Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the horror of the recent bushfires in outer suburban Melbourne and regional Victoria, we have seen a wonderful community spirit and great volunteerism. We have seen it at so many levels, most particularly with our emergency services and at the relief centres at Yarra Glen and Healesville, right on the edge of my electorate of Casey. We have seen a volunteer spirit and determination to get in and help people affected at so many levels, and it has really been a touching example that has answered the question that many commentators have been asking for the last 10 or 20 years about whether community spirit is still alive in Australia in the way it was in the decades after the war. It is refreshing that that has been answered emphatically. We should not have been surprised, because Australians always pull together in times of difficulty.

The fires have touched communities at so many levels. In the midst of a horror like the one around Melbourne—as you, Madam Deputy Speaker Burke, would know, representing an electorate not far from mine—people naturally reach out for some good news. One of the most touching photos that appeared was of a CFA worker giving an injured kangaroo some water—

Jon Sullivan (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A koala.

Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sorry, it was a koala. You are right. You saw it from Queensland—very good! I am sure one of them did give a kangaroo some water as well, but you are right—the photo was of a koala. Numbers of people have spent countless hours and dollars trying to help the wildlife. I want to mention a group in Coldstream that joined together to get donations of blankets and linen from all over Victoria to make pouches for injured joeys and much other injured wildlife. The group, Sewing for Wildlife, is based in Coldstream—Coldstream itself was under threat from fires for much of the time—and they collected and bought blankets and sheets to help distressed wildlife. The group was led by the irrepressible Carolyn Rogers. Some of the other great contributors are Jenny Chatfield, Lorraine Smith, Fay Prendergast, Margaret Haberle, Katrina Jennings and Britney Jennings. They have done a great job and have made literally hundreds and hundreds of pouches for injured animals, which are being dispersed right across Victoria. It is a touching story at the end of what has been a very terrible time for the Yarra Valley and the outer east.