Arch Bevis (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Aviation and Transport Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Cyclone Larry has been responsible for one of the most devastating and destructive natural events in Australian history. It will certainly rank if not as the greatest then certainly as one of the greatest natural disasters that this nation has had to deal with since Federation.

Cyclones are not uncommon to those of us who live in Queensland. For those in North Queensland, it is an all too common event. But cyclones of the destructive power of Cyclone Larry are well beyond the normal range of what any society could hope to plan to deal with. Many of us can recall the devastating 1974 floods. In fact, just before those floods in Brisbane in 1974 I had spent the previous month in North Queensland, which had also been going through the cyclone season and floods. It is one thing to deal with cyclones that produce floods that tend to have a localised effect in the areas surrounding waterways and some drains, but it is a very different thing to contend with a cyclone that has destructive winds in excess of 250 kilometres an hour that are sustained for hours on end.

The images that we saw on our televisions and in our newspapers of the destructive force were truly frightening, with buildings that had been cut in half, roofs that had gone and sugarcane paddocks that had been levelled—and sugar cane is a pretty thick crop, densely grown. Those of us from Queensland who grew up playing around banana plants know how easy it is to tear off their leaves or even to knock them down, but to see acres upon acres of banana plantations destroyed and cane fields flattened would have been an awesome thing to witness. It must have been, and still no doubt is, an enormously worrying event for those in North Queensland.

As well as acknowledging the severity of the devastation that occurred, I want to take this opportunity to particularly acknowledge and thank those who have been involved in providing the support and the response. As you would expect, in the hours that followed the devastation people from the normal emergency service teams were providing support. Local police, fire brigade officers, ambulance officers, nurses, health workers and SES volunteers all played a part in the immediate aftermath in trying to establish some order and safety.

I want to pay particular credit to those from that group who themselves were affected. It has not been something that has been particularly widely recognised, but the truth is that police officers who lost their houses like everybody else nonetheless turned up for duty to help out in the community. They did not do that just on the first day and they did not do it on an eight-hour shift; they did it around the clock. Some of them, after a few days of working long hours, needed to take a break, and that break came because support for those in North Queensland was provided from other services in Queensland and from elsewhere in the country, which has been greatly appreciated.

Volunteers have made themselves available from other parts of Queensland, including from other parts of North Queensland and I know also from south-east Queensland, and have gone up there to provide support. They have included nurses, health workers and tradespeople. There is a desperate need for tradespeople who are able to assist in the reconstruction work. All of those who have made themselves available deserve credit. As well, I want to especially acknowledge the contribution and sacrifice of those who themselves were affected but nonetheless upheld their duty to ensure that the community was able to get back on its feet.

In times of terrible adversity and disaster we very often do see the true underlying character of people. I was taken by the response of people in places like Innisfail, Babinda and other towns where we saw shop owners without power, and in some cases without a roof over their heads, deciding: ‘The food is obviously not going to last. We’ll put a barbie on in the street and anyone can come along and have a feed.’ Many people did not have a fridge or a table to eat off; they did not have anything to cook on. You saw people in North Queensland making food available to their friends, neighbours and strangers so that some degree of normal life could continue and the basics could be provided for.

When watching that it did strike me what a wonderful sense of character those people in North Queensland have. It is in contrast to the scenes we saw of the terrible devastation in Miami after Hurricane Katrina hit, where, to my horror and amazement, rather than seeing the best of human nature, we tended to see the worst of human nature. It stands all Australians in good stead to know that deep down there is that sense of decency that was exhibited by those people in North Queensland. For that, if nothing else, we should thank our fellow Australians in North Queensland for the way they conducted themselves. At a time when the normal structures of civilised society had been struck down, overwhelmingly their instinct, by and large, was to do the right thing and to help their mates. Good on them for that.

I want to also acknowledge the very forthright and direct support that the Queensland government provided. Premier Peter Beattie was on the scene very soon after the storm had passed through, as were other ministers. I recall seeing on TV my good friend the Minister for Emergency Services, Pat Purcell, amongst the crowd, with his booming voice and tall stature, lending his support. I know the Minister for Police and Corrective Services, Judy Spence, and the Minister for Public Works, Housing and Racing, Rob Schwarten, have been playing a part, as well.

I also want to acknowledge the willingness of the Prime Minister to visit the area a couple of days after the cyclone hit, accompanied by the Leader of the Opposition, Kim Beazley. They visited the area affected and provided both moral and financial support to the people. These are times when partisan politics really has no place. It was thoroughly appropriate that the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition should visit that area together and provide support to their North Queensland fellow Australians. That was a good thing to see.

It would be remiss of us in this place in a debate like this not to also acknowledge the contribution that General Peter Cosgrove is making and will continue to make. He is a fine Australian. Many of us in this parliament have had the great pleasure of meeting him and being involved with him at gatherings, committees and various other things. His willingness to get back into harness, as it were, for the good of the community is a welcome thing. He is a person of great ability and impeccable integrity. I have no doubt that his expertise and leadership will assist in the recovery.

We should not underestimate the magnitude of this recovery. It was not localised in the sense of a suburb or even a town; a group of towns were effectively decimated. All the normal processes of civilisation were destroyed. There was no water supply, there was no power, there was no sewerage and, in many parts of the area, there was no landline communication. To re-establish necessary power was a major undertaking in itself. The state government and Energex’s capacity to get large generators relocated from elsewhere in the state to that area so that a clean water supply could be available within a short period of time was a good demonstration of how an emergency response team should operate. I think those involved with emergency service coordination in Queensland have done a fine job and no doubt could teach some in other parts of the world how to deal with these sorts of situations.

The Australian defence forces, as always, played their part. Soon after Cyclone Larry had been through that area, we saw Australian Defence Force personnel on location with their sleeves rolled up, shovels in hand and engineering equipment at the ready. Their participation was essential in providing recovery. Importantly, the flights of Hercules aircraft into the area providing food and water supplies in the immediate days after were essential. North Queensland is home to a very large part of the Australian Defence Force. Many people recruited into the Australian Defence Force come from Queensland—a disproportionate number, in fact, of Defence personnel come from Queensland. So for many in uniform this was not an abstract event. This was an area well known to them and in some cases, no doubt, it was their home as well.

Any of us who have had the great pleasure of travelling through North Queensland know how beautiful it is. My first ventures there were in the early 1970s. You are struck by its magnificent natural beauty. Whether it is the subtropical rainforests, the green cane fields or the immaculate South Pacific panorama that you look out across from just about anywhere you go up in North Queensland, it is truly filled with natural beauty—a wonderful place.

This cyclone has been a major problem in the short term, but I have absolutely no doubt that the effort being put in by the locals and the contribution being made by the Queensland state government, the Commonwealth government and the people of Australia will see that area rebuilt. As Peter Cosgrove said the other day, it will be bigger and better than it was. That is a big call, because North Queensland is a pretty darn good place to be at any time, but I think he is right. It will be bigger and better—and I do not just mean in its physical reconstruction. I am sure that those who have lived through this and who have been through that process of helping one another have a sense of unity and purpose that will make them even more unbeatable.

The trouble with people from North Queensland—I can say this as a South Queenslander; it is a bit like the Australians and the Kiwis—is this. The state of origin match between Queensland and New South Wales is a tough game but a game of football between the Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys is even tougher, I suspect. As a Brisbane boy, the one problem I foresee is that those Cowboys will have an extra set of arms and an extra set of legs as they carry the pride of North Queensland after this disaster! However, we wish them well because they have been through a lot. They have stood up to it incredibly well. I know that the thoughts of all the people in this parliament are with them.

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I suppose it is not very often that I sit in the House and listen to the honourable member for Brisbane and agree with every word that he says, but today I do. It is interesting that it seems to take a time of great adversity for us to fully appreciate the values we share. We learn how we are able to work together and we realise that the things that unite us are very much more important than the things that divide us.

The North Queensland area over the years has had its share of cyclones. Cyclone Larry was a category 5 cyclone and, as such, was in the most extreme variety of that force of nature. I know Innisfail quite well. Prior to my being elected to office, I used to do legal locums. I used to manage practices as a junior legal practitioner and, I suppose, make mistakes at other people’s expense. I suspect I gained about 10 years experience in one, as I was privileged to manage various legal practices throughout the state.

I spent some time in Innisfail, and during that period I got to know many of the locals. I am well aware of how resilient North Queensland people are. I grew up partly in North Queensland, and both my parents are from North Queensland. We were always aware of the constant danger of cyclones. There was always a cyclone that threatened during the cyclone season. It is, however, a tragedy when a cyclone of the strength of Cyclone Larry descends and sweeps all before its path, creating devastation which is almost impossible to contemplate.

I want to place on record my admiration for the response of the Australian government and the Prime Minister—and the Queensland Premier, for that matter. The Prime Minister in the parliament a couple of days ago gave full credit to the level of cooperation between both governments. He said he was liaising regularly with the Premier of Queensland. Together, governments could not have performed any better in helping to improve the situation after the devastation wreaked by Cyclone Larry.

I think General Cosgrove said that the only way to avoid a cyclone would be to pick Australia up and take it 200 miles in another direction, out of the cyclone area. I was very heartened when the Australian government—and, presumably, the Queensland government—cooperated in the appointment of General Peter Cosgrove to oversee the reconstruction after Cyclone Larry. I have long had a concern that we force our senior military officers out of their positions at far too early an age. When a person is the Chief of the Defence Force, he is not expected to be as fit as he would have been when he was a new recruit. Over the years, those at senior levels of the defence forces acquire an amazing amount of expertise. It seems that we push them out in their prime. However, to continue to use people like General Peter Cosgrove—and I know we have used other former senior officers; I suppose the Governor-General himself is a former senior officer—I think is important.

Tony Windsor (New England, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As with you, Petro.

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Are you a former senior officer, Member for Kooyong?

Tony Windsor (New England, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, I meant he was being pushed out in his prime.

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know he is a man of great capacity.

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We appreciate the fine work he does. It’s good to have an independent thinker, and you in the Liberal Party should appreciate that.

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know the member for Kooyong would certainly appreciate the kind words being uttered by his colleague opposite. Returning to the motion before the House, I suppose it is not quite as bad if our senior officers retire early, as long as we can use them fully and productively the way that General Peter Cosgrove will be used to apply his undoubted organisational skills in helping to improve the situation following the arrival of Cyclone Larry.

North Queensland people are resilient. The member for Brisbane pointed that out to the chamber. While people do expect the occasional cyclone—and I mentioned how, when I lived in North Queensland, cyclones were the order of the day—the total devastation caused by Cyclone Larry is very much a once-in-a-lifetime situation. When you look at the fact that there was devastation of almost all crops, that 45 schools were closed, that there was disruption to services such as electricity, sewerage, water and medical services and a total shutdown of industries like tourism, farming and even corner shops, you have to appreciate that, although cyclones are not uncommon in North Queensland, this was an extraordinarily uncommon sort of cyclone for North Queensland to have.

A storm of this magnitude had not been seen in Australia for about 100 years. It is rare. Although people know about the risk of cyclones, they certainly would not expect to see a cyclone like Larry. Many people have drawn a comparison between Cyclone Larry and Hurricane Katrina. They were both, I understand, of similar force. As the member for Brisbane pointed out, Hurricane Katrina brought out the worst in many people, but, ironically, Cyclone Larry brought out the best in people in Australia.

It is not possible to restore all services overnight, and there were some complaints from some people who said that everything should be fixed overnight or in 30 minutes. But most people would appreciate that governments are doing what they can, as they should be doing, and that it just is not possible to overcome the damage caused by a cyclone of the strength of Cyclone Larry in five minutes.

Like other honourable members, I was really impressed with the way the local community pulled together—the way in which people supported their friends and their neighbours. People who in many cases had lost just about everything were able to get in there and help those who were even less fortunate.

The long-term economic effect of Cyclone Larry is going to be very substantial. We hope that people are able to repair their financial fortunes, their businesses and their homes as quickly as possible. I was also pleased to hear that the bankers in Australia appear to be assisting people in the area, as are insurers. It is a time for action. It is a time for cooperation. It is a time for working together. I am proud as an Australian to see that all of those things seem to be happening at this time.

Of course, when one does have a cyclone like Larry, there is a need for immediate short-term assistance. All of those services were available and were carried out in a very admirable way. I would just like to add my compliments to the statements made by other members in this debate praising all of the emergency services and people generally for the way they cooperated in bringing about immediate relief to those people who so needed it.

There will be a long-term reconstruction effort that—by definition—will take somewhat longer to occur, but it really is important that as many people as possible are able to continue to live in that area, because many people have been there for generations. If we are able to create a situation where their lives are able to be rebuilt and as much as possible restored, those certainly would be steps in the right direction.

The Prime Minister in the parliament earlier this week, I think, said that assistance for a disaster like this is a work in progress and that what the government does is to look at immediate needs and, as time goes on and other needs manifest themselves, governments respond positively. I am quite confident that both the Australian and Queensland governments will continue to do this.

The people of Far North Queensland were expecting to have this sort of natural disaster happen on occasion, but nobody either expected or deserved a category 5 cyclone. Apparently, because it was travelling at a certain speed, it created damage of a different nature from the damage so often created by other cyclones. In fact, I gather that there were communities devastated by Cyclone Larry which had not felt the impact of cyclones in the past.

Cyclone Larry has literally ripped a great proportion of life out of North Queensland, the North Queensland town of Innisfail and other towns in that area. It is a testament to the courage and determination of North Queenslanders that the rebuilding effort and the clean-up are so effective.

I realise that it is very easy for us to stand in the parliament and utter words of support. Those words of support might make people feel better momentarily but they do not deliver the services that are required. But I believe that governments, community organisations, the military forces and ordinary citizens are working well in a great cooperative effort to bring life back to normal as soon as possible so that people are able to get on with their everyday lives.

I stand in the parliament today to salute the efforts and the courage of the people of North Queensland and to salute the efforts of all of those at government, non-government and community levels who have been working so hard to redress the appalling devastation and damage that has occurred as a result of the recent descent of Cyclone Larry in Far North Queensland. I commend the motion to the House.

Tony Windsor (New England, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I listened with interest to the member for Fisher and I agree with him: on occasions such as these people, irrespective of their political or other backgrounds, tend to unite. He made some very pertinent points. It was an interesting moment in this chamber when there was unanimity of purpose for not only Cyclone Larry but also the future of the member for Kooyong. It was interesting to see Liberal, Labor and Independent members recognising his contribution to this parliament and I do so myself.

I concur with the member for Fisher when he said that people with real skills—like General Cosgrove, whose skills can be utilised in other capacities—should not be cast out to pasture, as tends to happen in the military from time to time. I concur also with the member for Kooyong that it is not time for him to be cast out to pasture. I wish him well in the next few weeks.

Cyclone Larry has been very much in the news of late. It has been a great tragedy but, very fortunately, there has been no loss of life. I compliment, as others have done, many of the major players that have been involved—obviously the Queensland Premier, Prime Minister Howard and, particularly, local members: my Independent colleague the member for Kennedy, Bob Katter, and also the member for Leichhardt. I am told that they have put in a sterling effort in dealing with the issues on the ground and with their constituents, as local members should.

There has been a concerted effort in this matter. This has been highlighted by the appointment of General Cosgrove to this position who is highly regarded by all Australians. Even though there will be difficulties, probably some degree of social unrest from time to time and frustration as to the speed of recovery, I am sure that the presence of someone of General Cosgrove’s stature and the willingness of the state and Commonwealth parliaments and the Australian community to assist—as Australians do—will enable the community of North Queensland to weather the future storm.

There are a couple of things I would like to say with respect to this issue. In question time the other day the member for Kennedy asked the Prime Minister about the use of Newstart. This is an issue that I raised some time ago—I may well even have been a state member of parliament—when there were severe floods in the Liverpool plains area of northern New South Wales. There was a concerted effort not only to make Newstart available to people who were out of work but, in some cases, to transfer Newstart payments into small businesses so that business that could otherwise not afford to retain their employees could do so and the employees could do something required by the businesses, thereby maintaining the integrity of the workforce in that area during the reconstruction period.

For some reason the government seems to be reluctant to look at this issue. It would not cost the taxpayer any more than the current system and it has the added benefits of preserving the status of employment and fulfilling the need for people to help in the reconstruction period, particularly but not only in the farming areas. It would help to maintain the number of people within an area so that, when that area once again became prosperous, there would be people there who love that part of Australia and have the skills necessary to engage in new activities. I would encourage the Prime Minister to revisit the issue raised by the member for Kennedy.

I particularly congratulate the member for Kennedy, who is now back in his electorate. He attended parliament for only one day this week to highlight some of the issues of concern. He is now working with his people on the ground. I am sure all of us wish him and his constituents well in the coming months.

I was a bit amazed by what I read in an article written some days ago by Sydney journalist Miranda Devine. The article took a condescending view of North Queenslanders, who were obviously frustrated and upset about what had occurred and where their futures lay.  It displayed the typical anticountry media view held by some people who live in coffee shops. Those people probably do not know about country living and country people and the disasters that occur from time to time. I ask them to breathe in before criticising the people in North Queensland. If your house had been blown down the day before, you would not be acting rationally, you would be traumatised. And statements made in the heat of the moment should not be made into major events by the national media and in such a condescending fashion, denigrating those people for being ungrateful for the assistance that they are getting and are about to receive.

If someone took the time to look back over Miranda Devine’s journalistic career, I am sure they would find that she made some very sympathetic statements about the impact of the recent tsunami on the Asian region in which it occurred. Some of these people use logic that would suggest that North Queenslanders should not live there because they might get a cyclone every 100 years. One could use the same logic with the tsunami victims—that they should not live on the coast because a deep sea earthquake may occur from time to time—but I do not agree with that logic. I am sure people like Miranda Devine will not agree with that logic if global warming takes place and some of the coffee shops near Sydney’s beaches suddenly become submerged.

I want to raise another issue. I have raised it for many years now and also from time to time in this parliament. Again, we are faced with a natural disaster, and obviously these sorts of things get mentioned at such times. In my view—and I think in the view of many—there is a need to put in place a national natural disaster fund. We have spent a lot of time in recent years talking about the various disasters that have occurred—the worst drought in 100 years, the tsunami overseas, the hailstorm in Sydney, the mudslide in Wollongong some years ago, a major flood in Coffs Harbour, Cyclone Tracy, the Newcastle earthquake and many others. Australia, like many nations, is prone to extremes of climatic variation, but in the political process we tend to react to disasters in different ways depending on where they are, where they fall in the political cycle or whether the surplus is up or down in the budgetary cycle. We do not have a particular approach to a lot of these disasters. I do not mean the emergency services people—they respond incredibly well—but I do not think we have in place an adequate structure to move in and assist the people who are facing a disaster.

I saw Premier Beattie and many within the media appealing to the business community to show some largesse towards the victims of Cyclone Larry. The point I would like to make on this issue is that there are other ways of achieving this outcome, particularly in terms of the insurance industry and the way it impacts on Australia at the moment. In brief, $1 a week from every Australian raises $1 billion in a year. Since 1974 we have had one disaster in Australia that has cost more than $1 billion in a year, and that was the Newcastle earthquake. I suggest that it is time to remove the politics from drought, flood, fire and cyclones, and irrespective of where people live—whether it is in Sydney and there is a major disaster like a hailstorm—there should be immediate relief available from a properly constructed fund.

There are other ways of constructing that fund. It might be $2 a week from each Australian taxpayer. We talk about tax reform, tax refunds, tax this and tax that, but instead of having another coffee each week I am sure everybody would give a little to assist people who suffer the impact of disasters like Cyclone Tracy, Cyclone Larry, the Canberra bushfires or the Wollongong mudslide—where there is a disaster that suddenly occurs and people are impacted upon. I remember the politics that were associated with the Wollongong mudslide during that particular period when people could not gain assistance and went through great trauma to gain assistance. I am aware that another member needs a little time to speak, so I will finish my speech here.

Annette Ellis (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will be very brief. I want to take the opportunity on behalf of my community in the electorate of Canberra to make a couple of comments. First of all, on behalf of my community I want to send to the victims of Cyclone Larry in North Queensland our very best wishes and our commiserations for the trauma that they are finding themselves in. My community knows as well as any what it is like when a trauma of this kind occurs, given that it is just over three years ago that we had the extreme bushfire emergency here in Canberra.

I know that the members for Leichhardt and Kennedy and the senators who live in that part of the country will have a lot of work in their communities in the weeks and months to come. I know from my experience in dealing with the issues of the bushfire emergency here that you are never quite sure at any particular point just exactly what is going to come up. There will be a lot of very difficult decisions to be made. A lot of people will face social dislodgment, unemployment, great trauma within their families, homelessness and the whole business of whether or not to rebuild and whether or not to return to their homes and villages. In this case, they will have to consider whether they can afford to return to their townships in the north and what will happen economically in the meantime. So there is going to be a great deal of heartache and a lot of hard work.

I speak very confidently on behalf of all the people in my electorate and in the ACT in sending our very heartfelt wishes to all the people in the area affected by Cyclone Larry. I commend the appointment of Mr Cosgrove to his current position. I also commend the appointment of Sandy Hollway, who will be working with Mr Cosgrove. Sandy Hollway played a very important role in Canberra in heading up the Bushfire Recovery Taskforce. I know from that experience that the people of Northern Queensland can be very confident in the abilities of the duo who will lead the work that will be undertaken.

I reiterate that our thoughts are with those people. We know what they are going through. We have a very good idea of what they are going to be facing. We wish them all the very best. I suggest to people in our communities that we should give all the support that we possibly can to these people, in whatever way we can—not least by leaving them alone so that they can get on with their recovery, and by being there to support them in the best way we can when they need that support.

Petro Georgiou (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the debate be adjourned.

Question agreed to.