Russell Broadbent (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On 30 December last year I received a phone call from a friend to say that the Far Saracen was being diverted to Mallacoota. Solstad Offshore and Esso had immediately diverted one of their ships to go to Mallacoota. It was a great phone call. Amongst their crew, of course, were members of the Australian institute of power engineers. They were absolutely instrumental in actually saving people off the beach, housing them and giving them water and fuel for other things that were needed in Mallacoota. A great shout out to Solstad Offshore and Esso.

I'm also very proud of the fact that my strike teams from South Gippsland and West Gippsland were part of the major fight. It's very hard when these strike teams go out because often, as is the case in many of these brigades, they are father-and-son duos. You can imagine the anguish of those people that go out on those strike teams. But south and West Gippsland—and right across Gippsland—were part of the effort into East Gippsland. I give a shout out to them. I honour them for the work they do, for the great training they've had and for deploying on behalf of other people. It's also particularly hard for volunteer firemen who are out on their work duties when their own houses are under threat, and that happened a whole lot in East Gippsland. Good job, boys.

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