Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Events often sweep us up so quickly we fail to appreciate the enormity of them at that particular point in time. It is only later, when we have the opportunity to assess what has occurred, that we are truly staggered by the impact of the events. I often reflect with constituents in the electorate that the amount of water that travelled through Queensland would have covered an area the size of France and Germany combined. When you look at the intensity of Cyclone Yasi, it was the same as that of Hurricane Katrina. Can you imagine these two events having an impact elsewhere? It would have rocked the attention of the world. In this case we had two major events affecting one state in one month, so I say again that the enormity of the events of the last month have been staggering. We stand now to console the grieving. We have solemn regard for the great sacrifice of self. We recognise the service of others and we join in a collective journey on a long path of recovery for Queensland.

Many were impacted this week by the Prime Minister’s words of Tuesday in marking our condolence. Reading her speech, in particular, has made an equal impact. I wish to quote her words:

Healing great pain requires both coming together as human beings and lonely moments of quiet reflection.

This is where we stand together as members today. Across the country Australia has been moved by these events, and we match the enormity of these events with our own generosity and the generosity of the Australian people. I am proud to see the way that residents in the Chifley electorate and across western Sydney have bound together to assist those in great need. This weekend alone, for example, there were a number of events. Mount Druitt Rotary Club, led by Lindsay Trevitt; and the Mount Druitt Standard, our local newspaper, with its editor, Steve Darcy, held a fundraising barbeque on Saturday. It was a very hot day, but the event was designed to catch the donations and generosity of the people in Mount Druitt. The Filipino community came together as one at an event called ‘Shine’ in Bowman Hall in Blacktown to raise funds for the premier’s relief effort. Later that day the Pakistan Association of Australia, chaired by Iftikhar Rana, held a special fundraising dinner as well, again designed to generate funds for our friends in Queensland. All through the weekend, through those three events alone more than $30,000 was generated for the premier’s relief fund. It is truly a great symbol of the effort and commitment to help those people in need, and it reflects greatly on people’s willingness to do so much to help others in great need.

I also wish to make particular mention of people within the Public Service within the electorate of Chifley, with particular regard to Mount Druitt Centrelink. A number of members of Mount Druitt Centrelink went very quickly to Queensland to assist in the overall effort of aiding people in need. I congratulate them and commend them. I also commend the people of the Mount Druitt area who have understood that taking quite a number of people out of the office at Centrelink will impact them in the short term. They appreciate that this is being done to help Queenslanders coping with truly terrible events. I would like in the debate on this motion to recognise their efforts.

The nation’s heart truly ached on a number of occasions through the last few weeks, but none more so than hearing the story of Jordan Rice. Such sacrifice—we cannot begin to imagine the strength within that young boy. To be able to do what he did impacted so many people and demonstrates the power of love and kinship. The impact of that event rippled across the world. I wish to draw to the attention of the House that this week the foreign minister of Bosnia visited Australia and was hosted by the government. He brought with him a special package. That was a series of letters that had been written by schoolchildren in Sarajevo of Bosnia-Herzegovina who had been so moved by the events of Queensland. They had taken the time individually to write and wished to pass their thoughts, their feelings and their condolences on to the family of Jordan. I was exceptionally moved by that. The Bosnian foreign minister handed that package to Foreign Minister Rudd, who is going to be delivering this to Mr Macfarlane as the responsible federal member to pass on to the family.

I do not believe it would be appropriate to read those messages at any great length here, because I think that they will want to convey those sentiments. I just want to make reference to one statement which I think, regardless of language and regardless of background, we would all truly be moved by. It reads as follows:

I hope that you will find comfort in the pride of having him for a son, the small boy who lived as a great man.

That statement was from one child to another across oceans, demonstrating the depth of human emotion and the bonds of kinship we feel regardless of country and regardless of distance. It is a truly moving sentiment and I wish to thank the Bosnian foreign minister, Sven Alkalaj, for delivering those letters to us.

I also want to extend my regard and deep thoughts for parliamentary colleagues from both sides of the chamber who have dealt with exceptionally difficult circumstances, not only in their electorates but also with their own families, having themselves as representatives of their communities worked tirelessly to assist those who required help and support, and just being there in many cases as a presence to deliver strength to people who were looking for some sort of help. They do that in a way—and I think it is important to note this in the chamber—that puts their own regard aside. They make sacrifice as individuals themselves to help out, and I wish to extend to them an acknowledgement of what they are doing in very trying times.

I have spoken to the member for Blair on a number of occasions, and he has been telling me of the impact on his electorate. Through the course of that he mentioned to me, being a Queenslander and being attached to sport—I think it is genetically imprinted in Queenslanders to have that deep love of sport—that the Ipswich Basketball Stadium had been devastated by the floods. He told me that five metres of water had swept through and ruined that stadium. It will cost about $800,000 to fix. I had occasion on Friday night to catch up with the chief executive of Basketball Australia, Mr Larry Sengstock, who is an NBL living legend and was part of the ferocious Brisbane Bullets. He has also made a great contribution to Australian basketball with the Boomers. He is a Maryborough boy, and he was telling me that there are a number of events in Queensland where Basketball Australia and representatives of the game are intending to help out wherever they can to raise funds. I mentioned to him about Ipswich and said that I hoped that he could help out. I am told by the member for Blair that basketball runs second to rugby league in terms of popularity within Ipswich and it would be a great deed if they were able to chip in and help out in an area where sport can help bring people together in a very powerful way. Hopefully they will be able to do something in the short term to assist.

I wish to leave my remarks at that but pass on deepest regards from the residents of Chifley, who are in their own way, along with residents across in the electorate of Greenway, trying to do whatever they can to raise needed funds to help our friends in Queensland get back on their feet and become the great state that it is again.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this motion of condolence in relation to the natural disasters that have so significantly impacted on so many communities across Australia this summer, particularly the natural disasters that have devastated my home city of Brisbane and my state of Queensland. Firstly, I would like to offer my sincere condolences on behalf of all the residents of Bonner to the families and loved ones of those whose lives were so tragically lost. In particular, I acknowledge my colleagues from both sides who lost members of their communities. I know that your communities will never be the same again. I also offer my sincere condolences to everyone who suffered throughout the recent floods and Cyclone Yasi—to those who lost their personal belongings, including many irreplaceable memories, and those who returned to find their home, their ‘castle’, devastated.

Unlike those of so many of my Queensland colleagues, my electorate of Bonner was not significantly impacted by the flood in Brisbane only a matter of weeks ago. This is somewhat miraculous, given that we border on the electorate of Griffith, which I know suffered significant loss. There was certainly concern raised for the suburbs of Murarrie and Hemmant in Bonner but, given the Brisbane River did not rise to the levels originally predicted, it seems that many families and homes in these suburbs were spared. However, as many in this House would know, the eastern border of my electorate is in fact Moreton Bay, the mouth of the Brisbane River. I have had a lot of people contacting me, voicing their concerns about the plume of mud and debris dispersing through Moreton Bay.

The enormous amount of water that flowed down the Brisbane River brought with it thousands of tonnes of silt containing pollutants which are now settling in Moreton Bay. The Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management, the Healthy Waterways partnership, the CSIRO and several Queensland universities have deployed research teams into the bay in the last couple of weeks so as to understand the dynamics of the flood plume and its likely effect on seagrass, fish, dugongs, turtles, coral and other marine flora and fauna. I am completely behind these efforts and thank the many organisations for their dedication and care. So many people’s livelihoods depend on the ongoing health of Moreton Bay.

Throughout the darkest days of the flood in Brisbane, my office was able to largely remain open to assist many of the residents with information and direct people to specialist assistance as required, but this was done by only one staff member and me. All the other members of my staff were forced to remain in their homes—most without power—because most of the major roads had either been cut off by floodwater or were required by emergency services. While I readily admit that this is no real impost compared to those who were evacuated or remained in their homes hoping to hold back the water, it does give this House a sense of the gravity of what occurred and that there are few people in Brisbane and across the state of Queensland who have not been touched in some way.

Given the scale of the disaster, what I have found incredible over the last few weeks has been the community compassion in Bonner for those who have been impacted. The community spirit that emerged in the face of this disaster was a true testament to the generosity and kindness of local residents. Never before have so many people offered their help and support to those in need. I know that many in my community assisted those threatened by flood waters by filling and moving sandbags and I know that so many offered their time to volunteer in the clean-up. I saw a legion of volunteers rise up with their rakes, buckets and shovels and line up at the Brisbane City Council volunteers stations. They worked tirelessly in the mud, moving tonnes of debris, bit by bit. At MacGregor State School, just outside my electorate, I was humbled and proud to witness the thousands of volunteers who lined up patiently to help those who had been affected. They were ordinary people who just wanted to help in any way they could to do their bit and get their fellow Aussies back on their feet. In my eyes they are extraordinary.

On another practical level, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all members of the local community who so generously donated goods for inclusion in special flood care packages. My office was overwhelmed by the community’s generosity in responding to the call for donations of hygiene products and other sanitary goods that are so often forgotten in care packages for those hardest hit. The local community was truly inspiring in their call to action. Thousands of much needed hygiene and basic sanitary products were received by my office and those were divided into over 100 care packages that were donated through the Red Cross to assist flood victims who lost everything. My electorate office has continued to collect donated goods for more care packages, including things such as deodorant, razors, shampoo, conditioner and other basic hygiene products, this time in conjunction with Liberal-National Party Women to support those affected by cyclone Yasi.

I would like to place on the record my admiration and appreciation for the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Campbell Newman. Lord Mayor Newman displayed incredible leadership throughout the ordeal faced by Brisbane residents, and I would like to say thank you. There is still a big job ahead in rebuilding Brisbane, but if anyone is up to that task it is Campbell. Also, I have organised a fundraising initiative, which I will talk about at another time, to assist the victims of the floods.

On a final note, I would like to thank all Australians who have so generously donated to the various flood appeals that have been organised over recent weeks. Your generosity is humbling and, as a Queenslander, I say thank you. Again, I reiterate that the thoughts of all members of the Bonner community are with those who have been affected by recent events.

Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise, as many others have and very appropriately, to convey my condolences and that of the 140,000 people in my electorate to all of those who have been affected so badly by the floods and the cyclones—and the bushfires, for that matter—around this country over the last few months. Very fortunately, I represent an urban electorate on the bay in Melbourne. We have been removed from these events, although we got a small taste recently when the tail ends of two of the cyclones that had moved through Australia resulted in unusual and very strong rains. That saw flooding in some streets in my electorate, including near my house, and gave us some sort of insight as to how quickly these things can happen. It did not result in any significant damage but some inconvenience to some families in my electorate.

My electorate, like so many others, has in some respects being struck dumb by the extent of damage and destruction that has been wreaked by the floods and the cyclones throughout so many parts of Australia, including my home state of Victoria. Many people have given very generously to ensure that in some way they can play their part in the reconstruction and give the assistance that will be needed over a long period of time. From the floods and cyclones in the north to the floods in the south and the fires and floods in the west, these disasters have resulted in very far-reaching effects and have impacted families and businesses. The geographic reach of the disasters has been wide. It has also affected Tasmania. In nearly every corner of Australia we have seen the impacts of these natural disasters. I offer sincere condolences to all of those affected in so many places and in so many ways but particularly to the families of those who lost their lives or have been seriously injured in the various floods and Cyclone Yasi.

I also wish to express my enormous admiration and that of the people that I represent for the many thousands of volunteers and the many millions of Australians who have so generously donated. It has been a very uplifting experience that in the middle of such devastation we have seen the best of Australians.

Debate interrupted.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Goldstein will have leave to continue his remarks when the debate is resumed.