Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Settlement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today, in my role as shadow parliamentary secretary for citizenship and settlement, I wish to express my wholehearted sympathy and to pay respect to the family, friends and neighbours of the victims of last night's horrific house fire in Kingston, which claimed the lives of 11 people, including seven children. The home was occupied by two Pacific islander families, and the victims were three generations of a Tongan family. This is a tragedy of unimaginable scale, and it is critical that community support, assistance and healing becomes an immediate priority. It highlights the critical nature and the role of immigration and resettlement services, which are able to immediately respond to the needs of a community and the provision of emergency relief.

I have been really fortunate to work closely with organisations in this area, and I wish to commend the role of MultiLink, which is engaged in coordinating a response and today hosted a meeting at 1 pm which was attended by relevant state agencies and NGOs. The immediate response to last night's event highlights that MultiLink plays an important role in the Pacific Island Advocacy Project. Today our thoughts and prayers are with these communities. I want to thank Director Helen Coyne and her team at MultiLink for their dedication and support, particularly to the Pacific islander communities in the Logan area.