Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House:

(1)

express its condolences at the tragic loss of life and damage to property suffered by the people of New Zealand in the Christchurch earthquake;

(2)

extend its profound sympathies to the families and friends of the Australians whose lives have been lost in this tragedy;

(3)

express its gratitude and admiration to the Australian police and emergency response personnel who are assisting the recovery effort; and

(4)

pledge any further help that may be required as New Zealand undertakes the process of recovery and rebuilding.

On Friday the Governor-General, the Leader of the Opposition and I travelled to New Zealand for the memorial service which was held in Christchurch. We met there with our counterparts the Governor-General of New Zealand and Prime Minister John Key, with opposition leader Phil Gough also in attendance at this very special ceremony. I do not think it would be showing any disrespect to the Leader of the Opposition or to myself to say that excitement was generated more by the attendance of Prince William than it was by the attendance of either of us. He, too, was there to show his condolences and respects to the people of New Zealand.

The setting was an open air park. The service was attended by almost 100,000 people. I have never seen 100,000 people like that on one flat plain in front of me before. It was truly an astonishing sight. We tend to only see crowds of that size when they are in tiered sporting venues. This was a huge crowd, which had come to pay its respects and to grieve together.

The ceremony was simple and it was moving. More than 300 family members who have lost loved ones were in attendance to grieve with their friends, with their city. The congregation was awash with the Canterbury colours of red and black, and a young performer, a woman who now strides the international stage but comes from Christchurch, Hayley Westenra, sang Amazing Grace unaccompanied, and I do not think there was any spine amongst that crowd that did not feel a shiver along it. She was truly remarkable in giving voice I think to the grief and pain on that day. We know that New Zealanders in their own country and around the world stopped to watch that memorial service. Five hundred Christchurch students who have been taken in by the University of Adelaide did so.

I saw more than grief on the faces of the people in that crowd: I saw guts, I saw determination and I saw hope. Christchurch has to be strong, because 166 people have been lost, including two Australians—a remarkable number of lives to lose. Around one-third of the structures in Christchurch’s central business district require demolition. I did have the opportunity to look at the central business district. It is truly eerie to walk through a CBD with no-one else in it and to look at buildings that have stickers: red for demolition, orange for danger. There is so much there to do. The reconstruction will cost between NZ$10 billion to NZ$15 billion. So this is all staggering for New Zealand to come back from, but something that is more staggering indeed is the amount of hope amongst the New Zealand people. New Zealand has hope. A great city has been hard hit, but a great nation is standing tall.

On 22 February shocked and bleeding people were walking around Christchurch literally crying for their city, as one journalist described it. Today those same people are cleaning up and preparing to rebuild. Indeed, a sign which said ‘Rise up, Christchurch,’ floated above the memorial service. That sign said it all, because Christchurch will rise up again better and safer than it was before.

None of us will ever forget the images of that day: of the office buildings crumpled to the ground; of the historic cathedral spire, which was smashed to pieces; and of people walking around with blood running down their faces. But within moments the Anzac spirit did click into place; passers-by began pulling people from the rubble. We saw families take total strangers into their homes, and by sunset Australian rescue teams were already on the ground.

Amid the devastation there were moments of hope, like the rescue of Anne Bodkin from the collapsed Pyne Gould building by a New South Wales search and rescue team. She had miraculously survived after 25 hours under the rubble. Christchurch MP Brendon Burnes described how Aussies and Kiwis stood shoulder to shoulder lifting her down for the last couple of metres.

There was a spirit of stoicism and resolve there that we could have recognised in any Australian community hit by a natural disaster. There was also that same spirit that we have come to know here: a couple interviewed alongside the pile of rubble that used to be their house literally said, ‘We’re okay, there are others who are worse off.’ There has also been a spirit of larrikinism at times, and that is familiar too. A man called Robin Judkins was interviewed and said that the thing he was craving after many long days was a hot meal, as he had not had one. He finally found a store selling hot pies and, ecstatic, he bought two. He said that a pie had never tasted so good, and added with great enthusiasm that it was an Aussie pie. We are happy to keep providing those!

More than 750 Australian personnel have assisted Christchurch—some of the finest search and rescue teams in the world: paramedics, counsellors, Centrelink officers and rescue coordinators. Generous donations have been made to the New Zealand government’s Christchurch earthquake appeal. This is tax deductible, so if Australians want to make a gift then it can be deducted as a deductible gift.

Perhaps most visibly, 144 Australian police went over to keep the streets of Christchurch safe. We met with some of those police when we were there on Friday—I am sure that the Leader of the Opposition recalls it too. Sgt Stuart Edgell, with a nod to Peter Allen, sang to us. He sang about a bunch of Aussie cops who call Australia home, who have come here together for the Kiwi cops and who now, after a month of living and working amongst the Christchurch community, call New Zealand home.

That is the spirit between our two nations. We saw it on display on Friday and we will continue to see it on display as we join with the people of New Zealand and help them through these very dark days.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Any disaster in New Zealand is felt in Australia because there is scarcely an Australian home that is not linked in some way with homes across the Tasman. New Zealand is a juridically separate entity, but it is scarcely a foreign country. To almost all intents and purposes Australians are New Zealanders and vice versa.

So it was an honour to join the Governor-General and the Prime Minister at the remembrance service in Christchurch last Friday. I understand that this is the first time that Australia’s head of state, head of government and alternative head of government have joined together in another country in this way, but as the Prime Minister has just observed it was in fact the future monarch who was the star turn on that occasion. I do hope that the representatives of New Zealand’s oldest and closest friends at that service were of some comfort to the bereaved and to everyone who has lost family, friends, homes, businesses and income as a result of the disaster.

It was good to have the chance to meet a large contingent of Australian police who had been helping their New Zealand counterparts, and to observe the unanimity of purpose and action of Australian and New Zealand colleagues. It was also good to meet the New Zealand Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, and to be able to convey personally the solidarity of the Australian people at this sad time. Most of all, though, it was good to see the resilience of the Kiwis; as Prince William observed, they will stay strong.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a mark of respect, I invite honourable members to rise in their places.

Honourable members having stood in their places—

Debate (on motion by Mr Albanese) adjourned.