Steve Gibbons (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister provide an update on the recovery and reconstruction efforts in response to the Victorian bushfires on 7 February? How will this affect all of the fire ravaged regions, including my electorate of Bendigo?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bendigo. I note, in particular, the impact of the fires on the communities in his electorate—the houses lost and the other suffering that has occurred there, as it has occurred in so many parts of Victoria. In answering the honourable member’s question, and with the indulgence of the House, I would like also to respond to some of the matters just raised by the member for McEwen. I thank her for the way in which she presented the concerns of her constituents here today. I think the way in which the member for McEwen has engaged in the debate on the condolence motion and the way in which she has put matters forward for the House’s and the government’s consideration reflects parliament working at its best. I listened very carefully to the matters raised by the member and I will come back to discuss more broadly how the government proposes from here on to deal with the challenges in each of the bushfire affected areas, because we are in this for the long haul.

All of us have been stunned and saddened by what has happened in Strathewen in particular. I listened very carefully to what the honourable member said about that. In our country’s history it is probably incomparable, perhaps including the First World War, in its effect on individual small rural communities, that one in four members of a town, of a community, could simply be killed. That community can never be the same. The honourable member spoke also of Marysville and the impact there. Again, I simply say to the constituents of McEwen, through the honourable member, that the searing impact that this has on rebuilding community life when such a huge part of each community is no longer there is beyond each of our imaginings—but it is no longer beyond hers.

I acknowledge also the contribution yesterday during the National Day of Mourning of the Leader of the Opposition, as all of us in this place try to come to grips with our responsibilities from here. We, all of us in this place, are not just struggling with the dimensions of what happened both personally and emotionally but also struggling with the burden of history that the member for McEwen presents us with. The burden of history is this: there have been many inquiries before about many fires. I hate to think how many of those recommendations have not been acted upon by governments of whichever persuasion, of whichever level and at whichever point in history.

So what do we now do to make a difference? I have listened carefully to what the honourable member for McEwen has said about certain practical matters. My undertaking to you is that on each of the matters you have raised, your new best friend, Sarah—who has been my best friend in my office for quite some time—will come back and work these matters through with you over the course of the year.

I will take those matters in sequence. The question of safe shelters: we have been looking at this in recent weeks as the debate has inevitably re-emerged. In the days ahead, together with other affected members, we would like to begin a conversation with you about how this can be examined properly in terms of what scientifically might work in the future, and, if it will work, how we then do it on the ground. On the question of the basic provision of telephone services, the honourable member’s contribution is very cogent—that is, you have to have a mobile telephone service to get a message out. We need to do better across the board on this. We know—and in particular honourable members on the other side of the House representing a number of rural and regional areas know full well—the huge gaps that exist in the system across the country.

Debate will now unfold on vegetation management. I say to the honourable member for McEwen that my experience is perhaps a little like hers—that is, it is useful, once we have agreed on the course of action, to provide specific incentives for it to be achieved in practice on the ground. But let us wait for the resolution of the ‘what’, in terms of the content of any future regime on vegetation management, and then there will be the question of the ‘how’. Let us deal with that, again, as a matter of practice.

The honourable member for McEwen also referred to the question of immediate employment in her community. Certainly, in my discussions with many of her constituents, this is of immediate and real concern. As the honourable member herself said to me in conversations, with communities devastated and there being, for various reasons, a delay in the return to communities, how then do businesses normally operating have enough clientele to keep their businesses going? An example I ran into in Kinglake the weekend before last, from memory, was the baker, who said to me that he normally employs 12 people—I do not think anyone here will hold me to account if I do not have the number exactly right—but, given what has happened to the community, what will he do when currently his sale of bread can support a staff of perhaps four to six? Those are people for whom he has a deep sense of commitment. You are right; I am about to throw this matter into the in-tray of the Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Service Economy, because it is not just this example; it is a very practical example of similar small businesses spread right across that community and other communities.

The honourable member for Bendigo also spoke about the reconstruction authority. The honourable member and I have had discussions about this and about the need to have confidence in that authority over time. I will certainly be attentive to the honourable member’s views as we work our way through this in implementing the work of the reconstruction authority.

I say to the honourable member for McEwen that, on the matters she has raised, and on the matters which her constituents may not yet have raised with her but will do so in the course of the year, the offer that I have extended to her and to other honourable members remains valid. When the honourable member runs into the inevitable obstacles which will occur along the road, that resource remains available to her, and I say that formally in this place.

More broadly across the state of Victoria, to other affected communities—and this goes to the core of the question asked by the honourable member for Bendigo—as the Leader of the Opposition and I said yesterday in Melbourne, the resolve of this place is to rebuild each of these communities until it is done. As I said yesterday, that is easy to say and hard to do, because we know what will happen in three, six, nine or 12 months time when there is some local bunfight over something or other, as we have to wrestle between the conflicting interests of one local authority and a state government over what should happen on one block of land or another. We are all experienced in this place; we know what it is like. I believe that my commitment and that of the Leader of the Opposition are the same. As each of these things is raised, and through the agency of the reconstruction authority and the community reference committee which will advise it, let us together continue to work through each of these challenges. We do not even know the full list yet, and it will not be known for some time. But I believe it is absolutely important for all of us here to make clear to the people in each of those communities our resolve that we as members of this parliament—Labor, Liberal, National and Independent—will stay with these communities until the completion of the task in each of them.

Finally, I said previously when this tragedy unfolded—and I will repeat it here for the House again today—that the Commonwealth’s contribution to this reconstruction effort will be uncapped. I say that again for the benefit of all members. Therefore, as we embark upon this challenge in each community, let there be no doubt that this government, through this parliament, will honour that commitment in terms of the supply of funding necessary to restore these communities to where they were.

To the honourable member for Bendigo, and to the people who have suffered in his area, could I simply say this. My understanding from discussions over the weekend is that many houses, some 50 or 60 houses, have been destroyed in his city of Bendigo—and he may correct me on this. Can I say that the destruction of a person’s house in Bendigo is as important to this government as what happens in Indi, McMillan, McEwen, Mallee or anywhere else. I think there is enough goodwill in this place—let us all be honest with each other in holding each other to account on this and see this one through. I thank the House.