Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I join with colleagues in endorsing the words of this motion and expressing my condolences and sorrow to the families and friends of those who died, who were injured, who stared death in the face, who watched their homes and all their worldly possessions burn, who saw animals suffer and die, who have been left traumatised and shattered or whose lives have been changed in any way whatsoever by the fires that have swept across Australia since September or even prior to that in some parts. Your hurt, your suffering and your grief has touched the hearts of so many of your fellow Australians, and people from around the world have responded with so many offers of help and words of comfort.

In parts of the country the fires still burn. The situation would have been worse but for the extraordinary efforts of firefighters, ADF personnel, SES crews, medical teams, police officers, vets and animal rescue workers, council workers and so many others—the list goes on—who were on the front line of the response efforts right across the country. To them and to all those people who in any way contributed to relief efforts I say thank you. I spoke with so many of them in South Australia. I visited the emergency relief centre at Highbury, just outside of my electorate. They are all deserving of the nation's gratitude. I also say thank you to the South Australian media crews, particularly the ABC, through radio station 891, and 5AA, radio station 1395, for their continuous coverage and information about the South Australian bushfires.

Our priority for those areas where the fires have passed is now to help people and communities rebuild their lives and their futures. It will be an enormous task, and it will take time because the losses are extensive. Even despite extraordinary fire response efforts and the use of the most modern firefighting technology that we have ever had, some 33 lives have been lost, three from my home state of South Australia. From my calculations, 19 million hectares have been burnt if we include the Northern Territory fires. Nearly 3,000 houses; thousands of sheds, motor vehicles, farm machinery, public infrastructure, plantations, wineries; kilometres of fencing; and over a billion wildlife and livestock have been lost. The economic cost to the nation will be in the billions of dollars. In reality, the full cost will never be known, because the long-term health impacts—including psychological effects and smoke inhalation—the ecological destruction and the flow-on economic costs will carry on for years to come.

The immediate question that arises when I speak to people throughout the community is: how do we better prepare for next time? Because there will be a next time. We can only do that if we accept the science—accept that the climate is changing and factor that into the fuel loads and weather conditions that climate change will create.

As I speak to people in my community, four immediate questions arise that I hope will be addressed as part of the reviews that are currently underway into these fires. Firstly, there are concerns about whether the donations will find their way to the victims of these fires. There is a real concern that that may not be the case. Secondly, could we and should we in future be able to call on and draw upon the ADF much earlier and in a much more coordinated way? Thirdly, is our nation well enough equipped with firefighting aircraft? And, fourthly, is the national building code, particularly as it relates to fire-prone areas, adequate and should fire shelters be made mandatory in those areas? Those are questions that I hope will be addressed in the reviews that will take place both at state and national levels.

I also noted that last week we brought into this place bushfires tax assistance legislation and the Business Council of Australia set up a trust fund for volunteer firefighters who have been injured or killed. I didn't get a chance to speak in that debate, but I ask the question: does that fund also cover overseas firefighters who may be here in Australia and also may have been injured or, as we saw, killed? Those are matters that, again, I hope will be considered.

The extraordinary generosity of Australians was evident in my own community. I thank them all for their kindness and compassion. It is simply not possible for me to acknowledge them all individually, and there are more events still to come which I will be attending over the days and weeks ahead. But I want to refer to three examples of that generosity, because I think they encapsulate the spirit I saw in and around my community.

Firstly, Adelaide's Afghan Australian Hazara community raised approximately $80,000 through a joint fundraising effort with the Baba Mazari Foundation and the Wali E Asr Centre. A young refugee boy who came to this country as an infant, Murtaza Hussain, gave all of his savings since his arrival here in 2013 to the fire victims. Secondly, in another initiative, 10-year-old Imogen Stevens, with the support of her family, set up a weekend cafe at her Salisbury East home and raised hundreds of dollars by selling coffee and tea to locals. I can vouch for the quality of the coffee because I had one and it was great! Lastly, my office was used as a collection point for backpacks for schoolkids affected by fire. The goodwill and donations were overwhelming, and I thank all of those people who donated.

In closing, the fires were horrific, but they brought out the best in Australians. I hope that the nation's response will lift the spirits of fire victims.

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