so many fundraisers in my area to help local people. I want to thank the Ipswich City Council and the Somerset Regional Council. Of course in Ipswich we had fires around Bundamba. My wife and I put up a local young woman who is a good friend of my eldest daughter, who had to evacuate from Bundamba on the night of the bushfires there. People were impacted. I was in a meeting at Providence, what you and I would describe as a progress association, one night when I received phone calls to say that there were fires lapping up to Ripley in the Ripley Valley. The fire and emergency services, Ripley Valley Rural Fire Brigade and other people stopped those fires at the very fences of those properties. This is a built-up area in Ipswich.

There are a number of people I want to mention, but particularly I want to mention Amy Hartness, who is Ipswich Citizen of the Year. You may not know who Amy is, but she was honoured at the North Ipswich Reserve. Amy followed her dad into the Rural Fire Service. Amy's a wonderful young woman. She's a tireless community volunteer with the Rural Fire Service. She was named Citizen of the Year at the Australia Day awards this year in Ipswich. She joined the Rural Fire Service in 2004 and the Ipswich City branch of the Queensland State Emergency Service in 2003. So this is a longstanding commitment. This is not something she's just done recently. Her astonishing commitment to the Ipswich community is reflected in 2,230 hours of voluntary work for the SES alone over the past 18 years. She was among many people from Ipswich who don't just work in their local community but who travel interstate to regional New South Wales to help other communities in areas where they didn't know that much and they weren't familiar with it. They were there to help them.

I'll be there at the Rotary Club of Ipswich North when we honour local police and fire and emergency services personnel at the officers of the year awards in May. We expect to be there at the civic centre this year once again. I thank the Rotary Club of Ipswich North for doing that every year.

I'll finish on this note: one of the most poignant experiences I had was meeting with a young woman called Phoenix Whitten, who is a member of the Marburg Rural Fire Brigade. I had a quick word with her at an Ipswich Chamber of Commerce function at Rosewood. I asked her to put her experiences down, and I feel compelled to read what Phoenix said to me about her experience in coping with firefighting. She wants to make it clear: this is her experience, not the experience in the Marburg Rural Fire Brigade. She has been fighting fires, and these are her words.

It's 530pm in the afternoon. Just got home from work. The fire pager goes off. Large grass fire some 1hr drive from home. Called to assist local brigade in that area. Turnout and assist. Get home 2am in the morning. Go back to work 7am in the morning.

2 days later … Traffic Crash. Two people trapped. Called to assist with extraction of patients. Attend and return home about Midnight. Back to work 7am …

These events are factual and … a regular occurrence in the life of a volunteer fire fighter. Our current fire season, to use the word that has been used many times is "unprecedented". It has pushed the Volunteer to the limits and beyond. But you know what, we keep standing up day after day. Why? To help and protect the community. The seasoned fire fighters in the service have not seen such volatile conditions before. The brigade has been to Mount Barney to Cunninghams Gap to Esk to Binna Burra to Bundaberg and everywhere in between and beyond. We have sent personnel interstate to the ACT and NSW and this still continues as we speak. Sent away from families for 5 days at a time. Going into territory that is not familiar. Working on vehicles that are different to their own. Not knowing what they are getting into. Dangerous conditions. 12 to 16 hour days. All this but satisfied in the knowledge we are doing it for someone we don't know. Just a fellow human being who needs our help. Emotions can be raw. From the elation of saving someone's property to the devastation of not being able to. Saving that little animal but watching another pass due to it's injuries. Standing in front of heat hot enough to melt the plastic on a truck. All these things happen and are very real.

How do we Cope? How do we deal with it?

What we do is a very dangerous business and can takes it's toll. It takes dedication and an ability to learn from those of us who have been in it a long time. A big part of the service is to offer a duty of care to everyone involved. The Rural fire fighter has around them a team of people that are like family. A shoulder to lean on. Sometimes cry on. Just to talk about what they have seen, done and achieved. Within their own personal family, they have to have that support for the "all hours of the night" call out. It isn't for everyone.

Family and Work come first. You need both to survive. Family is the most important thing. When I say family, I don't just mean your immediate family. The brigade is a family. Close knit and there for us when we need them.

How do we keep going……..we do it for the community. It's that simple.

Thank you, Phoenix. It's well said on behalf of all firefighters across this country and locally in my community. Thank you very much. Thank you to everyone.

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