Nick Champion (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to extend my condolences to all who have suffered through a very brutal bushfire season, and, in my home state of South Australia, those people and communities who have suffered through both the Kangaroo Island and Cudlee Creek fires. To say that this has been a profoundly difficult experience to go through is an understatement. I know because my previous electorate, Wakefield, went through a terrible fire, the Pinery fire, only a couple of years ago. These are terrible times, and we thank all who have been and are involved in dealing with these fires. It's very confronting for volunteer firefighters and units. I think the intensity of these fires is something that is new, and so we in this parliament, including the government, should be providing them with all the support they need.

My local brigades, both Dalkeith CFS under captain Clint Marsh, and the Salisbury CFS under captain Ken Potter, have done a lot of firefighting in the community over many years, and I thank those brigades for their efforts, along with all the brigades within the boundaries of my previous electorate—in Gawler River, which is just across the border, and all of those north of that, including my home town, Kapunda; and Greenock. As I said before, the intensity of these fires means that we have to properly look at the sort of equipment that we provide to these brigades.

I'd also like to thank the local Hazara community, including the Wali ASR Centre and Imam Mehdi, and the Baba Mazara Foundation and Imam Ali, for raising $87,444 in funds for bushfire relief. These are very proud Australians. They work very hard and they're very, very keen on making sure that they give back to their new nation. This bushfire season, they were as affected as everybody else by the intensity of these fires and the loss of lives, homes and communities. So they really set out to raise as much money as they could for our communities. It's a fairly mighty figure, $87,000, and I would like to congratulate them on their efforts—and it would be good, too, if they could continue!

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