Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to condemn the senseless and cowardly people who deliberately light fires in our community, causing enormous emotional and physical stress along with the economic losses and the threat to human life. Last week, as the temperatures soared in excess of 40 degrees, fires were deliberately lit in bushland around the townships of Boolarra, Mirboo North and Yinnar. I will offer my views in a moment on how we should handle these cowards in the future once we catch them. But I would like to reflect for a moment on the courage, resilience and determination of the people of Gippsland who fought this fire. Deputy Speaker, quite simply, the people were magnificent.

The community rallied together and was well supported by firefighting crews from right across the state. From the strike teams on the ground through to the aerial water bombers and support staff at the incident control centres and at the relief centres it was an amazing community effort to combat these fires. It is when we see the spirit of country Australians at its best, standing together shoulder to shoulder against a common cause. Despite an extraordinary effort by firefighters, the losses to the community were substantial as more than 6,000 hectares of forested areas, plantations and private property was burnt. While dozens of properties were saved through the efforts of our firefighting teams, we did lose 29 homes. I inspected the damage on the weekend around the Boolarra area and, heartbreaking as it is to see one family home destroyed, to see 29 homes in a line is quite distressing. It is a devastating scene and all our thoughts and prayers are with those who have suffered such great losses.

It is estimated that arsonists cost our nation $1.6 billion per year and the damage bill in Gippsland alone from these fires will be in the tens of millions of dollars. There are severe penalties existing for convicted firebugs in Victoria and I wish the police every blessing as they try to track down these offenders. But there is an economic, environmental and social imperative for us to do better at preventing fires in the future. I believe the penalties need to go beyond the initial punishment set by the courts.

This week I have written to the Prime Minister seeking his support for a national register of arsonists to help prevent a repeat of this week’s fires. I believe we need a national database of people who have been convicted of such serious fire related offences. I am not unduly concerned about protecting their civil liberties in the future once they have shown a complete disregard for the safety and the rights of our community with such senseless crimes. We need to have a national database of every known firebug with strict reporting provisions which require these people to report any change of address and subject them to high levels of scrutiny and police surveillance if required. It would allow our authorities to check on these people during days of extreme danger when firebugs tend to be at their worst. The most serious offenders could be required to report to authorities on days of total fire ban. It is hard enough for our fire authorities to manage lightning, other natural events and accidents without the constant threat of criminal activity contributing to the fire danger period.

As I said in my earlier remarks, the people of Gippsland performed magnificently during last week’s bushfires and I have written to the Prime Minister and sought his support for this practical matter that could help to reduce the incidence of these deliberately lit fires in the future.

Mal Washer (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! In accordance with standing order 193 the time for constituency statements has concluded.