David Smith (Bean, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to share my most heartfelt condolences to members of the Australian community impacted by this terrible ongoing season of bushfires—to a mother or father who has lost a son, to a grandchild who has lost their grandparent, to a son or daughter who'll grow up never knowing their dad, to those aunties and uncles who lost a nephew, to a friend who lost a great mate, and to a volunteer or workmate who lost a comrade. These fires have had an enormous effect on their families and their communities across Australia.

As the member for Bean, I represent the southern part of the Australian Capital Territory. It's a beautiful part of the ACT, with Namadgi National Park within its boundaries and the Murrumbidgee River flowing through it. Every day of parliament, we acknowledge the First Nations people on whose land we meet: the Ngunawal and Ngambri people. Their land is on fire and will be burning for some time to come. In this sitting period, this is something we should reflect upon during that acknowledgement. The smoke that you can feel and taste that has been choking this city for more than 40 days first came from the horrific South Coast and Snowy Mountains fires but now comes from the Orroral Valley fire in beautiful Namadgi National Park—an area rich in our First Nations history, our settler history and our connection to space travel in the 1960s and beyond. This fire has burnt through a third of the ACT and caused spot fires across the border into Bredbo that have resulted in the loss of houses. The fires moved from 'advice' to 'watch and act' to 'emergency' and back again constantly over the past fortnight. This is also the region that lived through the devastating 2003 Canberra bushfires, which spread from Namadgi up into the southern and western suburbs of Bean.

But we are also part of a broader region, part of the Capital region. I know that when our region is impacted, our community here is impacted. Last week I spoke with Karl from Banks as he and his neighbours prepared for fires to potentially come through to his southern Tuggeranong suburb. It was only weeks before that he had been protecting his parents' home in Malua Bay. His is a classic story repeated across our region. We are deeply connected.

It was in this region, in the Peak Hill area up in the Monaro high country, that we lost the American aerial firefighters. They were part of an effort to protect property and bushland against a raging fire fanned by strong winds, bushland that included a koala sanctuary set up by a former Canberran. Tragically, those efforts were not able to hold back the fire, taking the Two Thumbs Koala Sanctuary. As a small gesture to help heal and recognise that tragic loss, three rescued koalas from the area have been named after these brave men.

This has been a long summer for the Bean community. Not only have we felt the anguish of our region, we have faced the impacts of fires across the territory. Our community has dealt with air quality readings 23 times the hazardous level, at times the worst air quality of anywhere on the planet. During the period of 15 December to the end of January, the Monash station down in Bean has recorded hazardous levels of air quality on 27 days. On the other days since mid-December we have gotten away with merely poor air quality. This acrid smoke saw the closure of businesses around the ACT—the Department of Home Affairs; the National Gallery shutting its doors and engaging in measures for the protection of artworks from the pollution; the university campuses; child care and other community facilities; organised sports; and even the closure of Canberra Airport. With community anxiety rising across the region, we actually ran out of P2 masks and air purifiers. We don't know what the effect on health and the economic impacts of this exposure to hazardous air quality over such a sustained period will be. Also, in the last fortnight the southern villages and suburbs have been under attack from a bushfire that is now a third the size of the ACT—now over 80,000 hectares.

The ACT community, though, has gotten through this because of our collective efforts. There are many to thank and commend for that collective effort, but I would like to start by thanking our volunteer and professional firefighters of the ACT RFS brigades, and their New South Wales colleagues, and everyone across our emergency services; the ESA; the SES; the ambos; ACT Fire and Rescue; ACT Parks and Conservation; the AFP and the ADF; those manning the air traffic control towers hour on hour; those community members who fundraised to bring in P2 masks; the Vikings club down in Bean, for hosting the very well-attended and important community forums; the families of our key workers; ABC 666, here in the territory, and all of our local media for the amazing job they have done in ensuring that we have been kept up-to-date with what is happening. And thanks to our great volunteer networks, including ones like Slabs for Heroes that are relatively new, through to our school communities like Holy Family Gowrie and St John Vianney's, which have all played an active role in helping people not just in the immediate ACT but also in communities across our region.

I would also like to note the great contribution of the leadership of our emergency organisations. Their efforts throughout the summer to keep the community informed, to prepare for each sudden weather change and provide calm, sober advice to our community, have been nothing short of outstanding. I also want to acknowledge the efforts of our local emergency services minister, Mick Gentleman, and Chief Minister Andrew Barr. Most of all, my humble gratitude goes out to the members of my community for your endurance, generosity and support of your fellow Australians.

My community has a determination to get through this, but this cannot become the new norm. If it is, then we have abrogated our responsibility not just to the people we represent but to the following generations—not just to our children but to their children. With a third of the ACT burnt, our community want to see governments work together across all levels. Our community is demanding that it is now time not to just listen but to act on expert advice. It is time to put away the arguments not based on evidence. It is time to listen to our agencies, it is time to listen to our experts and, as the member for Eden-Monaro said, it is time for facts and then acting.

Finally, I finish where I started. Thank you to those who are the reason for this incredibly sad condolence motion. This parliament will never forget you, and my community will never forget this summer.

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