Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I take this opportunity to rise to my feet today to speak on this condolence motion on the huge tragedy that has befallen Australia, particularly affecting those in Queensland and northern Victoria—my own home state. I can recall addressing a community group some two years ago in the wake of the Victorian bushfires. At that community meeting many of us were reflecting that that was probably one of the greatest natural disasters that this country has suffered and that it would be unlikely that in our lifetime we would see a natural disaster in Australia anywhere near as big as that. Then arrived the summer of 2010 and the truly horrifying circumstances which led to so much devastation in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

I was visiting family and friends in a small country Victorian town called Kerang during that period when the rains were falling on central Victoria. Some two weeks later those floods arrived in Kerang—a massive body of water inundating not only Kerang but many other communities right throughout northern Victoria. I can also recall, through that period of time, watching the devastating floods in communities across Queensland. I was absolutely horrified, and I am sure so many other Australians were.

It is truly a remarkable Australian trait that in times of absolute tragedy the very best of the Australian spirit is demonstrated. That is certainly what we have seen this summer. There were so many acts of bravery and generosity shown by so many Australians helping those people caught up in those very devastating circumstances. That very much demonstrates to me the strong bonds of friendship and loyalty and volunteerism that exist within Australia.

The footage that was so widely shown throughout the nation was truly tragic. We hear stories time and again of so many people who lost their lives in the prime of their lives. I know that my community in Corangamite very much has extended a warm hand of friendship to so many other parts of Australia. I would like to recognise the efforts of so many volunteers from my community who have gone to northern Victoria to help, through the SES. It truly is a remarkable Australian thing to do.

The Gillard government—and, I am sure, the whole parliament—is keen to work with a spirit of cooperation to rebuild northern Victoria and Queensland and to do it in a way that recognises the tremendous pain and suffering that those communities have gone through. We certainly know in Victoria, after the fires of a few years ago, that the healing process does take a long time, and I am sure that will be the case here. I particularly wish to extend the hand of friendship to all of those families who have lost loved ones. It was truly a remarkable natural event and I know so much pain has been caused to so many people.

I am committed, as a Victorian, to helping to rebuild the communities of northern Victoria and Queensland. I would like to take the time to acknowledge all of those who have lost loved ones and who have lost property. I acknowledge those volunteers who have gone out of their way to help in what has been an absolutely remarkable natural event that it is hard to describe with words. I put on the record my thanks to those from my community who have demonstrated a real Australian spirit of help.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will start by extending, on behalf of the people of Dickson, very heartfelt sympathy to those people who lost loved ones in the tragedy that took place in Murphys Creek and Grantham in particular and to those who were affected adversely in Toowoomba during the period of devastating floods. It was a remarkable scene as we watched it unfold. It is of course one thing to be able to prepare for the onslaught of a natural disaster, but it is something very different to have waters rising at an incomprehensible rate. When your family is stuck in that situation it must be a horrible and terrible experience. I am sure that I speak on behalf of all my local residents when I say to those people that we felt their loss very deeply. We know that their recovery will be long and protracted. Nonetheless, we hope they have some lift in their spirits by knowing that communities, including ours, right across the Pine Shire, are with them at this very difficult time and in the years ahead, when the difficulty will continue.

Many of our local residents know that the floods followed many weeks of constant rain. Something like 18 inches of rain fell in a six-hour period in a catchment area around Dayboro, which I will use as one example. It was quite a devastating blow. About a metre or a metre and a half of water came through the main street unexpectedly. There is, of course, a huge catchment above and around Dayboro, particularly in the Mount Glorious region. That rain that fell into Dayboro had a devastating impact on businesses and people. I make special mention of those living in areas like Laceys Creek. They really were quite lucky, right across that particular area, that no life was lost. Walking through Dayboro watching the sheer force of water—the way it had moved shipping containers and the way it had moved mobile cold rooms that were storing the ice at the Matilda service station in Dayboro—was quite remarkable. Considering the people who were in the post office, people who were in the IGA and people who were in the local real estate agencies, it really was remarkable that nobody lost their life during that process. The devastation was quite remarkable at Laceys Creek, in particular to property but also in terms of loss of stock. It will take all of these people a long time to recover.

Devastation was also wreaked in other parts of my electorate, including in and around the North Pine Dam region in particular—people living in Whiteside, in Grant Street. I know that Gerard Fernando, by way of just one example, is a resident who has been particularly adversely affected. He represents many others, and many of these people are angry and asking questions at the moment about whether reasonable amounts of water were released from the North Pine Dam in the lead-up to this event. All of those questions are rightly asked, and I hope they are properly answered at the current inquiry. People, particularly local residents in Pine Rivers, deserve answers. Their properties were adversely affected, their lives were turned upside down and they have incurred enormous damage that will take a long time to recover from.

I also make special mention today of the people of the Esk shire. The people in the Esk shire were part of the Dickson electorate up until the 2010 election. Although I only had responsibility for that area for a three-year period, I created a lot of good and enduring friendships in that part of the world. Again, to see the sheer destructive force of the water that struck some of those communities really does bring a tear to your eye. They are a resilient people, many of whom have endured heartache before by way of natural devastation. They are rebuilding their lives, their properties and their livelihoods, and they will go on to bigger and better things. Nonetheless, it is right that we recognise in this place the enormous difficulties they have faced and will continue to face for a long time to come.

I want to use my time to raise a couple of residents’ issues just to give an indication, by way of example, of the enormous stress and pressure that people were under when they were displaced from their houses. In many cases they were families with young children. They had an enormous challenge and most of them rose to the challenge. I visited Amanda and Michael Soteriou and their neighbours Deborah and David Aldrick in Highvale. The landslide that took place behind the Aldrick’s house completely devastated the side of their house. Had they been in a different place, as they had been only a couple of minutes before the land gave way, undoubtedly a tragedy would have resulted. Thank God that that did not happen. But the fact is they incurred tens of thousands of dollars of damage to their home. It is something they have grappled with, and will continue to grapple with, particularly because there were difficulties around the insurance aspect. I hope that that is now clarified and their insurer will provide them with support.

Another devastating effect took place for Michael Pollard, of Strathpine, who lost his backyard and had to bring in tonnes of rocks to stop his house from sliding away. Residents of Rose Lane, in Laceys Creek—the Saurels, the Sergeants and the Kings—lost all contact when the phone lines and poles were destroyed. They had no mobile phone coverage and many of them had no landline contact either. It was a particularly worrying period for those families who were not able to make contact with their loved ones and for those people who were stranded in the floods. It is something that we have taken up with Telstra. I want to see immediate action in relation to this particular issue. They do need permanent mobile phone coverage in that region, not just because it is a growing community but also because these people have no other means of contact, particularly in cases of emergency like this.

I would also like to mention some of the sporting clubs that were devastated by the inundation of floodwater—the Pine Rivers Swans AFL Club and the Pony Club at Youngs Crossing. These clubs, amongst others, incurred enormous damage. Fortunately they have a great volunteer supporter base. I helped for a short period of time with the clean-up at the AFL club and saw all of the volunteers there. These people were affected in their own homes and went to work elsewhere in the community to help others who were less fortunate. I pay tribute to them today as well.

I would also like to recognise in particular the work of the police officers from the Dayboro Police Station. Senior Constable Troy Nowitzki, who was essentially in charge of the operations at Dayboro when the floodwaters were rising very quickly, had the additional stress of having his partner, who was returning from Brisbane, cut off by floodwaters. That made his job particularly difficult. I intend to write to the Police Commissioner of Queensland to recommend special recognition for Senior Constable Nowitzki and, indeed, the other emergency service workers who were on the ground—the rural fire brigade and the first responders. All of those people made the difference between us losing no lives and what could have been a very poor and dreadful outcome. This work, which has been widely acclaimed, particularly that of Senior Constable Nowitzki, does deserve to be recognised in a special way. I believe that the local community, through their fundraising efforts, through the way in which they have been able to rebuild the community, help their neighbours and help people in the local business district, have really honoured what is a wonderful community in Dayboro and the broader region. I think that is a great credit to them as well.

I would also like to recognise, on behalf of our local community, all of those people who have been affected in the Brisbane City Council and Ipswich regions. In many cases they had time to prepare for the onslaught, but nonetheless, for many, nothing could prepare them for the inundation and devastation to their home, their property and their family. Many of those people will not recover from the floodwaters of this year. Many of them have incurred unbelievable financial stress, and that will continue to go on for many years to come.

It is also right that we recognise those people who were affected by the cyclones in the north. I think we all went to bed on the night of Cyclone Yasi feeling sick because it was about to cross the coast somewhere around Cairns. It was not much consolation for those people in the affected areas, but thank God, in a way, that it did not cross a more highly populated area. That category 5 cyclone would have been absolutely devastating, so we are grateful in some small part. But of course, as I say, that is no consolation for all of those people who were adversely affected, and I say on behalf of my local community that we want to extend every assistance that we possibly can to you.

I would like to close by thanking my staff. Not only did they have threats to their own homes and property but also at one stage we had to evacuate our office. So, to Sandy, Olwyn, Cath, Rosemary, Lyndel, Jodie, Trevor, Tom, John and all of those people, staff and volunteers, who were involved, I say thank you very much for not just being good guardians of our office but, more importantly, providing valuable assistance to the residents of Pine Rivers in their darkest hour. I was impressed by the contribution of these people in making a tangible difference to the way in which some people were able to respond. Our negotiations are ongoing, as I say, with some of the insurers, but nonetheless I think we are going to get a positive outcome, and if we do not I will be pursuing those companies through this place and in the public domain as well.

I might also say that when I visited the emergency management centre at Caboolture, which was based in the shire council offices up there, I was impressed with the professionalism on the day and also, of course, with the professionalism and the amazing volunteerism of those people who were involved in the SES, the emergency services and the council—and with all of those people who responded in a voluntary capacity. It really did make a difference in people’s lives. For that I say thank you very much, and I commend you absolutely.

These events, for all of us who have grown up in Queensland, are—particularly over the summer period—a frequent reminder of what it means to live in the state and in the subtropical region as we move further north. It was an issue as all of us were growing up. I can vividly remember hiding under desks at school on a Friday afternoon when storms rolled across and watching devastation take place with violent hailstorms and the like. That is the area that we choose, very proudly, to call home, but sometimes Mother Nature can be very cruel. That we suffered no loss in our local area is something that we are very grateful for, but nonetheless the scars for many will remain for a lifetime. The financial burden imposed on many will mean that they never recover from that burden. Nonetheless, we are grateful for the efforts of all of those who were able to mitigate and offset some of the enormous stress that people went through over a horrific summer, and I commend this condolence motion to the House.

Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to this motion of condolence. I would like to begin by saying how sorry we were in my area, in the seat of Page, about the tragic loss of life that happened not only in Queensland but in other places. It was a terrible loss of life. I spent the Christmas and New Year holiday period occupied with floods in my area—not an unfamiliar occurrence in our neck of the woods. And so did many of our wonderful local volunteers from the SES, the RFS, the Red Cross—the helping agencies—and also employees of councils, police, health, community services, Centrelink and Country Energy. There are too many to name. A lot of those people were out working and putting in the extra hours gratis to respond to the needs of the community. The mayors of Ballina, Lismore, Kyogle, Richmond Valley and Clarence Valley councils and I were all on deck, along with the three state members in my seat of Page—the members for Ballina, Lismore and Clarence. We all had our sleeves rolled up and we were out with the community pulling together and working together as everybody does in times of crises.

There were a number of floods in my area—they were minor, moderate and major—but there was no loss of life. We said at the time that we dare not whinge—because we had experienced losses but not loss of life as witnessed by our neighbours over the border in Queensland. Our hearts went out to them. When tragedies like this happen they are incomprehensible. People ask why, but there is no answer to that question. People in our area did practical things too. In Casino there was a fundraiser to help a local family devastated by the Queensland floods. They raised over $11,000, with more to come, and over 100 people attended. It was a benefit night on a Saturday night at the Charcoal Inn in South Casino. It was to support the family of Pauline Magner, who was killed when a wall of water hit the town of Grantham, east of Toowoomba, on 10 January. Having grown up in Ipswich, I am familiar with the areas of Toowoomba, Grantham and a whole range of other areas around Queensland. As I watched the water, I thought of being out in those areas of Queensland, in places like Cracow, decades ago as a young girl. A lot of people have never heard of those places. It was absolutely huge; it was hard to believe.

We also had people from Country Energy in our area helping to restore energy to North Queensland after Cyclone Yasi. There were people from our area helping in whatever way they could. Up the road from me, in Eltham, they had a fundraiser to help the people in Queensland. This is while we still had floods in our area—and there were losses, particularly for our farmers. It reaffirms the human spirit to see people doing that in all areas. I have received emails, letters and phone calls from people, including one from a man in Brushgrove. The flood went through his house. He wrote me a lovely email saying that he supported the flood levy and would pay it if he could. He said send the bill and he would put the cheque in the mail. He said he would happily pay the flood levy even though he had water going through his house. Also, the chamber of commerce in our local area were out helping. They had grants and they were giving them to local businesses.

Over the holiday period we had the Prime Minister and other ministers visit Queensland and Victoria. They were responding to the needs of people affected by the floods in those states and the bushfires in Western Australia. The Prime Minister and ministers were busy visiting communities to give solace and support, and to make sure that happened. I would like to thank them for coming to my area. People in the community appreciated getting the attention.

It began with the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Mr Albanese, visiting the five mayors from across the seat of Page—plus their general managers, representatives and others—to talk about our infrastructure needs after the floods. Then we had more floods after that visit. The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, came to the Clarence Valley where we had a major flood and she thanked all the volunteer, SES and RFS workers who were there. She then met with the community. We walked around and talked to locals in the shopping centre. They were just so pleased that she came, and so was I.

One of the unusual parts of the visit—and there are always lighter moments in a visit, no matter what has happened—was that President Obama had arranged to ring Prime Minister Gillard to offer his condolences for the floods. It happened on a secure line in the Grafton airport. He extended his best wishes to the people right across Australia and to the people in Queensland, obviously, and also to the people in Grafton. I thought they were probably looking at the map and asking, ‘Where is Grafton?’ They had been given two phone numbers to ring and one had been at the local SES headquarters and they had rung there first but we were not there. The headquarters were quite excited that they got a phone call from the White House. That was one of the lighter moments. The gravity of it was that he was a friend offering support to Australia in whatever way we needed—not only through sympathetic words but also through practical support.

Simon Crean, the Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government, had a look at where the floods had damaged the area. There were also 10 local councils represented at that meeting; it was much broader than my seat. They were talking about the long-term rebuilding of infrastructure. I was talking about the notion of ‘build better, build once’, particularly with some of the roads and the bridges. Like some other members, I have a lot of bridges in my area. I think there were over 438 in Kyogle Shire alone at one stage. That is a lot of bridges to deal with. Some of those wash out and we have to deal with those issues. That was a really useful visit.

The Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, who is responsible for emergency management in Australia at the federal level, visited and met with farmers. They were able to put to him some of the issues that concerned them. One of the big issues that we faced is that it was not just the floods—we have had wet feet for so long that it creates difficulties with planting, harvesting and all of those things. Cane farmers, soya bean farmers and some representatives from the beef industry met with the Attorney and thanked him for the schemes that are jointly operated on state and federal levels and that have been around for a while. They talked about some of the administration. One of the things I have often asked for is some flexibility around what we call the 51 per cent rule. Some of those issues were put to the Attorney, asking him to raise them with his state counterparts in the appropriate forum. I am following up on some of those issues.

Our fishing industry also copped it and John Harrison from the Professional Fishermen’s Association was quick off the mark to make sure that we understood what was going on in that area. We have the famous Yamba prawns, and the industry was starting to pick itself up again but then this happened.

These were just some of the issues that were raised. We also had our dairy industry affected. I have Norco in my area and I have met with them and made representations, but I welcome the Senate inquiry into milk prices because it will let us have a look at discounting by Coles and Woolworths. As consumers we love it—it means cheap milk—but it is not necessarily good for our dairy farmers, which is another issue that we have to be mindful of.

I have had talks with people in our local tourism industry and they have prepared reports. Though people suffered losses because of the floods, the number of visits to our area actually went up, so things have played out in a patchy way.

That is a snapshot of some of the things that happened across our area. I have taken the opportunity of speaking on this condolence motion to put on the public record both the snapshot and some of our needs. In commending the motion to the House, I would again say how much sympathy and empathy there is right across the community in the Page electorate for the families of people who lost their lives in the floods.

Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to offer my sincere condolences on behalf of the people of Paterson. I also pay my personal respects to those who have suffered indescribable loss in this summer’s national disasters. The effects of flooding in Queensland, northern Victoria, northern New South Wales, northern Western Australia and Northern Tasmania, the bushfires in Western Australia and Cyclone Yasi in Northern Queensland have been devastating. As I speak, Cyclone Carlos is impacting the north coast of Western Australia. For those of us not directly affected, it is hard to imagine the sheer devastation and fear felt by residents who experienced these events. Many Australians lost loved ones and the properties they had worked so hard to turn into homes. They lost important documents, photos and special keepsakes that could never be replaced.

My electorate of Paterson was not struck by the disaster. However, despite the fact that we do not share the same direct experience, I say to you today that we do share your loss. The nation as a whole is grieving for those lives lost, and we will help shoulder some of your burden if we can. I believe it is during times like these that the true Aussie spirit is revealed. In the days and weeks following the floods, fires and cyclones hardly an hour went by without at least one constituent calling the office to offer time, money and/or goods. In many cases it was all three. As their local member, I was humbled to see the huge turnout when I attended one of the many fundraisers held in my electorate, at Soldiers Point on the eve of Australia Day, to raise money for flood victims. The event was organised, run and supported by local people just wanting to help in any way they could. It now looks as if more than $15,000 was raised from that event, a wonderful effort from a small community. Of course, it was just one of the many support efforts in the Paterson electorate. I would like to point out another display of that Australian spirit, and from the beginning I want especially to acknowledge the support of Virgin Blue airlines.

Recently, I was contacted by Susan Boyd from Hunter Valley Grammar School. She let me know that 40 of their students from year 7 and year 10 would be giving up their annual school camp to go to Queensland to assist those who have been affected by the floods. These schoolchildren are going to Warwick to clean out debris and to rebuild fences, working with an organisation called BlazeAid. They are doing it because they want to make a substantial contribution. After all, it is the Australian way to help your mates even if you have never met them. I contacted Virgin Blue airlines and without any hesitation they donated 40 return flights free of charge between Brisbane and Newcastle so that our local children could join and play a part in the flood recovery. Five teachers will be travelling with the students. I should particularly like to thank Susan Boyd, Linda Chapman and Lydia Woods. On behalf of my community, I say thank you to Virgin Blue and particularly acknowledge chief executive John Borghetti for his generosity.

Sadly, in the Hunter region we did not go without the loss of loved ones. I would like to pay tribute today to 25-year-old Joshua Ross, who was killed by flooding in Grantham as he stayed with his mother, Brenda, in the family home. The member for Wright delivered an emotional tribute to this motion and I would also like to give my condolences. Josh was a childcare worker who moved to Grantham from Waratah in the Hunter region. He was killed after the torrent of floodwaters hit the home that he shared with his mum and a partner, refusing to leave them. We had many calls to my office after Josh’s story was published in our local newspaper, the Newcastle Herald. On behalf of all those constituents, I again offer my sincere condolences and honour the memory of Josh.

I listened as the member for Hotham, Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government, committed to the rebuilding effort in our towns. As thousands feel the loss of life, many thousands are also suffering the loss of their homes, businesses and livelihoods. It is an absolute priority that this government does everything that it can to ensure that the recovery effort is swift and effective. It is my job as the shadow minister for regional development to help ensure that each and every affected town across this nation gets the help that it needs and so rightly deserves, and I will do so.

Minister Crean spoke of the need for a strategic approach involving not only those areas directly affected by floodwaters but also the surrounding towns connected by shared infrastructure. He spoke of helping people to cut through the red tape; of working in full bipartisanship to ensure the best for our local communities; of ensuring payments for those people who had their homes, small businesses and farms destroyed; and of the concessional interest loans to small businesses and farmers. Minister Crean spoke about re-examining policy to ensure that flood mitigation is improved for the future. He spoke of the need for value for money.

We have heard how areas, not just in Queensland, are open for business—tourism business in particular. As the shadow minister for tourism, I welcome the $5 million from the Commonwealth, which matched the $5 million from the Queensland state government, so that a marketing campaign can be pushed showing that Queensland is open for business.

Queensland is not the only affected area. Northern Victoria, northern New South Wales, northern Western Australia and Northern Tasmania—as I said before—have all been affected. I took the opportunity on 11 February, with the member for Wannon, Dan Tehan, to visit the Grampians on the eve of the jazz festival. The Grampians were devastated by floodwaters. They have suffered significant infrastructure damage to roads, to the township and to the mountains themselves. Some of their unique rock forms have destabilised. We all visited Stawell. We met with council officials and business operators. They all wanted us to put out one message: they are open for business. They too have suffered from the floods. But they too are open for business.

One of the things that I saw when in discussions with the state minister for tourism in Victoria, Louise Asher, was that the Victorian government had also put up $1 million for a tourism fund after the floods. This was announced by Ted Baillieu, the Premier of Victoria, on 17 January. This money is for financial support for tourism. The coalition government will establish a $1 million tourism fund to support businesses in areas affected by floods that are heavily dependent on tourism. It will be administered by the Department of Business and Innovation.

So I say to the government: areas other than Queensland are severely affected. I have called on the government to match that $1 million for Victoria, as indeed they matched the $5 million of the Queensland government to promote tourism and the fact that they are open for business. But more should be done. The floods have continued from late last year on in to recent weeks in Victoria. The Murray is flooding. The houseboat season is being devastated. There is that tourism aspect. So more needs to be done. More needs to be done in northern New South Wales, which is also flood affected. More needs to be done in North Australia and Western Australia. After the effects and impacts of Cyclone Carlos, as I said, who knows what will be needed there? It is not all over yet. We need support for these communities.

The best thing that individuals, members of parliament and people in our constituencies can do to help out businesses in these communities, through the jobs that are created, is plan a holiday there. So I say to people: take the opportunity to put off that overseas holiday this year and holiday in Australia. Holidaying domestically will provide a sustainable economic basis from which businesses can rebuild. It will show that we as Australians are also committed to supporting fellow Australians. To those communities affected all over Australia, I commit today to help ensure the minister’s promises are fulfilled. I, along with my coalition colleagues, will work wherever necessary to help get the best outcomes for you.

Today I join my colleagues in calling for a fairer approach by the insurance companies when dealing with claims—not using weasel words or hidden disclaimers. Back in 1999 I represented consumer interests on the insurance inquiries and complaints board, which fielded complaints and had a resolution process for unconscionable conduct in insurance claims. Through harmonisation with the finance industry the responsibility now rests with the Financial Ombudsman Service. So I urge people who are being denied what they consider to be valid claims to utilise the Financial Ombudsman Service hotline.

The events of the past few months have been nothing short of tragic, and I pray that they are never repeated in Australia. By doing everything possible to protect people in the future, we truly recognise the sacrifices of those people who have lost their lives. Today I pay tribute to those lost, their families and their friends. I pay tribute to the many heroic acts that were performed—mostly unreported, but those people know who they are and what they did. I pay tribute to the many emergency services personnel, the Australian Defence Force personnel and the thousands of Australians who, when the call went out, rallied around their fellow Australians, standing shoulder to shoulder to help out. I pay tribute to the thousands upon thousands of Australians who have given what they could afford and more to help out. We are a strong nation because above all we have that unique Australian spirit that not floods, fire or wind can destroy. I commend this motion of condolence to the House.

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

I support the condolence motion. I think all Australians are aware of the absolute disasters that have occurred in some parts of our country in recent months. I say so in the context of the disaster that has occurred in recent hours in Christchurch, New Zealand. It brings home to all of us the very significant point that we live in a natural environment and occasionally very unnatural things occur. I hope that we learn from the recent events, irrespective of which state they occurred in, in terms of some of the planning processes et cetera that will mitigate some of those circumstances in the future or ensure that we do not—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

I do support the condolence motion. I think it is very significant that so many members have spoken or intend to speak on this motion. It is obvious that the nation has been touched by the tragedies that occurred, particularly in Queensland, where the loss of life of such magnitude occurred, but also in Victoria. We saw some awesome events unfold in that period of time. It was really brought home to a lot of people because we live in an age of television, and historically we would not have witnessed many of the events that are now captured on our television screens. Even though many of us were not in flooded areas, we felt as though we were very close to the floods because of the media coverage.

Queensland obviously has been the most affected. Having relatives in Brisbane and watching the magnitude of the flows that were in the Brisbane River, and watching the occurrence and the aftermath within Grantham Toowoomba and the other towns that were affected in the Lockyer Valley, really brought home the power that nature does have and can unleash. The electorate of New England, like a lot of electorates, did have some flooding. In the main it would be considered normal flooding except, in my view, for one particular area which was right on the Queensland border; from Tenterfield through to Mingoola and around the Bonshaw area, and further through around Texas towards Goondiwindi, Yetman and those areas.

I do thank the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry for taking the time a few weeks back now to call in on his way back to Brisbane and have a quick look at the area. He was restricted in time and I appreciated his visit. He was able to talk to a small group of farmers and, very importantly, to see the damage that occurred to infrastructure. Thankfully, there was not any loss of life but there was an enormous destructive effect to infrastructure both on-farm and public assets. Relatively new bridges were absolutely destroyed. There were 22 inches of rain in 24 hours, which is a lot of rain in anybody’s language, and it proceeded down that relatively small catchment—a sliver of land in a sense—where the absolute disaster occurred. It was, as I said earlier, really part of the Queensland flooding. Even though it is in New South Wales it is just over the border from Queensland.

Other towns and districts did incur some flooding but nothing of the magnitude that occurred there. I am deeply grateful to the minister for being there because I think he needed to see that it was a Queensland event occurring on the edge of New South Wales. I have raised with a few ministers that any assistance for that particular sliver of land, people live there of course, should be treated much the same as Queensland because it was an event that was not just demarcated by state boundaries.

The people of Mingoola are still working to clear up the area from Bonshaw right back through the Mole River to Tenterfield. There was damage in Tenterfield itself but it was particularly downstream. As other members have indicated there was an enormous outpouring of concern from people who were not flooded. A lot of people from my electorate did travel to Queensland and other parts to help, assist, care, show their concern and make a contribution, and that happened in this valley in my electorate as well.

There is one group I would like to particularly single out. They are called the BackTrack boys. The founder of the BackTrack boys is a man called Bernie Shakeshaft from Armidale. A few years back now Bernie brought together young Aboriginal people who were on the verge of probably not being the best citizens. They were a little bit lost, they may have been having difficulties at school, within the family or within the community. Bernie brought this group of young people together and through his leadership they have gained an enormous number of skills in welding et cetera. If I can, in the next few weeks I have to pick up a beautifully made bush barbecue that the boys put together. They are also responsible for training sheep dogs and other dogs I think, but sheep dogs in particular.

Bernie has done an incredible job in the way in which these kids have lifted themselves, the spirit that they have and the skills that they are gaining. They volunteered to go out to the Mingoola area that I described and worked for nothing at various properties, clearing fences, putting up fences, doing a whole range of jobs. They have gained enormous respect and regard from the people who live in that area. I extend my congratulations to the boys and I intend to thank them when I pick up my barbecue. I also thank them for the concern that they showed for people. Obviously, when a tragedy of any magnitude occurs, money is important and I am sure there will be assistance granted to those who deserve it in an appropriate way. Some of these people were actually living in shock for days because of the event that had occurred, and I think it is just as important for them that they see people who actually care for them who have come to help them out. That is a true expression of mateship, and we need to preserve that mateship and recognise when people assist and help out. As I said, I pay particular regard to the boys and look forward to talking to them.

There are a number of issues that will be raised in the parliament about what we do with natural disasters. In fact, in my maiden speech I raised the issue of the need for a national natural disaster fund, and I think what we are seeing at the moment with the proposed flood levy and the cyclones is that the way in which we respond to these disasters, in my view, has to be addressed in the future. Irrespective of whether climate change is a reality or not, there will be significant events—almost unnatural events, disastrous events, not normal floods. There will be events that occur from time to time that require a massive injection of public funds, and I think we have to put in place some sort of arrangement. It may well involve the sorts of things that Senator Xenophon is talking about, such as reinsurance at the state level. If this disaster had occurred in New South Wales, for instance, I think the New South Wales government would have had somewhere between $3 billion and $4 billion worth of insurance to cover the flooding. I know the cyclone is slightly different. Queensland did not in fact have those sorts of issues addressed.

Part of what will occur later this year is that people will start to inquire into what happened and what we do when it happens again, because I think there is a lesson out of Queensland that we should take notice of. There were floods in 1974, there has been flooding in 2011 and there will be floods of that magnitude again at some time. We should take notice of that and learn from it. It is a great tragedy. I am critical of the administration of Brisbane, particularly at the local government level but also the state level. Over the years they allowed a massive building program to take place in the area where the 1974 flood occurred. There was this assumption that the mitigation of the dam would stop that from ever happening again. Well, it will happen again. Now we have a massive bill, not only in Brisbane but in other parts of the state, and others are being called upon to make a contribution too. I do not have a problem with that at all, as long as we learn and do not just repeat the sins of the past. There are things that can be done to mitigate natural disasters. Some of my electorate is on flood plains. Most of the towns have organised themselves in terms of levees. With the reconstruction activity that is going to occur, we should look very closely at whether some engineering work should be put in place to mitigate some of these occurrences.

Our family experienced two floods at a property we have at Coonamble. It is about 250 kilometres from where I live. My son operates that property. He had two floods go across about 5,000 acres of cropping country. About 1,700 acres had not been harvested at the time. He was able to salvage a little bit but probably lost in the vicinity of half a million dollars, I would imagine, in income. Some farmers are suggesting that there should be recompense from government for those sorts of flooding activities. I disagree with that. We bought country on a flood plain because it floods. If you do not want to live on a flood plain, you should go and live on a hill, but obviously you cannot carry out the cropping activities on a hill that you can on some of the magnificent flood plains we have for agriculture.

So I think we have to be a little bit careful, at a political level, that we do not start responding to any natural event as a disaster. A lot of natural events are quite welcome. At any time but harvest time the natural event at Coonamble would have been very welcome. I do not think we should bracket those sorts of events as being disasters. Even though they might be a disaster to individuals on a particular occasion, they should not in my view be included in some sort of long-term natural disaster response. I think that, if we do set up something for the long term, it has to be about extreme events, not normal ebbs and flows in flooding, droughts and other natural activities.

The other thing I want to raise before I conclude my contribution is that there are other natural events that occur from time to time that we, as governments, will witness over a period of time. I was in the New South Wales parliament for 10 years and I saw a gradual disintegration of past practices, but fires will occur. After a very wet year like this, fires will occur again. We have seen recent disasters, particularly in Victoria but most recently in Perth, where fires destroyed lives and property. At some stage we have to recognise that the planning process has to kick back in, as it should have in Queensland all those years ago. People have been allowed to build on flood plains. The process should kick back in for the mitigation of fire risk as well. A man who is not in the parliament anymore but with whom I was communicating today—the Hon. Wilson Tuckey—made some memorable speeches in this place in the past about fire, fire mitigation and the prevention of death and destruction. Victoria has had a major inquiry into what happened down there. It will be very interesting to see what sorts of practices are put in place to mitigate the next disaster. I think we have to be very careful in this place to avoid repeats of some of the tragic events that have occurred in the past.

To conclude, I convey the sympathies of my electorate to those families that have been affected, particularly those who have lost loved ones through the various tragedies that have occurred, and also to the people of New Zealand, who are experiencing a disaster as we speak. I am sure that those people who are impacted would respect and regard the parliament for taking the time it has taken to participate in this condolence motion.

Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the condolence motion. We have had an extraordinary summer. This nation has witnessed floods, fires and cyclones. We do not often have such a combination of natural disasters in such a short period of time, but we are no strangers to natural disasters. The sheer scale of the damage reminds us that nature is bigger than we are. It also reminds us that we are a nation of weather extremes.

This motion gives us in this place an opportunity to express our sympathies for those who have lost so much and of course to reflect on the huge losses that we as a nation have experienced. At a time when we have a 24-hour media cycle, too often we are bombarded with images and too often we can become desensitised to these sorts of disasters. So it is important to take the time, as we are doing in this place, to remind ourselves of what happened only a short time ago.

We have endured much as a people this summer. We have confronted floods in the east, cyclones in the north and fires in the west. Many have lost their homes, their businesses and, tragically, some have lost their lives. These events have tested the spirits and challenged the resilience that we are so renowned for. They have also brought out the very best in people. Communities have rallied, neighbours have joined together and strangers have worked side by side to lend a helping hand to those in need. People have flown from across the nation to assist in the immediate aftermath of these events and, of course, donations continue to flow, and continue to flow generously—even from the poorest corner of this nation. The spirit of generosity and volunteerism is on full and proud display.

While there have been so many tragic stories of loss, equally there are stories of extraordinary compassion. For every image of disaster and destruction, there is a contrasting image of humanity. To all of those who have been a part of that, I am sure it will mark their lives for a long time to come: all those volunteers, all those emergency service personnel and of course our defence personnel. The events of this summer have proven that the Australians spirit of perseverance and compassion is well and truly alive.

The story of young Jordan Rice has touched every single person in this nation and it has brought a collective tear to the eye. His selflessness will not be forgotten and it is a reminder of our responsibilities in some ways to our fellow man. The mere fact that a 13-year-old boy gave his own life for his brother’s brings new meaning to the words ‘bravery’ and ‘courage’.

Over the last few weeks many have expressed the view that these events are unprecedented, and whilst in some respects the number of natural disasters occurring at the one time in Australia may not be a common phenomenon, it is wrong to say that these are totally new events. We are a country that has, throughout our history, experienced long droughts and raging fires—we now call them wildfires—and my electorate in north-east Victoria is often lashed by these fires and by flooding rains. While this year may have delivered more than its fair share of disastrous weather events, we should not and we cannot expect that such events will not be repeated in the future. They are nonetheless tragic events. But also tragic is the tendency of governments to ignore the lessons of past disasters. Long after the cameras and the front-page stories are gone, too often what needs to be done is left undone. We do need to learn from our mistakes and we cannot ignore the wealth of knowledge that local people can provide.

I have long been of the view that local knowledge is a key ingredient in the decision-making process that follows these disasters and that governments tap into. I have from my early years in this place urged all governments to not only respect the knowledge and experience of local people but use it. We have seen in Victoria that inquiry after inquiry was ignored by the former Labor government. That happens even in this place. We established a committee after the 2003 bushfires and so many of those recommendations still have not been fully implemented. You can even go back decades to the Stretton inquiry and some of those recommendations still have not been implemented. And yet the same issues are raised in inquiry after inquiry.

I do not intend to make pointed political criticisms at this time. But, for the sake of potential victims of future disasters and to respect the efforts and sacrifice of those already gone, we need to wake up collectively as policymakers and decision makers who can make a difference. We cannot ignore local knowledge. The fact that you may not have a degree in meteorology does not mean that you do not understand the weather conditions of your area. It does not mean that a family that has lived in a region for generations does not appreciate the nuances of what is happening during a particular season with the weather.

The front page of Monday’s Australian clearly illustrates one example of the dangers in dismissing local knowledge. Brisbane Valley farmer Chris McConnel attempted to warn the Wivenhoe Dam’s operator of the imminent flooding and the need to release water immediately. He is somewhat of a local expert in forecasting flooding. His family had recorded rainfall and forecast flood events as far back as the 1840s. It is this type of expert knowledge that is invaluable. It should not be dismissed and it should not be discounted. As it turned out, Mr McConnel was correct and unfortunately his advice was ignored. Who knows what would have happened if there had been sufficient flexibility and openness within the existing processes for people to have listened to and accepted Mr McConnel’s advice?

Natural disasters like the recent floods have happened before and will happen again. It is our responsibility to ensure that we are as well prepared as possible for when these events occur again. The best way we can do this is to work hard. What we have not done in the past so well is speak with local communities, understand what went wrong and try and fix it. We should not come up with a media fix for a solution but come up with a real solution that deals with some of these issues.

Over the last month I have been meeting with locals in my electorate to discuss the impacts of recent floods in north-east Victoria and to consider some potential solutions. I thank all of those who have worked with me through that process. Indeed, I thank all of those in my electorate and right across Australia who have volunteered their assistance and information through dozens of government inquiries that have been conducted after previous natural disasters. People did that because they believed that what they said might be factored into decision making. They hoped that perhaps governments would engage in some common sense. I urge all members of this House not to disappoint these people and the goodwill they showed to us by taking time out from their families and employment to try and tell us what needs to be done.

In concluding, and in commending the motion to the House, I say: let us not forget that so many corners of this great nation and so many people were affected, right across the board. We have seen, from previous natural disasters, how the emotional scars can still be there for many years to come. We need to be aware of that. We need to provide the resources to communities to ensure that we not only rebuild the bricks and mortar of communities but heal those deep mental scars.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion of condolence in relation to the natural disasters that have affected so much of our country this summer. My sincerest sympathies go to those affected by these natural disasters: the floods, the cyclones and the fires that still affect large areas of Australia. This summer we have seen catastrophic acts of nature right across the country. However, the disaster and devastation has been countered by countless examples of the strength of the human spirit, with people all over Australia pulling together to help out their fellow citizens.

I witnessed, firsthand, inspiring examples of this spirit last month when I visited the flood devastated town of Rockhampton while acting as Attorney-General. At that time, the town was cut off by the waters, and I was flown in by Australian Defence Force Black Hawk helicopter. What I flew over could only be described as an inland sea—the tops of trees were covered in yellow-brown waters and pockets of livestock were crowded on island hills surrounded by water. As I flew over the town I saw parks that looked like ponds, streets that looked like rivers and houses where water had swallowed up all but the tops of roofs. At the Rockhampton Community Recovery Centre, accompanied by the member for Capricornia, Kirsten Livermore, I met the emergency workers, the volunteers and the mates who had rallied together to help those in need. Some had lost houses and some had lost possessions, but all had been affected financially and emotionally. I was impressed and inspired by their stoicism, tolerance and humour during this adversity. I was also impressed at how orderly and well run I found that centre to be and at how the people showed such great patience in having their matters dealt with properly.

These are difficult times for many people, but the government will not stop working to ensure that all the areas affected by the natural disaster will recover from this very challenging situation. As well as offering my sincerest condolences to those affected, I would like to applaud the enormous efforts of defence personnel, emergency workers and the many volunteers. I would particularly like to take this opportunity to praise two agencies in my portfolio, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, for their efforts. AFP officers have been working with the Queensland Police Service in some of the hardest hit areas of the Lockyer Valley, including Murphys Creek and Grantham. During the busiest times, the AFP provided around 70 personnel to support the Queensland Police Service. Their work included difficult operations such as search and recovery efforts, as well as general policing in affected communities.

Customs and Border Protection staff have also been working tirelessly across areas affected by natural disasters to ensure that all goods required to support the emergency effort are processed urgently. These urgent items include food, health and medical supplies, clean-up tools and public infrastructure equipment. Customs and Border Protection is also ensuring that internationally donated goods for charities and philanthropic organisations are processed quickly and that the donor organisations receive advice on duty and tax concessions for those goods. Customs and Border Protection is providing officers to assist Centrelink to process food related claims. As the minister responsible for these two agencies for the past 18 months, I am used to seeing outstanding acts of public service. Once again I have been impressed by the level of commitment and dedication shown by both these agencies in dealing with the task at hand. Their response to this disaster is just another fine example of the magnificent work they do to serve the community, and I commend them for their efforts.

As the emergency response to these events winds down, the focus of the Australian government is to provide what is necessary to assist local communities to recover and rebuild following these disasters. These events have been a national tragedy and a dark time for many, many Australians. But the courage of Australian people, the local leadership and the spirit of resilience of local communities continue to shine through.

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The summer of 2010-11 has been a time of great trial, tribulation and, regrettably, tragedy. Across the length and breadth of this nation we have seen weather take its toll upon the Australian people. In particular, we have seen the flooding that took place in Brisbane and throughout much of Queensland, including the Grantham Valley and Toowoomba as well as up the eastern seaboard of the Queensland coast. To compound these matters, we saw the impact of Cyclone Yasi and the battering that small coastal communities in Tully, Port Hinchinbrook and those areas all endured as a direct consequence of that cyclone. We also had the fires that took place in Western Australia, which cost so many homes. In addition to that, the flooding rains that moved down through Central Australia also saw massive and rapid flooding occur throughout, in particular, the north-west regions of Victoria.

On every measure, this past summer has seen Australia live up to its most unfortunate and fiercest reputation as a continent of extremes. That is why I rise today to add my voice to this condolence motion for the tens of Australians who regrettably lost their lives as a consequence of the natural disasters over the summer. In addition to the tragic loss of life—and there have been some absolute tragedies—there was also significant property damage and there will be the emotional hardship that goes with the tragedies that have unfolded over the last several months.

As with any of these tragedies, there are very real, personal experiences people have that sheet home to all of us as members of parliament what we should be doing about the way in which these types of events touch people sometimes in a way that is just so horrific. Like with any great tragedy though, this has also been a time when we have seen people rise up. We have seen communities, through the tumult and darkness of these times, come together. We have seen the reignition of those bonds that exist in communities that too often we think are gone but in reality remain strong. We have seen the re-emergence of the neighbour and the re-emergence of the volunteer come to the fore as people have leant on each other and been each other’s shoulders.

I am mindful in particular though of some of the tremendous lengths that our volunteers have gone to as a consequence of these tragedies. One story that particularly affected me just for its sheer horror was the unfortunate circumstance in the Grantham Valley and, in addition to that, what took place and transpired in Toowoomba with the flash flooding and the rescuer who tried valiantly to help rescue children from a trapped vehicle. Unfortunately, in those tragic circumstances, one small child in the rushing torrent of water escaped the grasp of her rescuer and was lost.

Words can never heal the wounds that that family feels. I have no doubt that for the rescuer involved the knowledge, feeling and guilt on his shoulders will take perhaps his entire lifetime to forgive himself for. It is unfortunate. These things are never predicted and they are the very ugly side of these natural disasters.

At a time when as a nation we need to reflect and to heal, we need to recognise that through the tragedy we find an inner strength and that our responses to these types of events help to mark us as a nation and as individuals with the character and the inner strength to keep moving forward. I think if we as a parliament can draw inspiration from the personal challenges that people have had within themselves, and more broadly the challenges that communities have faced and have collectively worked to overcome, then I know that this parliament can truly do the great work that is required of it to help the people and the communities to recover.

On a personal level, I had family members who were indirectly affected by some of the natural disasters. We had many friends in Brisbane and extended family members who were close to being flooded and lived in anguish at their homes being potentially in harm’s way. In one particular case we had cousins in Oxley who had water lapping at their bottom doorstep. They had taken the hours involved to move furniture up to a higher level, hoping and praying that they would not be affected. In this particular instance they were spared, although we know that there were thousands of others who were not spared.

As a kid who was born and bred in north Queensland, I spoke to my parents about the preparations they had made to ensure that they were ready when at that stage it was predicted that Cyclone Yasi would still be a category five cyclone as it moved across the Atherton Tablelands. My parents-in-law in Townsville also lived with the anguish that this cyclone could greatly affect them. Living only a matter of metres from the ocean front, and with the predicted storm surges in excess of seven metres, there was great stress placed on all of those communities.

Through all of this I know one thing: whether it is speaking with family members, with friends or with people who were previously strangers, you understand that Australians are resolute about our willingness to fight against the natural environment, to recognise the majesty of these events that also happen and to recognise that we must always be mindful that mother nature reigns supreme in these types of events.

Now is the time for the government and the opposition to work constructively together to ensure that we respond to the demands that are out there in the community, to work in a manner that will ensure that the community can get back on its feet and to make sure that we are there to be that shoulder for people to lean on when they need to as they go about the months and, in some instances, years of work to recover and get back on their feet—so much of which they have lost.

On behalf of the electors I am privileged to serve, our condolences go to those who lost immediate family members and your loved ones. To the volunteers, the police, the army, the fire brigade, the ambulance, the medical doctors and nurses, and all the auxiliary staff who worked in many instances around the clock to help with the relief effort and to help those who were struggling through this time of tumult, we say a very sincere and heartfelt thank you. Without the volunteers who did what they did, and without the support coming from so many regions, there is no doubt that we as a nation would have been poorer.

I am mindful as well of the volunteers from my own community of Moncrieff. Remarkably, we were largely unaffected on the Gold Coast. We were not flooded. We did not suffer the consequences of the cyclone. In every respect we were blessed to have endured this summer without any major problems. Yet, as a community, we rallied to the call for help that people were wanting. I have to say that initiatives were taken by local Rotary groups, by Lions clubs and by community volunteers. They helped put together food baskets and donations of fridges. They spent a weekend, organised by the Gold Coast Bulletin newspaper, cleaning up Goodna. They literally bussed hundreds of volunteers from the Gold Coast to help with the cleanup.

Through the ugliness of the natural disasters it has been these shining examples of pure humanity and concern that we as Australians have for each other that really re-ignites within the heart the belief that when times are tough we will be there for each other. That, more than anything, is the greatest inspiration that flows from these times of tumult. With that, I confirm my condolences to those who suffered so much.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this day to speak on the motion and add my voice to those in this House of Representatives who have acknowledged the tragedy and loss experienced by so many Australians this summer. I speak primarily not as the Leader of the House, nor as the federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and nor as the member for Grayndler. I speak today from the heart as a fellow Australian who simply cannot imagine what it is like to endure what so many Australians have been forced to endure over this terrible summer of tragedy.

The floods in southern Queensland included the devastating wave of water that took so many lives in the Lockyer Valley. The devastation then moved through the towns and farmlands of Victoria. Cyclone Yasi then blasted Far North Queensland, wrecking towns, destroying homes and ruining livelihoods. Then there were the bushfires of the West. The summer of 2011 will be recalled as the season where nature did not relent, when the nation watched and suffered and asked when it would all end. And, of course, for those who lost a child, a husband, a parent or a friend, the summer of 2011 will really never go away.

The statistics never reveal the human pain, so I am going to tell just one story. One of the enduring images of the floods was of a mum, a dad and a young boy sitting on the roof of a four-wheel-drive as it was carried down by the roaring waters that coursed through the Lockyer Valley, near Toowoomba. Their plight was caught by the news team in the helicopters overhead and was pictured on the front page of the Australian and broadcast around the world. That family was James and Jenny Perry and their son, eight-year-old Teddy. The family had just moved to Queensland so that James could take up the position of senior steward at the Toowoomba and regional racetrack after a number of years in Korea, where he had established a very successful career in the racing industry.

Remarkably, Jenny was saved by passing rescuers, who waded 50 metres through the wild current to reach her. Downstream, another rescuer plucked Teddy from the waters. He had been clinging to a hay feeder. Tragically, his dad, James Perry, has never been seen again. A memorial service was held for him recently in Sydney, where his family have returned to start rebuilding their lives. The country has lost a fine Australian. A man, from all reports, of great integrity, decency and honour.

I tell this story because my good friend and Labor Party colleague, the former Premier of New South Wales, Nathan Rees, had just spent Christmas with the Perrys at their home and then returned when the floods hit. Nathan Rees is now helping to administer the James Perry Trust to raise funds to help his family find their feet again.

The story of the Perry family is one of so many tragedies this summer. You ask yourself, ‘Has anything good come from all this loss?’ Of course, it has. Each day our television showed us the best of humanity—the teams of volunteers with their buckets and mops, the selfless rescuers whose bravery saved so many families from certain death and the personal initiative of Australians in the suburbs and towns who have passed around the hat, have held fundraisers or have packed up a bundle of clothes and sheets and toys to send to those who have been left with nothing.

In my electorate of Grayndler we held our own fundraiser on 31 January in Steel Park in Marrickville. It was a barbecue at which around 200 locals turned up. We raised close to $2½ thousand. I give special thanks to the Sydney Turkish Islamic Culture and Mosque Association in my electorate, which passed over a cheque for $1,500 for the relief appeal. My thanks also go to Marrickville resident Hellen McGlade. Hellen was so affected by the human tragedy of the floods that she felt compelled to do something. So throughout the recent Sydney heatwave she, her mum and 40 neighbours doorknocked the local neighbourhood collecting fresh linen, toys, clothes and household goods. She said they had set aside a couple of hours but was so overwhelmed by the response that she is still receiving donated goods from the neighbourhood—from people so grateful for a way to help their fellow Australians. Hellen works for Hewlett Packard, which is covering the cost of delivering the many packing boxes filled with goods, and I thank that company for its effort.

As transport minister I have had a busy summer watching our precious roads and rail lines face nature’s force. We have had to slow the progress of some of our large road and rail projects to help fund the national rebuilding program. But I am delighted at the speed at which the damaged roads have been repaired. I personally thank the 2,000 workers who have worked around the clock to get Queensland moving again. Around 70 per cent of Queensland’s roads were badly affected. Some 150 major roads were cut. We have put together a $5.6 billion package to help with the recovery. This includes a $2 billion up-front payment to Queensland to help with the rebuilding effort. In Victoria we are still assessing the damage.

These disasters have tested us, but out of the human misery we have united as a nation and shown how powerful we can be as a force of good to help people we have never met but who our hearts go out to, knowing that they would do the same for us. So while we continue to mourn those who have gone, we look ahead to what we can do. Let us heed Queensland Premier Anna Bligh’s call and book our Queensland holidays and help the mums, dads and many, many small business operators whose livelihoods depend on tourism. Let us heed the Prime Minister’s call on the weekend for people of all ages to get behind the rebuilding effort. We need an army of skilled workers and an army of apprentices to join the front line to rebuild the homes, the roads, the bridges and many other building structures ruined by the floodwaters. Of course, the Gillard government has a series of incentive programs in place to encourage new apprentices. Let us help the people of Queensland to repair their lives and look forward to the future with hope. And let us all go forward knowing with confidence that when the nation is hit by disaster the rest of Australia does not sit idle; we pitch in. That is us; that is who Australians are. In these worst of times we have seen the best of Australian humanity. I commend the condolence motion to the House.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise here today to contribute to the condolence motion brought forward by the Prime Minister in response to the summer of natural disasters that has ravaged many parts of Australia. This summer has been one filled with tragedy across our great land. From the overwhelming floods and Cyclone Yasi in Queensland, which followed the slow mass of water that has devastated so many Victorian and New South Wales towns, many parts of Australia have been left reeling. Just a couple of weeks ago we also saw the people of Western Australia battle their own natural disaster, with a fast-moving bushfire destroying 72 homes on the outskirts of Perth. No part of Australia has been left immune.

As my colleague the member for Curtin has said in this House, recent events have reminded us of the prescient words in Dorothea Mackellar’s poem, My Country, first published in 1908 and written when she was just 19:

I love a sunburnt country,

A land of sweeping plains,

Of ragged mountain ranges,

Of droughts and flooding rains.

I love her far horizons,

I love her jewel-sea,

Her beauty and her terror—

The wide brown land for me!

And so it is that we love the combination of our unique and beautiful landscape and weather, but there is also a great deal of unpredictability and, at time, sorrow that flows from unforeseen events. The devastating floods that have ravaged our nation over the past few months are one such event. In early January the floods began to hit Queensland, quite literally sweeping some rural towns away in their deadly path. Communities were left devastated and heartbroken in scenes similar to those throughout Victoria following Black Saturday and they now face the daunting task of rebuilding.

The January floods in Queensland have claimed a total of 35 lives so far. There remain a further seven people missing. As the waters in Queensland rose, many people lost everything, including treasured family possessions that cannot be replaced. The impact on the communities of the Lockyer Valley and Toowoomba was particularly significant. The sight of this inland tsunami was beamed across the country and the world as we started to appreciate the scale of the unfolding tragedy.

But what we have seen through the entire crisis has been the true nature and grit of the Australian people. Thousands lined the streets offering their services for the massive clean-up operation, and busloads of volunteers came from afar to lend a hand. This was true Aussie mateship at work. We must not forget that even now, weeks later, many people are still involved in the clean-up operations. I commend the leadership shown by the Australian Defence Force, emergency service workers, police, fire brigade and ambulance workers in their tireless efforts to help the people affected. I also acknowledge the role of Brisbane City Council and the mayor, Campbell Newman, for their significant efforts.

I know many of my colleagues have done all that they can to help their constituents and I want to make specific mention of the leadership of the member for Wright, the member for Groom, the member for Forde, the member for Kennedy, the member for Herbert, the member for Leichhardt, the member for Longman and the member for Ryan in their electorates. I pay tribute to members on the other side of the House for their efforts too.

Just as Queenslanders began to regain their stride, they were told that the full force of Cyclone Yasi was heading their way. The courage showed by the people of Northern Queensland, in particular those in Tully and Cardwell, facing this ordeal was inspiring.

As the floods began to subside in Queensland and New South Wales, the people of Victoria started to experience the rising waters themselves. After 10 years of horrific and soul-destroying drought, our state began to experience heavy rainfall and flooding. The livelihood of many of our farmers and regional communities was threatened. The Victorian government, led by Premier Ted Baillieu and Deputy Premier Peter Ryan, have dealt with the continuing crisis with compassion and urgency. Towns such as Creswick, Rochester, Skipton and Mildura felt the force of the rising waters, with some calling it a ‘mass inland sea’. Nearly 100 Victorian towns have been affected by the flooding, with a number of electorates facing widespread damage. More than 3,000 farmers have been hit, more than 4,000 kilometres of fence destroyed, over 120,000 tonnes of hay lost and over 8,000 tonnes of grain flooded. Damage is estimated in the billions of dollars.

I know many of my colleagues whose electorates were hit hard, including the member for Wannon, the member for Mallee, the member for Murray and the member for Flinders, have worked tirelessly with their communities to assist those affected. Whilst it was not on anywhere near the scale of the floods and storms experienced by so many Australians over the past few months, a torrent of rain lashed my own electorate of Kooyong, causing incidents of minor flash flooding in different areas. A number of traders and residents were affected, with shops having to close due to water damage. Trading associations like the Camberwell Traders Association, under the presidency of Henk Kelly-Kobes, and the Boroondara council, under Mayor Nicholas Tragas, have worked hard to assist those affected.

In conclusion, what we have seen over the past month is the Australian spirit being tested by the full force of Mother Nature. Through heavy rains, floods, fire and cyclones, the people of Australia have been tested. What we have seen as a result is a testament to the character of our great nation. When faced with disaster, people have rallied round their neighbours, not hesitating to get their hands dirty in the rescue and clean-up operations. As the Leader of the Opposition said in parliament this week, we have seen Australians at their best over the past few months as we all come together to assist in the important recovery task ahead.

Laurie Ferguson (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a day when we have heard the reports of devastation and deaths in Christchurch, I join in this condolence motion for those affected by the recent natural disasters in Australia. I join with the many members on both sides of this House who recognise the suffering of the families and individuals affected and the massive effort by Australians to help, whether as neighbours or local volunteers or as part of organisations that help out in crises.

However, I want to turn to a different facet of what has occurred. Whether you have seen two Filipino women during the bushfires in Victoria with older Anglo-Saxon Australians; the many Italian names that come across our screens who are local government leaders in Northern Queensland; or farmers with German and Austrian names, it all certainly drives home again the diversity of this country and the nation-building that has occurred through the waves of migration, particularly since the Second World War. At a time when we have had some divisive comments about minorities in this country, I want to talk about some of the events hosted by minority groups in Australia that either my colleagues or I have attended over the last month.

I want to talk about Probashi Inc. Probashi is an organisation that was founded by a group of young Australian women—predominantly former students of Macquarie Fields High School, all of them professionals and of Bangladeshi Muslim extraction—to help the victims of acid attacks in Bangladesh. Since then they have branched out. I was pleased to be in attendance at an event in my electorate where they raised $15,000 for the Queensland flood victims, supported by a number of companies—Lenard Charles Menswear, ABS & Co. Pty Ltd and Bengal Grocery Pty Ltd.

My electorate has the largest concentration of Bangladeshis in the country, so many of the events and efforts by Australians that I will talk about are in that community. So I went to Probashi’s event and, a few weeks later, I also had the privilege of attending an event run by the Bangladesh Islamic Centre in Minto—on a swelteringly hot day, one of the worst days we had during that heatwave in Sydney. I was there with very enthusiastic Liberal and Labor state candidates at an event to, again, raise money for the Queensland flood victims.

Similarly, the Pakistan Association of Australia, with the consul in attendance, held a function at the Himalaya restaurant in Granville. There would have been fewer than 100 people there, but that group also raised $15,000, mainly through the sale of cricket memorabilia. Once again, they are Muslim Australians.

I also had the benefit of attending an event of the Campbelltown Bangla School—Bangla is the language of West Bengal and Bangladesh—a few weeks ago at the Grange Public School in Minto where they conduct weekend classes in their language. They had a breakfast. It is a very small language school because there are a number of them in different suburbs of Sydney, so there were not a large number of people, but they still raised $1,600.

My colleagues the members for Reid and Blaxland attended an event at the Auburn Gallipoli Mosque, which from its title people would understand is predominantly Turkish, to accept a cheque on behalf of the Queensland flood appeal, for which the mosque raised $12,000. Once again, it shows Australian Muslims joining other Australians in helping their fellow countrymen in this time of crisis.

Then there is the Australian Chinese Charity Foundation. I was there with the Governor of New South Wales—and it is indicative of her role in our state that she was at that event—with close friends of the member for Berowra, Hudson Chen and others. They raised $20,000 to $30,000 the other week and have now reached a figure of $250,000 from Sydney’s Chinese community. The weekend before last, I had the benefit of attending in my former electorate of Reid a combined effort by Sri Om—an association for the elderly that aims to establish nursing home care for the Indian community, which is an increasing need, despite our view that they are predominantly a very young skilled migration intake—in conjunction with the Chinese New Year, instigated by the former Mayor of Auburn, Councillor Lee Lam. The event was in a park in north Auburn. Sri Om had originally intended to have their own event. But, in a very good indication for this country, they joined together with the Chinese community to raise money at an event during the Chinese New Year to go towards this massive Australian endeavour.

Then there was the Kapitbahayan Cooperative, the leading housing cooperative in the Filipino community in New South Wales. I went the other week to an opening of some new units out in Leumeah. As well as opening the new venues and welcoming the neighbours to come and have a look at what they do, they used that event to raise money for the Queensland flood victims. I also want to cite a Bangladeshi effort. The Bangladesh Welfare Society Campbelltown, led by Iqbal Farrukh, came to my office to present a cheque towards the appeal. These are predominantly Muslim groups. But I was at a Hindu Puja the other week in the Bangladeshi community—Hindus are a minority in Bangladesh—and in the middle of their main religious event of the year they took time out to make a donation towards this appeal.

I talked about the Filipino community earlier. My colleague the member for Chifley attended a very broad Filipino event in what is basically the capital of Filipinos in this country, the Blacktown municipality, where a very significant effort was made towards our national needs in regard to funding for flood affected people to help alleviate the suffering that they have experienced.

I want to mention the efforts of Gloria Gallegan, a personal friend and an acknowledged painter. She donated an effort on the Murrumbidgee River to the crisis. She and her husband, Bob Gallegan, a former secretary of the Painters and Dockers Union New South Wales, raised significant amounts of money on a local basis in Guildford towards this appeal.

In conclusion, what I hope that I have shown in this contribution is that despite the divisive efforts of some people this country is fundamentally built on diversity. In these times of suffering when people need assistance, people bind together regardless of their religion, understanding that we are all part of this nation. This kind of attitude and effort is particularly driven in times of crisis such as this.

Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Health Services and Indigenous Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Obviously, this has been one of the most trying times for the state of Queensland. I rise in my capacity as a local member from the Brisbane area who saw some of my constituents do extraordinary things in the effort to bring relief to the communities of Grantham, Toowoomba and North and Central Queensland. Suzie Masters lives in Victoria Point in my electorate. As the central person in my region for the provision of relief and emergency services to the community of Grantham, she maintained a blog that I think is something that is important enough to be read into Hansard to be available for future generations. Suzie begins with her first trip to Grantham:

Words cannot describe what we saw on our first trip there almost two weeks after the water had been through. Although we had sent a convoy on the previous Saturday and I have been told often by several of the locals out there, that we were the first of anyone to get items out there to the people. We used the Emergency Vehicle Access Roads off the Main Highway

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I cannot even start to fathom how on earth anyone could have survived such a disaster. Would be good if someone was able to show such places like the little green building on the corner opposite where the police are set up, etc. To see that building sitting at the angle it is. Or the pub! No doubt, maybe it has been on TV. But I have been too busy with doing the flood relief work.

While up at the Fire Station on Thursday, the little boy who lost his Mummy, Sister and Brother turned up after his day at school. Behind him was his Dad. Again, I just felt so inadequate as a human being, knowing who these people were and not to be able to do anything to be able to change their lives just now. The emotions they would be going through would be impossible to comprehend.

Thursday was a flat out full on day of driving and visiting many places that have been affected by the terrible floods. Having to be a Mum at the start of the day and taking my Katie into the city for an interview. So I had made a conscious decision to go and visit the RNA and find a gentleman called Craig who I had heard was running a place for flood victims to go to so they could get food, clothing, linen, toys and many other items that have been donated to his cause. Very similar to what we had set up in the Redlands …

I got Craig’s details so that I can pass his information onto people as I hear of people wanting to donate items that I know are not being received at so many other distribution centres these days. In addition, I got a list of what he is in desperate need of so that I can get the word out about donations required for his depot. So that families and individuals who need items after loosing so much in the floods can access for free. Even if most is second hand at his centre. Again, this set up is only for the rest of this week as the RNA is having an event there this weekend, so the doors will be closed.            …            …            …

Next stop on the trip was Gatton. I had to call into Gatton as I had been given shovels and gum boots. On my previous trip out to Grantham, I inquired if they needed such things anymore. However, as they said they had enough, we kept the items in my car and I said I would take them to a place where they may be of use … I will not say too much about Gatton Showground and their centre. Let us just say, it will not be a place that I would go back to in a hurry. As the staff there (be it volunteers or paid staff, did not want to assist, so I would suspect they are paid workers). Their laid back I don’t care attitude was appalling. Perhaps it was due to the fact I was an outsider. However, one would think that anyone should be greeted in a pleasant manner and everyone would be grateful for offers of donations.

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One of the other reasons I stopped in Gatton was to purchase cases of soft drink to take to Grantham. There is talk that the local businesses need our support and to put the money back into the communities which were so badly affected … We went into the main street of Gatton and had a cool drink. We went into Crazy Clarks on the hunt for lip balm and then ducked next door into The Reject Shop for the same items. Lip balm is one of the constantly requested items from Julie at Grantham as she puts them in little packs with sunscreen and insect repellent for the workers including the volunteers who are constantly at the sites of the devastation helping to do what ever they can to clean up and sort through things.

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Then I went to Grantham. This time via the main road as I had been told by the locals on my previous trip to use the main road. As previously, I have been using the Emergency Services Access Road via the main highway.

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I could not find what looked like a normal way in to the town; all the streets had signs for local traffic only. I did not want to disrespect this nor have to see any more of the devastation. Especially as I had always been in via the Emergency Access Road. I needed to get to the school, which was on the other side of the railway tracks. Easy to do under normal circumstances. However, not when there is so much destruction, devastation and the feeling of death surrounding you. My stomach was churning. I just wanted to turn the car around and get out of there as fast as I could and go home to the comforts of my walls and roof over my head, my kids, the cat and dog etc.

I had to go back to get directions by the police. They have a portable office set up with a police bus, like the ones you see on TV where they take people for breath tests on those shows. Then they have a few marquises with folding tables and chairs set up. So many flies to bug you and a generator for lighting and to run the cooler, which obviously would be full of water for the police and the workers in that area of the township.

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There were houses with police tape around them. Houses with painted words on them saying UNSAFE. Some buildings were sitting at 45-degree angles some of the buildings looked like they would have originally been beautiful heritage listed buildings from the 1800’s. Every building in the main road was wiped out.

To see garage doors twisted and bent but still hanging, which showed the ferocity and pressure of the water when it hit the buildings is something no one can ever imagine. To see the pub with massive chunks of the building totally missing and other parts of it looking like nothing had happened to it.

I think what really was the amazing part of this town which looked like a bomb had blown it away, was the hand painted banners which were erected on at least 2 of the buildings on the main road that was Thanking the people of Australia or helping Grantham in their time of need … with the generous donations from so many people of so many walks of life, these people would all know someone who perished on that day in January. Another photo I would have loved to have taken for people to see so that they too can try to comprehend how bad this disaster has been was that of what would have once been a gorgeous looking river. How it has been carved up and looks like a quarry more than a lovely riverbank. With whole trees looking like little leggo ornaments.

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Once I got the directions by the police how to get to the school, arrived at the marquise to unload the boot load of pots and pans, cooking utensils and cutting boards that had been so generously donated by many people in the Redlands area … The husband brings home money from the people at work and the wife goes shopping from what is on the wish list I publish on our facebook site… . they give because they know that the items will get to the people who are in so much need. For that, I am truly humbled yet again with the generosity of strangers. Also Delma, they loved the eggs. Because the almost 60+ dozen I took out the previous week had all been used up. Delma is a gem for going out of her way all the time to fetch items on the wish list, and then drop it at my doorstep, so that I can take them out there on a weekly basis. Along with many other people who all read my blogs and pass them onto other people via networking means … My house is not longer a home. It is a mini receiving and despatch centre for the people of Grantham and other flood affected areas of the southeast.

After dropping off the things to the marquise at the community centre where people congregate for breakfast, their lunch, community dinner nights on Tuesday and Friday evenings, cups of teas or a cool drink. I went up to the fire station.

This is the place where all other donations are taken for the victims so that they can get supplies of non-perishable food items, toiletries, clothing, linen some times the odd request for brand new men’s boxers, or like last week, and a cut out Bundy Bear, which was washed away from someone’s unique Bundaberg Rum Collection. (I have now had five offers of a cut out Bundy Bear to replace the one that washed away…

The fire station is where I meet with Linda each week, being greeted with a hug and how you going. I take a photo of the Wish List so that I can come home with it, type it up and attach to my blog that I write each and every trip I do. It is important that I do my blog so that the people who donate items know their goods have been delivered. In addition, it helps them to try to understand just what it is like out there. Those of us, who have not been out and see the remnants of the floods that only see things via the media, do need to know what is going on. It is an instinct we all have to be a little bit curious and to know that things are being done.

While at the fire station last Thursday, the little fella who lost his Mummy, Sister and Brother, turned up from his day at school. Behind him was his Daddy. They had only buried their family 11 days before hand. Of which 3 days after the funeral I had seen the Dad on his ride on lawn mower doing his work at the local primary school, as he is the grounds man there.

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These people who have lost so much have not only lost family members or friends. They have lost their homes, their toys, their personal belongings. Nothing can replace what they had. As each event comes along through out the year they will realise that, they have no Mum to celebrate Mothers Day with, No Dads on Fathers Day. Everyone who lost their home will at Christmas time, realise that they don’t have their usual Christmas Tree and decorations to go and get down from a dusty shelf in a shed to put up as it was more than likely washed away. Therefore, every single event in their lives each and every day will only bring back more sad and frightening memories … Just as it is for the kids out there who cannot stand to have a bath anymore, it reminds them of the day the water came and washed everything away.

After leaving Grantham, I drove back towards Brisbane. I took an exit and went into Goodna. I had been there when we had our depot opened. To drop off truckloads of donations for the 500-600 homes which were damaged or destroyed in the floods … I heard stories of how the people were on the first weekend, walking the streets and had not eaten since the floods. Our people who were volunteers at our centre went out there and started handing out bottles of water and food. Their pride and culture plus the way they had lived in their own countries had probably prevented them from realising that they should be asking for help.

One lady who was unemployed some how managed to get the under ground car park of Max Employment in Queen Street. She then contacted us and we filled the car park many times over with non-perishable food items, clothing, linen, toiletries, home baked cakes from the good people of Meals on Wheels at Cleveland some of the seven pallets of bananas, which were donated, to our centre for us to give to the victims. We had car loads of items going over there each and every day for a week. If it had not been for our depot that we started up in Capalaba the day after the floods hit Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley, these people in Goodna would have been forgotten completely. As the Red Cross and Salvation Army were busy running Evacuation Centres.

This week has been even more frustrating than normal in so many ways.

I personally have not been displaced nor have I lost anything in the floods.

But yet I am so distraught to hear that so many people are still with out power, with out a home to live in and with out items, which were donated to many of the centres, while we had our depot opened. However, these centres which are run by charities and they pay their staff to operate, are closing down. I have heard how people have had to go to lifeline and purchase furniture. I have constantly read and heard that NO CHARITIES will accept clothing or toy donations anymore.

Yet I have had more than one person contact me via our Queensland Community Flood Relief site desperately asking for help for people they know or have adopted. In the likes of furniture and toys for one family of 4 kids and for the mum who has cancer, who are moving into a home this week in the Ipswich area.

If it wasn’t for a group of ladies getting the word out in Esk the Red Cross and Salvation Army would not have turned up to take over. These people were working tirelessly in terrible conditions to help the elderly. One poor dear woman, who was stranded by the floods, was eating dry dog food crumbs when the volunteers who went out to see what they could do found her. These Volunteers were not part of any Mud Army, nor have they got paper work to say they are a registered volunteer. Due mainly to the fact that if they were registered with Volunteer groups, they would not have even known about the towns that need so much help.

I have an acquaintance. He is a soldier at Enoggera. I met this person on Christmas Day when both he and I were doing volunteer work and Christmas lunches for the homeless in King George Square … To the point, that he and I were going to help set one person up who was ex army who had spent several years in the Sunshine Coast National Park as a homeless person. Until he was taken in and went to Brisbane where he was in a shared house community. On Christmas Day, the soldier and I organised to help. The soldier was going to give the homeless man spare furniture he had in his garage. I was going to give him pillows and blankets along with sheets and towels.

I had not been in touch with the soldier until about 2 weeks ago. I sent him a text to see how he was going and to find out when we were going to get our things to the homeless person. I found out that while the soldier was out sandbagging and moving people’s furniture. His own home in Toowong which people kept telling him that where his unit was located was fine in the 1974 floods went completely under water. He lost everything. Not only that, but his insurance company has left him high and dry.

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He went out and spent money at a big department store. Buying a lounge suite, dining suite, fridge, TV, washing machine, etc. However, the $1,000 did not cover all of this. If he had been in a relationship at the time and had several kids living with him, then yes he would have been able to purchase these things and all been okay. But, no, his ex-partner lives in New Zealand.

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Another friend of mine lost everything where she lived in Brisbane Street, Riverview. I guess I would have to say, fortunately for her, she was in a commission home and the fact she has four kids. Therefore, she was much better off being in the situation she lives in. The reason being, she would have gotten $400 for each of her kids. Although a few of them are adults, so I guess they would have gotten $1,000.00 each.

She is in another home now. However, the place she is in is not home for her. They are desperate for wardrobes so that they can pick all of their things mostly donations from friends up off the floor. As it has been 5 weeks since the floods this week. She is now starting to get very depressed and emotional. The past however many weeks were full of cleaning up, finding a place to live, moving in, getting pieces of second hand furniture for them to use in the new place. Nevertheless, where is the emotional support that these charities were asking for cash donations so that they could provide counselling for all of those affected by the floods?

Tonight, Sunday 20 February 2011, I read something that one of the ladies who often donates items for me to take out to Grantham has put on her facebook page. It says that $245 million has been donated for the flood victims, but only $13 million has been handed out.

These people need that money NOW. Not down the track. Alternatively there will be more homeless people and families as they cannot afford to purchase items to re furnish their homes, pay their outstanding bills and get on with life. Especially if their insurance companies have reneged on their payouts.

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Along with this, Goodna is waiting for papers to be signed off to say that they can have apprentices come in and plaster walls. Goodna has plaster coming out of their ears with so much of it being donated. However, unfortunately. they cannot get trades people to erect it. Unless they meet the criteria of being Queensland Registered Trades people or if from NSW, they have to be registered with the BSA. People who are perhaps qualified electricians, who have done plastering in the past, cannot go and do the plastering.

Cathy Beauchamp told me from Westlife Church who is running the coordination of many of the houses in Goodna being repaired … so much red tape is what is holding up some of these houses being worked on so that the families can start to move back in. Goodna is now like a ghost town except at the train station where commuters park their cars. You have to drive in the middle of the road where it is marked for no traffic access. The potholes are so huge on the actual road where you should be driving … They are like moon craters.

Cathy Beauchamp also said that double beds and queen size beds are almost impossible to come by when refurnishing these homes. She also told me that if the people of Goodna go to the Salvation Army, that they will be given a voucher for two major stores. With these vouchers, the people will get FREE BRAND NEW fridges and washing machines. I am curious to know why this is not offered to all victims if the floods in all the areas of the Ipswich and Brisbane districts. Not to mention the families who have lost their homes in the Lockyer Valley …

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I have got a Wish List from Grantham, but at the same time, I am also putting the word out for Toys. Along with a Wish List for the RNA. Unfortunately, I do not have the room at my own home to take the donations … So please see below for the contact details of the people who are running those venues

GRANTHAM WISH LIST THIS WEEK.

Dolphin torch batteries

Hoses

Insect repellent

Power boards; ext cords etc

Air freshener

Fabric softener

Paper towel

Mouth wash

Shaving cream

Bi-carb soda

Cooking oil

Mixed herbs

Picnic salt

Plain flour

Sultanas

White vinegar

Nothing could more exemplify how everything has been lost in this tiny community. They are a proud people. Obviously, everyone in Queensland is proud and loves the lifestyle we enjoy. No-one could have predicted this nor seen it in advance. The self-reliance that we traditionally associate with Queenslanders is no better on show than at this moment. It is a shame that it had to be under such incredible circumstances. But, as you know, with the despondency, with the desperation, there is also the elation and sometimes the frustration, but in the end Queensland will persevere.

Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition with regard to the recent floods and other natural disasters throughout Australia, including my own state of Victoria. This summer, more than any other in memory, has wrought devastation throughout our nation from floods, cyclones and bushfires. I offer my personal condolences to those who have tragically lost loved ones and those who have suffered loss of home or property.

In the first signs of the summer to come, floods hit Central Queensland in early January, severely affecting the towns of Bundaberg, Emerald, Dalby, Rockhampton and smaller settlements such as Theodore and Condamine. Hundreds of homes were inundated, dozens of businesses devastated and thousands of head of stock drowned. Separate floods hit the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. They hit central and northern Victoria as well as northern New South Wales. We were all shocked by the inland tsunami that went through Toowoomba and the flooding in the Lockyer Valley, particularly in Grantham and Murphys Creek. In that region alone, 20 lives were lost and nine, I understand, are still missing. Cyclone Yasi was deemed one of the worst cyclones to hit the north-east coast of Queensland in the last 90 years. And after that there was more flooding in Victoria. Finally, there were the fires in Western Australia on the eastern outskirts of Perth.

I can scarcely imagine the horror many people experienced in the face of these disasters. Australians have always been cognisant of the high prevalence of natural disasters on our island continent. However, these past months they have been particularly devastating and extensive. The impact of the disasters extends to the economic and social wellbeing of all affected communities

While my own suburban electorate of Aston did not suffer anywhere near the devastation of those towns in Queensland and western Victoria, it did not go unscathed. The local SES had tended over 400 calls due to the heavy rains; there were houses flooded and businesses seriously damaged. SES unit deputy controller Craig Carson described it as the worst flooding he had ever seen in the area. The council had to close over 20 roads over a single weekend. As always, the local SES, police and other emergency services did an outstanding job.

Local residents in Knox and Whitehorse in my electorate were also typically generous in their desire to help out fellow Australians in need outside of their own community. Don Smith and fellow volunteers from the Rowville CFA pulled together resources from the community, calling on donations of buckets, mops, floor cleaner and disposable gloves to help Victorian flood victims with the clean-up. Knox City Council offered specialist staff to the flood recovery in Queensland and in the Wimmera and Mallee areas of Victoria. Knox Gardens Cricket Club president, Rob Cottle, brought his club and the Knox Football Club together for a charity Twenty20 cricket match last week to raise funds for flood victims. Knox CFA volunteers from Scoresby and Ferntree Gully were sent to clean up in and around Rochester. Dozens of churches and local community groups held fundraisers or sent volunteers to help out. We have an incredibly strong sense of community in my electorate, and it is particularly demonstrated in times of crisis such as this.

As a small way of contributing to the clean-up effort, and in order to better understand the issues, I organised for several of my parliamentary colleagues and some of my local church leaders to visit some of the flood affected towns in western Victoria, in the electorate of Wannon where Dan Tehan is the federal member. Included in the group were Greg Hunt, Bruce Billson and Scott Ryan, as well as Judy Shaw and Sarah Eldridge from the Rowville Salvos and Senior Pastor Dale Stephenson from Crossway Baptist Church. At community meetings in the small town of Skipton we heard very raw emotions. Almost every business in the main street had had five feet of water through it. Many houses were uninhabitable. People spoke of the devastation that it had caused them, although one lady in tears gave thanks, noting that ‘at least no-one had died’. She had lost her business several days earlier but represented the typical stoicism of fellow Australians, particularly those in the country.

We became aware of the fact that floods can have all sorts of consequences on people’s lives. We assisted one elderly woman whose house was not flooded but whose septic tank was. Her problem was that the septic truck could not access her driveway in order to empty the septic tank because there were trees covering it. She was an elderly lady living by herself. So we were able to help out in a small way by just clearing the driveway so that that issue could be addressed. That is not something that you would immediately think about as a consequence of a flood. No doubt there are dozens and dozens, if not hundreds and thousands, of other smaller issues like that throughout the community.

While in Beaufort, we were able to assist in a small way with cleaning up houses and small businesses which were completely flooded. As a result of this trip, I called on Knox residents to join a Knox volunteer army to give whatever time they could spare to flood victims in western Victoria. As a consequence, I am aware of at least a few dozen people who will shortly be offering some service to help rebuild fences on agricultural properties that were affected by the floods.

I would like to pay tribute and give thanks to all those who have volunteered or who have given to the relief effort, whether they be from my electorate or elsewhere. We have seen incredible efforts and contributions made by so many, but particularly by the police, SES volunteers, health workers, CFA and defence personnel. The people of Australia have demonstrated our ingrained sense of defiance and mateship in the face of adversity. We have rolled up our sleeves and shouldered the collective burden to help others in distress.

This summer will always be remembered for the disasters that have occurred throughout our nation. The thoughts and prayers of Australians are with the loved ones of the 35 of our fellow Australians who died in the Queensland floods. We mourn with the family members of those who have perished. Over coming weeks, months and years, many Australians will face a journey of recovery but they will not face this journey alone. Our nation has lived through these tragedies together and we will rebuild together.

Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Wednesday, 2 February, we were told that Cairns had a real prospect of receiving a serious blow from a cyclone that was forming quite some distance to the east of us. It was closer to Fiji than it was to us; nevertheless it was one that we should watch. At that time, we had some concern about it but at Christmas time another cyclone that had crossed the coast south of us, around the Babinda area, had gone into a rain depression. It had not caused any serious structural damage but there had certainly been minor flooding. However, the one that came across our region on Boxing Day was the start of what ended up being the major floods that we saw travelling south. That weather affected the entire east coast of our country, down into Victoria. Nobody could have pre-empted the extent of the damage or the extent of the tragedy that unfolded. The ensuing loss of life was absolutely tragic.

As the flooding went through the region, it was interesting to see people immediately starting to pack up and go to the affected areas to offer their support. As the event unfolded, before the water even started to subside, not only our emergency services people but also private individuals were making arrangements to travel down into the affected areas to give their support. The whole nation mourned those lives lost in the floods. The graphic images that we saw of the floods touched everybody.

The spirit of recovery happened very, very quickly. We started to look at how we could rebuild this area. And while we were trying to rebuild our south-east corner, people in New South Wales and in Victoria were still waiting for the flood event to arrive. In Western Australia, up in the Kimberleys, there were massive floods in the Carnarvon area and, at the same time, bushfires in the south-western corner of Western Australia. You have to ask the question: what in the hell have we done wrong? There have been so many catastrophic events occurring in the same period of time.

We were just starting to breathe a sigh of relief, and a lot of resources were being sent down to the south-east corner to help with the rebuilding, when we were told that there was another cyclone heading towards us. I think initially people were not all that concerned—although I have to say they were very prepared. With Cyclone Larry in 1996 we saw what could happen with a significant cyclone, but travelling around the region now you hardly see where it was, even though it was only four or five years ago. So when we hear that these cyclones are coming we do not particularly worry about them. But as Yasi started to come closer and closer we began to have a much higher level of concern, because when you hear on radio news broadcasts that a cyclone is something like seven times bigger than Cyclone Tracy, you know you are in for a bit of a blow. For the six or eight hours leading up to it, when it was heading directly for Cairns, I started to get seriously concerned. I was once in the military. I was actually part of the cyclone recovery crew for Cyclone Tracy and also involved with Larry, so I was very much aware of what happens with a category 4 or category 5 storm and was starting to get seriously concerned.

Interestingly enough—and I guess this is what saved lives—the majority of people were prepared, and by the afternoon of Wednesday, 2 February there was hardly a person on the street. That in itself shows the high level of preparedness. People had themselves well and truly ready to go. I battened down that night with my neighbours—and their neighbours—in the downstairs area of their house so that we could give each other support, and it started to affect us late that evening and went on well into the night. Anybody who has gone through a cyclone understands how serious it can be. I woke up in the morning expecting a helluva lot more damage than there was. I was very happy and relieved that we had missed the bulk of it and that the size of cyclone they had talked about—more than seven times bigger—related more to the width of the eye than to the intensity of the winds.

The fact that we missed out on the eye meant that somebody else copped it. The whole area around Tully Heads was absolutely devastated by this event. In Cairns we were fortunate in that most of the damage was almost what you would call a compulsory pruning exercise for the vegetation. There was only a very small amount of structural damage due to the fact that we had been building to cyclone standards for a long time, but moving further south, particularly past Innisfail—and Innisfail was lucky that it missed the bulk of it this time as it was still in the process of being rebuilt—and down around Tully, Cardwell and Mission Beach the devastation was absolutely profound. We are fortunate that there was very little loss of life. We did have one unfortunate death. We were without power for a long time and a man who was operating a generator in an enclosed area passed away due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Immediately after the cyclone, you started to see the community spirit and the way the volunteers come out. It was amazing how quickly not only our emergency services but our police and the Ergon Energy and Telstra people got people reconnected. There are people today who are still waiting for power, but generators have been brought in. The way in which it was handled was amazing.

I have to say that, leading up to the storm, I did actually receive a call from the Prime Minister, and I appreciated that. I also had a number of calls from the Leader of the Opposition, and I was really pleased to see him arrive immediately after the event to offer support for those who were affected.

There were a number of things that really touched me. Within days we had people wanting to travel down to the area; they were giving so much of themselves. We had people down there setting up food vans, to provide free food to the workers and what have you, struggling to get through to these areas. I got a phone call from a lady in Adelaide who had been providing pallets of different supplies into the flood affected areas. She had 15 pallets left over, and she was looking for directions so she could send them up to Cardwell and Tully. The Castaways Resort on Mission Beach had been absolutely destroyed, but they still had rooms available—even though they had no generators or anything like that. They put 14 displaced families into those rooms, at no charge. They cooked on barbecues and open fires and what have you. Such was the generosity of spirit at that time. There was a caravan park in Cardwell, a couple of streets back, that actually survived the devastation. They were looking for generators, and they provided a lot of accommodation for emergency workers and those who went down there to offer that support.

In Cairns probably the only major casualty was an 87-year-old, Mrs Cecelia McMillan, from one of our inner suburbs, who lost not only the roof of her house but everything in it. Unfortunately, as we see with many of these insurance situations, her house, built in 1975, suffered $175,000 damage but there was only $85,000 worth of insurance. At 87 years of age the chance of being able to raise the difference is going to be very low. Nevertheless, her neighbours, the Miotto family, came to the rescue. As I speak here tonight, she is still living with them. Already the community is starting to rally. We now have a deficit of about $50,000, which the community, in its generosity, is helping to raise so that this lady can get back into her house.

There have been some difficult things, though, which have caused me some concern. When we have a circumstance like this I think it is important that we put the politics aside, because we have to work as a community. I was very disappointed that, in spite of requests to our local mayor to keep me informed in relation to the disaster centre, because my phones were running hot—I was pleading with her to have me involved as part of the centre, so I had an idea of what was occurring and could pass it on—I am still waiting for that phone call, to invite me to be part of that. We need to put that sort of thing, the politics, aside in emergencies like this. We all have a contribution that we can make in offering support in our communities, and I think it is important that we do that. I hope that future mayors will see the importance of engaging the federal member in the disaster relief centres so they are able to be briefed, as are other community leaders, and are able to be part of helping to find solutions to some of the challenges that we face.

There are some other serious issues I would like to raise here, because they are very serious. Our hospital was evacuated. This is a newly refurbished hospital. Unfortunately, we had to sell our airport to pay for a new hospital—the only community in Australia to have to do so—which has not even been started yet, so they refurbished an old waterfront building that they had. The 350-odd patients had to be relocated to Brisbane because it was revealed that not only would the hospital not withstand the storm surge but it also could not withstand category 5 winds. So for over 24 hours we had a situation where we had a major community of over 250,000 people that was without a hospital—no hospital whatsoever. All of these sick people were relocated in Hercules aircraft down to Brisbane. We had a child born in a sports centre that was not category-5 graded—so, had the storm hit, there was no way in the world that building would have withstood those winds. We had another situation where a doctor took a sick child from the sports centre to his own home, because he was fearful that the child might die during the night. That sort of thing is totally unacceptable and we need to start to address it. We need to start to get this hospital built and we need to do it without delay.

As I speak here tonight, there are still 29 people—patients from the hospital—stranded in Brisbane. Queensland Health were very quick to move them out but unfortunately, when it came to moving them back, that was somebody else’s problem. Frankly, a lot of these people are quite ill and some of the problems fell to the Flying Doctor. They had to try to schedule people back on regular flights. That is quite unacceptable and we need to look at building a new hospital sooner rather than later. We cannot see this occur into the future.

One of the other major problems we have in Cairns is that, although we were not structurally devastated, the business community has been devastated by these events—the flood followed by the cyclone. Unfortunately we are predominantly a tourist town and, going back even as early as before Christmas, people were cancelling their accommodation and their travel to Cairns in droves because they assumed that we were either flooded or blown away. The reality is that those making the cancellations from Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra were closer to the flood event than we were in Cairns. The impact on our businesses was quite profound.

There is a real push now to get our businesses re-established. This is an area that has had the highest unemployment in Australia for the last two or three years, so these businesses are coming off a very low base. We are really looking for support for these businesses, and I think it is important to realise that, while the structural damage might not have happened, these businesses are just as affected by these events. The generous support that I see happening around the Tully and Cardwell areas, and to a degree in the Brisbane area, also needs to happen in places like Cairns and other areas that are equally affected in a different way.

Another thing we have some serious concerns about is that as a community we need to be given the opportunity to rebuild ourselves. Our region was built by our own tradespeople. What is happening—and there is major concern about this—is that there is a large influx of tradespeople to the area who are being offered opportunities, predominantly through the insurance companies with prearranged agreements. We have people like Peter Campbell, who is a fully qualified electrician, unemployed—he can’t get a job—and they are flying them in from other areas. It is a bizarre situation.

A fellow by the name of Rob Fraser, a builder in Cairns, was so concerned about this that on Wednesday, 16 February he called a meeting and with only 24 hours notice had over 450 builders and subbies attend. At this meeting we established a register whereby we are pleading with the state government, the federal government, the local government and the insurance companies to give the locals a go, because if you are going to start to rebuild a community the bricks and the mortar is the easy part.

A community is more than bricks and mortar. You have that of course, but it is also the social and economic fabric of a community that makes a whole community. You will not be able to rebuild your community with bricks and mortar alone; you need to give economic opportunities by allowing the community to rebuild itself. There is going to be a lot of money going into those communities in the next couple of years, and locals need to be given priority as primary contractors in these areas. Then they will do the infrastructure, and building the economic capacity in those areas will help rebuild the social infrastructure in the community as well. So it is absolutely critical that is being considered.

I had a very serious concern with the state government only a couple of days ago. They have just announced the delivery contractors for the restoration works for their natural disaster relief effort of over $30 million. It is from the state government department of transport. You would have thought that, with the commitments that had been given by the Premier, Anna Bligh, we would be allowed to rebuild our own community. You would have thought that the government would have heard this. The 450 tradesmen and contractors that attended the meeting were, all the time, paid lip service of: ‘Yes, we’re going to do something. We’ll make sure it happens.’

Yet the three contractors that have been given the far northern region are national contractors. None of them even have an office in Cairns. Small civil contractors, which are approved for government works up to $150 million, did not even got a look in. This is the sort of work that CEC, which employs over 200 people in Cairns, does and they have not even been considered. They are on their knees already and they are going to get knocked over unless they get an opportunity. Glenwood Homes, which is one of the last of our big builders, is still standing, although only just, but has been excluded from any opportunity to be part of the rebuilding.

Tonight as I speak on this condolence motion I plead with all levels of government to give our locals a go. We have to give them a chance to rebuild the community because they are the ones that are going to be there in the end. If this does not occur we will find that more and more of our people will leave our area. The tragedies that we have experienced over the last six months, the series of events and the tragic loss of life have impacted on all of us in the area. We have to also remember the generous spirit and fantastic work that has been done by so many people. We have a wonderful community and we have an opportunity to rebuild. I am sure the resources will be made available to rebuild but, as a community, we need an opportunity to do that ourselves.

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

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker Murphy, and I am very pleased to see you, of course, competently handling the chair, as you always do.

John Murphy (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you.

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

The Deputy Speaker is, obviously, very correct in his response to my remark. I think that I would not have anyone argue with me when I say that Queenslanders and Australians more generally are resilient, determined and courageous. They are qualities that have been borne out again this year given the untoward tragedies throughout Queensland and the tragedies which have also occurred in other parts of Australia. In Queensland we had two major tragedies within a very short space of time. We had the flooding which swept through Brisbane, Ipswich, Toowoomba and other parts of South-East Queensland including the Lockyer Valley. And, of course, that flooding extended to other states of New South Wales, Victoria and parts of South Australia. Then we had the bushfires in Western Australia in which some 70 homes were lost.

As Australians we have a lot to be proud of. We have a parliament which does respect the will of the people. Every three years we have an election and, while we might sometimes quibble with the result, we cannot quibble with the process. Australians are able to endorse or reject the government of their choice and this is not a situation which occurs in every country in the world. We are also a resourceful people. We have, perhaps, an understandable distrust of authority, but most Australians, regardless of where they stand politically, are very good people, they feel keenly for their fellow Australians and they are more than happy to extend a helping hand when that helping hand is needed by those fellow Australians.

I have to say that all of us have listened, watched and participated in what has happened and also, of course, in the reconstruction efforts. The resilience and determination shown by so many people right across this vast continent make us all feel very humble. They might be human qualities, but they are also qualities that have captured the hearts and minds of everyone. There were, in many cases, people who lost everything and yet even some of those who lost all were prepared to help others. They turned aside from their own tragedy and were prepared to look at those people who were even worse off.

Australians do not give up; Australians will not be gutted. Australians who are dealt a major blow will bounce back. It is what we have always been about as a nation, and it has been vividly and clearly demonstrated in the light of the floods, the fire and Cyclone Yasi. I suppose we really are a continent that stretches across the Tasman, and the tragedy in Christchurch today shows that New Zealand is not immune from the forces of nature. The tragedy which has occurred there, while it may well be of a different nature from the tragedy experienced on mainland Australia, is still very much significant and every bit as great as what has occurred here in Australia.

My own parents, who are now in their 80s, live in Ipswich, which was very badly affected by floodwaters. My parents, fortunately, were not personally affected but they have many friends who were. Businesses were completely inundated, and many of those businesses will find it very difficult to survive. My friends, the members for Blair and Oxley, have outlined what has happened in that Ipswich area.

I was also incredibly moved by the contribution made by the honourable member for Wright when he spoke about what had happened in the Lockyer Valley. There have also been discussions in relation to Toowoomba in the speeches made by honourable members. I think most of us saw that YouTube video of the inland tsunami which engulfed so many cars and people in the main street of the city, which had been devastated by drought for more than a decade. I understand that people were not even able to wash their cars in Toowoomba because of the plight the city had experienced as a result of lack of water and the impact of drought.

Many people would ask, as I think all in this place would ask: how on earth could such a thing happen—a tsunami of the nature that we saw occurring in a place that had been engulfed by drought for more than a decade? I found that video of a car driving away from other cars which were being engulfed by the waves particularly interesting. It really brought home to me in a very clear, chilling and concise way the personal tragedy that was being experienced there, which of course represented the tragedy that was being experienced in other parts of the state of Queensland and the nation.

I want to commend all sides of politics for our determination as a community to help those people who have lost so much to rebuild. While the different sides of politics might have arguments with regard to a flood levy and whether it should be imposed not, no-one in the parliament actually opposes the principal that the government of Australia should play its part in helping the reconstruction. The argument is really over how it is going to be funded. Of course, I do not want to say that is a secondary argument, because it is an important argument; but what I think is really reassuring is that all of us believe that as a nation we have a role to play.

The story of the heroic teen in Toowoomba, Jordan Rice, and his self-sacrifice and love for his younger brother Blake has touched us all. He was prepared to give up his own life to save his younger brother. I have a staff member who grew up in Toowoomba. His parents and family members live there, but thankfully they were not harmed.

I have another staff member who lives in Brisbane. He had settled on the purchase of a home only to be told, seven days later, to expect seven metres of water to come right through his home. He was fortunate to suffer only minor damage to his home, but he spent a considerable amount of time heavily involved in the clean-up. He helped rid the streets of toxic mud, helped clean up damaged belongings and did all that he could to help the victims get back on their feet as soon as possible—to help them try to resume a normal life again. He has told me of close friends he has whose homes went completely under water, losing everything they owned and causing considerable structural damage.

Another of my staff was trapped for several days by floodwaters north of Gympie, but she was able to help a number of tourists and overseas visitors get back on the road as soon as the floodwaters subsided. These natural disasters have touched everyone. There are few people in Queensland who do not have family or friends who were impacted in a personal way by the flooding disaster or later by the cyclone disaster. At least 35 lives were lost in the floods and quite rightly those floods will be the subject of a wide-reaching commission of inquiry.

Following the floods, just when people thought that life was trying to return to normal, as indeed it was, our state was hit by Cyclone Yasi—a massive system that had a front stretching some 600 kilometres and which brought high winds of up to 300 kilometres per hour, heavy rain, storm surges and damage to a massive section of North Queensland. My former mother-in-law was in hospital in Townsville at the time the cyclone hit. Her husband was once the mayor of Townsville and had been a member of the state parliament and a member of the Queensland cabinet, but sadly he has passed on. My former mother-in-law is a resilient person, but she is in a very precarious state of health. So you can imagine what it was like for her, being in her hospital room, hearing the wind whistling around and, while she could not actually see anything, feeling the terror of what was being experienced. I think that, when we saw the video footage and the television coverage of the damage caused to North Queensland and Far North Queensland by the cyclone and more widely in Queensland by the floods, it really seemed unbelievable to us.

But, again, the resilience and determination of the people has provided a silver lining. Our state is accustomed to annual cyclones, but we have not, in recent times, experienced such devastation in such an ongoing way, in such a gross way and in such a diverse manner. The television images and newspaper photographs of the damage revealed a vivid and breathtaking picture of what has been a nightmare. It would be hard to even imagine something like this on such a massive scale, but it requires no imagination because it is so real. It still requires contemplation and reflection to try to absorb properly and to understand the immensity of these tragedies. Had we not seen it and, for many Queenslanders, experienced it, we may not have believed that such a chain of events was possible. To be hit with Cyclone Yasi just weeks after the floods and while some areas were still flooded is incomprehensible. Now, as a community, we have to deal with the consequences.

The damage bill from the floods is estimated to be around $5.6 billion. This was then backed up by the damage from Yasi, estimated at some $500 million. Anyone who saw those frightening satellite images of Yasi—and I suspect that just about all of us did—as it approached the Queensland coastline and who heard the sheer terror in the voices of radio interviewees preparing to face this monster are well aware of how incredible the weather system was. With that in mind, the extent of the damage is really no surprise. But then again, the will of the people to stand up to the worst of nature and do what is needed to rebuild is a heartening and uplifting fact.

The way in which Queenslanders have banded together with the assistance of their fellow Australians to tackle the clean-up and begin the rebuilding highlights the positive and good side of the community. This love of community is reflected so often in our society and I applaud all of those people who give so much to make sure that their fellow Australians are assisted in their time of desperate need.

As a Queenslander I feel sometimes that we should probably apologise because, while we focus on Queensland because of the hugeness of the tragedy in our state, we ought not forget that in other parts of our country, in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia—I look at the member for Fremantle opposite and at you, Mr Deputy Speaker Murphy—different tragedies of varying natures have occurred. Now, today, there has been a horrible earthquake across the Tasman.

As Australians, and as New Zealanders, we have a lot to be proud of. We face incredible adversity, as we have over the last few weeks, yet somehow we manage to come through. Somehow we manage to put aside our political differences to focus on what needs to be done. There might be differences on how what needs to be done should be paid for, but we do not disagree on our obligation to meet the need of those who have great requirements at this difficult time.

Every cloud has a silver lining. While these tragedies are not things you would wish on anybody, in adversity we often see the best coming out in people. The way in which Australians have responded and are responding to this great need is something that should make all of us feel truly humbled.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion moved by the Prime Minister and seconded by the Leader of the Opposition. On behalf of my electorate of Bradfield I strongly support the motion. Australia has suffered great loss this summer. Above all, we have suffered the loss of life. We mourn those who have been lost and think of their families, loved ones and friends. We think also of those who have been injured and are recuperating. We wish all of them a speedy and full recovery. We have seen enormous losses of homes, businesses, farms and personal possessions. People who have spent lifetimes working towards building their homes or businesses have found this effort washed away or burned to the ground in little more than an instant. This summer we have also seen the loss of public infrastructure—roads, railways, bridges and ports.

It has been both heartbreaking and inspiring to hear members of this House whose electorates have been directly affected talk of the experiences of those in their communities, to hear of the extent of the grief and loss and to hear the demonstrations of strength and courage. Perhaps the most serious of the natural disasters that afflicted Australia this summer was the floods in Queensland. Sadly, this was only one of many. We saw also the devastation of Cyclone Yasi and the impact of floods in Victoria. New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania have also been affected, and recently Western Australia suffered from very serious bushfires.

Those Australians who have suffered loss in this summer of flood, cyclone and fire have to start again to rebuild their lives. In some cases they will be rebuilding their lives without loved ones. In many other cases they will be rebuilding their lives without the homes, businesses or treasured possessions that were previously part of those lives. Governments, too, need to start the task of rebuilding lost or damaged infrastructure. This rebuilding process requires determination, resilience and courage. These are traits, as many of my colleagues have already observed, that reside in the Australian spirit. I do not say—none of us say—they are unique to the Australian spirit, but they are certainly traits that reside very firmly in the Australian spirit. We live in a harsh and unforgiving country. In our recent history success has required hard work, determination and the ability to deal with adversity and setback. Throughout our history we have seen that in times of crisis Australians pull together—be it in conflict or war or in the many natural disasters that our country has experienced.

Many Australians have been directly affected by the disasters of this summer. Equally, many Australians who live in areas distant from the events have not suffered in a direct sense. We live in a world of modern and instant communications. This brings great benefit, as we can see instantly what is happening. But there is also a risk of becoming numb to the tide of suffering and loss when we see it daily in our newspapers, on the nightly news or on the internet. My very strong impression is that it is the first effect that has prevailed in Australia this summer. It seems to me that Australia as a whole has been connected to and shared in the loss and suffering that those directly impacted have felt. The broadcast, print and online media have done a very important job in allowing all Australians to witness the events in many parts of the country and in triggering appropriate responses. We have seen an outpouring of emotion and support from individuals and communities all around the country. We have seen very generous donations of money, goods and effort from Australians to support relief efforts and we have seen a remarkable volunteering spirit demonstrated yet again in supporting those who have suffered a direct impact.

In my own electorate of Bradfield I have been proud to witness the contributions that have been made. We are geographically remote from the areas that have suffered this summer, but it is clear that those in my electorate feel deeply the suffering of their fellow Australians. More than that, they have wanted to do something, and have done something, to assist. Many individuals and groups in Bradfield have provided financial and other support. Let me provide just a few examples. The Lions Club of Hornsby held a range of events, including bucket appeals, a singalong by choristers from the Sydney Philharmonic and a sausage sizzle, and raised over $15,000. The Lions Club of Ku-ring-gai raised over $5,000. West Pymble Public School raised $9,500 in an ‘obstacle-a-thon’ in which students did laps of a giant inflatable obstacle course.

I want to mention particularly Mr Stephen Cha, who lives in Pymble in my electorate. Stephen is the assistant pastor at the Chatswood Open Door Church in the neighbouring electorate of North Sydney, which has a Korean congregation of around 600 people, many of whom live in Bradfield. Stephen organised seven of his congregation, from all over Sydney, to drive to Queensland in a van to help out. The church donated $5,000 to fund the trip. Stephen and his team ended up in the suburb of Goodna, which is on the edge of Ipswich, about 20 kilometres from Brisbane. Half of Goodna had been submerged by the floods. Stephen and his team spent four days cleaning out homes—cleaning gutters and windows, sweeping floors, removing nails from walls—in preparation for homes to be rebuilt. Stephen recounts that those impacted by the floods were devastated at their loss, but at the same time managed to be cheerful and grateful for the volunteer support. Stephen was struck by the fact that in the areas where he and his team were working volunteers had come from all parts of Australia—driving in, flying in, doing whatever they had to do to get there and help. What has been done by people from around Australia, including, I am proud to say, people from my own electorate, is an inspiration.

Let me also pay particular tribute to those who have had a direct responsibility to assist. The remarkable work of the various emergency services—the SES, police, fire, ambulance and defence personnel—has been truly impressive. It has been particularly impressive to see organisations from multiple states going into the state that is most afflicted in a particular instance. The work of many charities is remarkable. As a former executive in the telecommunications sector, let me particularly commend that industry for its work in rapidly restoring network where it had been damaged or destroyed. That is a challenge after every natural disaster, and you find across the industry people from all companies working very long hours, going the extra mile to get the network up and serving the people who need it as quickly as possible. I want to pay tribute in particular to our leaders for the way they have conducted themselves throughout the crises that Australia has faced. I include in that the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard; the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott; the Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh; and leaders at many levels and in many other parts of Australia.

It is natural that we should focus our attention and support in the immediate aftermath of the disasters that have devastated many parts of Australia. The path to rebuilding lives, homes and businesses, however, is a long one. A key challenge will be when all the attention dies down. Support from across Australia will be needed well into the future. It is important that governments know this and act on this basis, as it is that all Australians continue to provide support until lives and communities are rebuilt. The parliament has an important role in facilitating a continuing focus on the rebuilding effort and maintaining support and momentum. Australia has suffered considerably over the last few months. I am confident that, as we respond to these challenges and rebuild, we will emerge better and stronger. Out of loss and destruction new life will emerge and communities will be rebuilt better than before. That is, I am sure, the hope and expectation of my constituents in the seat of Bradfield, and I am very happy to convey that hope and expectation to the parliament today.

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Science, Technology and Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Many members have stood in this House and regaled us with stories of great heroism, survival, tragedy and sadness. And whilst those stories have become matters of public record, history will record some of the great deeds that were done during the floods. I want to put on the public record my thanks to our fighting men and women, who did so much for so many in a time of need. For so many years Australia’s fighting men and women have come to the fore not just to protect Australia’s interests at home and abroad but to protect Australians in a time of desperate need in national emergencies. It is fitting that I focus just on what our fighting men and women, the Australian Defence Force, contributed during that horror period of some weeks, not just in Queensland but around the country, when Mother Nature wreaked her worst across this wide brown land we call home.

In the aftermath of the devastation in Queensland, Headquarters Joint Task Force 637 commenced Operation Queensland Flood Assist. This task force, based at Enoggera Barracks in Brisbane, was commanded by Major General Mick Slater, who was seconded to the Commonwealth to lead Queensland’s flood recovery. Major General Mick Slater is a Queenslander and a former commander of Australian led forces in East Timor. He earned a Distinguished Service Cross for his command in East Timor and he was also the commander of Army’s 1st Division based at Gallipoli Barracks. In March 2006 he led the response to Cyclone Larry. I assure the nation that Major General Slater is a bloody good bloke and doing an outstanding job. At the time, ADF Commander Colonel Luke Foster also assumed command. He was replaced by Brigadier McLachlan, who assumed command of the joint task force on 17 January.

In fact, ADF elements have been assisting since December 28 in Queensland and have roamed across the country. At the height of the disasters more than 1,900 Army, Navy and Air Force personnel were deployed to support the Queensland people and across Victoria as well. Elements of the 6th Battalion, who were reserve forces staying back when the battalion deployed to war, were sent out to assist. Men and women were recalled from leave to assist in the same manner. The ADF also provided significant specialist capabilities and, importantly, the manpower that was desperately needed in the aftermath of the floods and Cyclone Yasi. Troops from the 8th/9th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment were deployed to the heart-wrenching search and recovery task in Grantham and the Lockyer Valley. Soldiers from Gallipoli Barracks at Enoggera were deployed to assist with general support. ADF helicopters provided a vital early response, brought in supplies and conducted some of the most daring airlift rescues during the day and, more importantly, at night. The commanders of those aircraft said operational flying in Afghanistan and Iraq did not compare to what they had to endure, especially on that fateful night of Tuesday, 11 January.

Our fighting men and women brought more than great logistic resources; they brought one of the finest things needed in time of disaster—they brought confidence. There can be nothing better than to see the joy of people, who had been on the ground struggling, when armoured protected mobility vehicles, Bushmasters, came along with hundreds of soldiers. It let the communities know they were not forgotten and that, indeed, the Defence Force—that fighting capacity of Anzac renown—had come to support them. The confidence that brings to communities is second to none, which is what person after person accounted to me. They felt sheer joy at seeing our men and women in uniform turning up. It let them know that they were not alone.

At one point 19 aircraft were flying continuously out of RAAF Base Amberley in support of the Queensland operation. Navy clearance divers were used to survey all of Brisbane’s 16 river bridges for damage and blockages. HMAS Huon commenced operations on 18 January fitted with, obviously, sophisticated sonar equipment to search the debris that posed navigational hazards to shipping in Moreton Bay and the Brisbane River—particularly good use for a Minehunter I would have thought.

Joint task force 664 was established under the command of Brigadier Stewart Smith of 3rd Brigade to deal with the Cyclone Yasi response. Specialist aviation engineering, health and logistic assets were on standby. Patients were transferred from Cairns to Brisbane completely emptying the Cairns Base Hospital on board a Royal Australian Air Force C130 Hercules and two C17 Globemasters. Fifty elderly Townsville residents were also transferred from a nursing home and the ADF assisted Queensland police in droves. My only disappointment in the ADF response was the lack of an amphibious capability that would have been desperately needed. However that is a matter of the public record.

If we work through on a day-by-day basis the nation can get a feel for the capability and resources that the ADF put into assisting victims. On 1 January a RAAF Hercules flew to flood devastated Emerald where 1,200 people had already abandoned their homes. The last route to Rockhampton had been cut, Madam Deputy Speaker Livermore, the member for Capricornia, as three Defence Force helicopters provided the city’s only lifeline of food and medical supplies—which is lucky for you because you are probably too thin already!

On 3 January Defence personnel working closely with Queensland emergency services provided subject matter expertise as well as the planning and coordination of the ADF support. They provided support in evacuating people from Theodore, Emerald and Condamine. Emergency food drops were conducted and medical supplies were also provided. Three Army Black Hawk helicopters provided relief support for Emerald and relocated to Rockhampton for relief work along the Fitzroy River.

On 5 January a C130-J Hercules delivered groceries to Mackay. Air Force personnel were working 12 hours around the clock loading pallets onto aircraft. Resupply flights were occurring up to three times a day. Fifty tonnes of groceries, including long-life milk, Weet-Bix, batteries, pasta, rice, baked beans, Coke, toilet paper, nappies and baby formula have been delivered to Rockhampton and Mackay to keep our regional cities moving.

On 6 January the Royal Australian Navy evacuated the local hospital in the town of St George. In fact not even a lightning strike could stop the delivery of rescue supplies from RAAF Base Amberley. A Hercules transport aircraft was forced to return after being hit by lightning during a supply mission.

RAAF Base Richmond C130 aircraft and Defence staff based at Richmond began airlifting supplies north to flood-stricken Queensland towns. Townsville based Chinooks started bringing in water filtration plants.

Royal Australian Navy Commander Paul Moggach and his aircraft commander, Lieutenant Commander Tanzi Lea, were recorded trying to reach flood victims in the Lockyer Valley. It is recorded that low cloud, high winds, a lightning storm and rain that came in like a wall all combined to make it impossible, yet they still landed.

On 11 January—that fateful Tuesday night—two Sea King helicopters redeployed from Roma, then to Oakey and then to Amberley along with two more Black Hawk helicopters, Black Hawk 220 and 201, also based at Amberley. These four helicopters evacuated up to 300 people from Forest Hill to an evacuation centre in Gatton.

Indeed, the crew of one aircraft alone, Black Hawk 201, that fateful night rescued 146 people. Hundreds of people are alive because four platforms—two Black Hawk and two Sea Hawk aircraft—responded in dreadful conditions, at night with full night-vision goggles in torrential rain. The conditions were horrendous, with powerlines down—antennas everywhere—but they kept flying throughout the night.

On 12 January, 223 ADF personnel along with 15 helicopters, six fixed-wing aircraft, trucks, a water purification detachment and other ADF specialist equipment were flown in to start assisting communities. On 13 January Private Mitchell Mead, a reservist with the 9th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, was pictured in the newspaper unloading local sandbags. With him were most of the 9th Battalion, including trucks. The entire Army Reserve unit turned out to support their community: 15 Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles; 16 trucks; an ambulance and over 100 troops were deployed to Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley to commence the clean-up and the search and rescue.

Amazing stories started to appear about what our fighting men and women were doing. Tonnes of food were arriving by 16 January at Townsville base, No. 1 Airfield Operations Support Squadron. Twenty-five reservists from Delta Company, the 9th Battalion of the Royal Queensland Regiment, were in Gympie to assist the Gympie Regional Council as part of its civil restoration. The minesweeper Huon was by that time working in Moreton Bay looking for debris. Two Royal Australian Navy hydrographic ships were assisting and 600 ADF personnel were working in communities in Brisbane, Toowoomba, Rockhampton, Townsville, Amberley, Roma, Theodore and St George. C-17 Globemaster and C-130 Hercules aircraft and many other aviation assets not deployed in our combat zones were by then working in South-East Queensland.

It was an unbelievable effort from our defence force in aid of the civil community. And nothing illustrates the ADF’s effort better—without diminishing anything that our individual sailors, soldiers and airmen did—than the story of the Blackhawk 201 and the two Sea King aircraft that flew that fateful night of Tuesday 11 January. Corporal TJ Southwood, Lieutenant Colonel Tim Witenden, Petty Officer Nicholas Anderson, Lieutenant Commander Scott Palmer, Chief Petty Officer Kerwyn Ballico, Lieutenant Simon Driessen, Corporal Rob Nelson, Warrant Officer Tony Young and Sergeant Bryson—these are the names of some of the pilots and crew that flew those four airframes, rescuing up to 300 Queenslanders trapped on roofs, in ceilings and on top of carports, many of them waiting for eight hours in the most horrendous conditions of rain, squall and storm.

You can almost picture it. Mum, dad and the kids are huddled on the roof, unsure. Phone lines are down and there is no electricity. They do not even know whether anyone knows where they are. Suddenly a sound fills the air above the raging storm, lights start to flash in between the raindrops and a black, thunderous shape stops above them. A man comes down in a sling, trying not to swing wildly as the breeze picks him up. The winch operator is trying to land him on an area the size of a desk in these tremendous conditions.

If you looked up from that roof you would have seen in the cockpit two pilots, night-vision goggles covering their eyes, desperately trying to keep the helicopter in a hover in horrendous conditions. You would have seen a winch operator hanging out the side of an aircraft, saturated, with night-vision goggles steamed up, in the most horrendous conditions, trying to avoid live powerlines as he sends a junior soldier down the wire to begin picking up people. That is how over 300 were rescued that night—person by person, house by house. That shows the calibre of the fighting men and women that we have. It is the calibre of those who rescued Australians.

Who can forget that immortalised image of a warrant officer, saturated, exhausted, goggles fogged up from the heat of his breathing in his eyes, holding a bedraggled small child, completely saturated, that he literally snatched to bring back up into a helicopter? As my parliamentary colleagues quite rightly talk about the flood and its victims, the horror, the sadness, the joys and the delights and the heroes, just let me put on the record that there is a group of men and women, up to 2,000, who served our nation because the Minister of Defence called them out. They got their heels together and served, as do almost 3,000 of our fighting men and women across the world today. Many of them are unsung heroes. Many of them will not know the results of their actions on those fateful days and that fateful night, yet their saving of hundreds of lives is without doubt and beyond dispute because of the capability and the capacity of our fighting men and women.

We as a nation are truly blessed to have such a professional fighting force that is so well trained and so willing to risk all to save the lives of other Australians. It is a credit to the Anzac spirit. It is a credit to us as a nation. Whilst no-one would wish such a devastating flood and cyclone upon us again, I know in my heart that, should such devastation again visit our shores, our fighting men and women will once again rise to the challenge, because that is who they are and that is what they do. If I can speak on behalf of all Queenslanders and all those in Victoria who were so ably assisted and so ably helped, we thank them for their service, which went above and beyond.

Kirsten Livermore (Capricornia, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Fadden for ending the debate on the condolences motion on that note. I understand that it is the wish of honourable members to signify at this stage their respect and sympathy by rising in their places.

Honourable members having stood in their places—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the committee.

Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That further proceedings be conducted in the House.

Question agreed to.