Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australians have all been staggered and numbed by the devastation brought on by these horrific fires. So many people are personally affected by the horror of these fires. Many of us weren't, but we still felt the pain and experienced deep sadness when we saw what fellow Australians had gone through as a result of this terrible episode in our nation's history.

The images of what occurred have been profoundly powerful and have had a massive impact on our nation's psyche: land transformed into alien landscapes, the remnants of homes on charred ground, the vision of fires forming their own form of weather event in that area, sweeping people up. For me, one image that had an incredible impact at a deeply personal level was of an RFS commissioner on bended knee, pinning a medal on a young boy in an RFS uniform at a commemoration service, a funeral, for an RFS volunteer. And I kept thinking, as I suspect many of us did, that, when the RFS commissioner was pinning that medal on Harvey Keaton, we were thinking about the fact that his dad would not be there for the biggest moments in that boy's life because his dad wanted to make sure that other families could be around for the big moments in their children's lives. That had a big impact on me, and it had an especially big impact on our community because Harvey Keaton was the son of Geoffrey Keaton, who lost his life fighting the Green Wattle Creek fire alongside a bloke called Andrew O'Dwyer. This happened in the Wollondilly area. Geoffrey Keaton himself had served loyally at the Plumpton RFS, which is within the Chifley electorate.

So many of the RFSs in our area—and I do want to pay tribute to them all: Eastern Creek, Marsden Park, Plumpton, Schofields and Shanes Park—have clocked up so many hours. Not just over this terrible period but over months, they have been out helping other families. So, while the fires, fortunately, did not impact our area, I have to say that our area is deeply grateful for the sacrifice of those people within our own neighbourhoods who have gone to other places within the country to help. Plumpton RFS volunteered over 27,000 man-hours fighting the fires. Chifley volunteers have fought in fires in over 26 local government areas, including in places such as Grafton, Tamworth, Bega, Singleton, the Snowy Mountains and the Blue Mountains, to name a few. And, during the Gospers Mountain fires in the Hawkesbury, Chifley crews were deployed daily for more than three weeks. Many of the shifts ended up being over 16 hours from the time of leaving to the time of returning. So I would like to acknowledge—and I think our community would like to thank deeply—the brave men and women of our local RFSs and RFSs across our state.

The number of RFSs deserving acknowledgement far exceeds the time I have to speak here today. I do, however, want to recognise the Plumpton RFS Brigade Captain Phillip Cook, his 2IC, Senior Deputy Captain Ben Keen, and people like Trevor Haskins and the volunteers from the Eastern Creek brigade who have been instrumental in both leading teams on the ground and supporting local crews, providing coverage, not only from our local community but further afield. And I also want to recognise the huge effort that has been dedicated by Blacktown City Council. They've allocated $2 million to their bushfire relief and recovery effort and allocated staff, vehicles, plant and equipment to bushfire affected councils. Also Foodbank in Glendenning in our area has been delivering thousands of pallets of food and supplies to communities ravaged by the fire.

There are not enough words for us to express our condolences to those who have been affected, to pay respect to those who lost their lives and to thank those who have stepped in, in the way that they have. But I am deeply proud that this parliament has put aside politics to allow this period of time for us, regardless of our backgrounds, to come together as a nation and just say thank you and put an arm around fellow Australians who have suffered so much through this truly catastrophic event.

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