Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I want to express condolences on behalf of the parliament to the people of Ravenshoe following the accident at the bakery and cafe—to the loved ones of those involved and the people from the surrounding areas. Nicole Dempsey and Margaret Clark have both died, out of the 21 people injured. Many are still in a very serious condition. Ravenshoe is a very small and tightly-knit community. The Dempseys are one of the oldest families from that area, and many of the people in the region are connected by family. The member for Leichhardt will be saying a few words, and he will agree with me on that.

This was the simplest of accidents. A driver had a stroke or something of that nature and lost control of his car. In a most extraordinary piece of bad luck—that is an understatement—the car careered forward, as he still had his foot on the accelerator, and it missed numerous trees, missed a big toilet block, missed numerous other obstacles and managed to drive straight into two very large gas cylinders, driving one of them, instead of the cylinder going over the back or to the side or underneath, forwards straight into the bakery, where it leaked and then exploded, with 21 people in the bakery and surrounding cafe area. I am not going to single people out, but many Ravenshoe people dashed into what was arguably a blazing inferno, one of them with a hose, trying to douse the fire. The second cylinder was sitting there and it could have exploded at any moment and seriously injured any of those inside dragging the very seriously injured people out. Numerous people had third-degree burns over most of their body.

There are only a few thousand people in the town. There were over 1,000 people at the funeral of Nicole Dempsey, a young mother with two kids—a very handsome looking lady. They said one of Nicole's sayings was, 'You make the best of this minute—you never know what will happen in the next one.' At the funeral all of the pictures were of her dancing and having fun and paddling with her kids. She was very active in the community. She was on the executive of the Cairns Netball Association, and a lot of people told me that she was one of the driving forces that carried netball—a very big sport in the north—throughout the greater Cairns region. All her team were there, dressed up in their uniforms. Undoubtedly she was a fun person. They remarked on how she changed her hair colour on numerous occasions, and I am pretty certain it was her mother who was there with a bright red wig on. The family, of course, had done their grieving over previous days, and they were celebrating the happy life of Nicole.

Last week we heard of the death of Margaret Clark, from Innisfail. In sharp contrast to Nicole, she was well on in years and had seen many traumas—Cyclone Larry and Cyclone Yasi being amongst them. I would appreciate the parliament acknowledging what has occurred, because it means an awful lot to people in these situations. Having been a member of parliament during Larry and Yasi—particularly Larry, with the horrific damage it did—I understand the shocking psychological impact those events had on people, seeing their main street completely destroyed with heaps of bricks lying around and all of that, but we did not suffer loss of life like Ravenshoe did. And there are still many people very seriously ill who are not out of the woods yet. The Mayor of Newcastle rang me during Larry and said, 'It is two years later, Bob, that you will run into problems.' And that was profoundly true. At the time people showed great heroism and a great ability to deal with a horrific situation, but it affects them later on. As I say, it would mean a lot to them if members of the parliament of Australia acknowledged what has happened and expressed their care. That is all I ask that we do today.

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I join with the member for Kennedy in expressing sympathy to the families of those who lost loved ones in this disaster at Ravenshoe, which can only be described as an extraordinary freak accident. People were quietly going about their day around the coffee shop, only to have an out-of-control of vehicle run through the wall and cause an explosion. It is certainly an example to us all of how precious and I guess how tenuous on occasions life can be. I understand seven people are still critically ill and so there is obviously a real risk that the death toll will rise.

We think very much of the families and the people of Ravenshoe. As the honourable member for Kennedy has mentioned, it is a relatively small community but a close-knit community that has gone through a lot of trouble in its day. They have worked and knitted closely together and built strong bonds of friendship and loyalty to one another. This is a very sad event for the town of Ravenshoe and particularly for the families of those who have lost loved ones. I hope to go up to Ravenshoe on Monday to meet with the community and look at whether there are any ways in which the government might be able to assist them in these difficult times.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The opposition joins with the remarks of the member for Kennedy and the remarks of the government. I think all Australians who saw some of the footage and all who learnt the news of what happened at Ravenshoe were shocked. It was a dreadful ordeal. The set of circumstances outlined by the member for Kennedy shows how unlucky people were. The fireballs of a gas explosion—nothing can prepare people for that. We acknowledge and put on record the stories of modest heroism—of people putting their friends or victims before themselves. I have seen firsthand, in other circumstances, burns injuries; they are a particularly dreadful form of pain. People will be scarred for life and, in the case of at least two families, losses that are irreparable.

Robert Frost was the American poet laureate and he spoke about a terrible tragedy in his life—he called it 'the shafts of fate'. Whilst this could be described in the same way, I do not believe anything can make sense for the people, who have gone through this, of what has happened to them—unfinished conversations, for example. I am sure there will be some people who will be saying: 'Why not me?' while others will say: 'Why her?' Let me reassure those who have been through that tragedy that everyone understands, is committed to you. We understand that Australians are resilient, and people will be resilient here. We also understand that nothing could have prepared people of this.

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

I would like to associate myself with this motion. Those horrendous events now at the Serve You Right cafe happened two weeks ago, when we saw Ravenshoe literally implode. As the Leader of the Opposition rightly said, the graphic images that we saw on the news were really quite horrific. Twenty-one people were injured and, as the member for Kennedy has said, sadly two to date have succumbed to their injuries. The first was 37-year-old Nicole Dempsey, who sadly passed away and was buried in the community last Friday; the second funeral for 82-year-old Margaret Clark will happen on Thursday in Innisfail. We are not out of the woods yet, because there is still a number of critically ill patients in Brisbane and others who are in a stable condition in our local hospital, including the driver of the vehicle.

As we always see in Far North Queensland communities, people are being very generous. There is an appeal to assist the victims—there is an official GIVIT Ravenshoe; you can contribute by visiting www.givit.org.au.

I think it is important when you reflect on a tragedy like this that you recognise the absolute heroic nature of this community. There were two firefighters at that cafe at the time, Joe Torrisi and Michael Beck, who were going about their normal work, talking to some senior members of the community. In spite of the fact that they were very badly burnt, they ignored their own burns and continued to help other people. They will both survive, but they are going to face years and years of rehabilitation. The local paramedic, Darrell Thompson, was on his own at the time—he was the only paramedic in town for 13 minutes before emergency services arrived—but Darrell will tell you that he was never on his own, because the community, right from the moment this happened, rallied around him. It was an extraordinary effort by all of the community, including the firefighters and others like Eric Balodis, an artist who lives across the road. He went into the burning building and dragged one woman out by her feet because she pleaded with him not to touch her badly burnt hands. Ken Tobler had burns to 37 per cent of his body and yet he rushed in there to help, as did many other locals who are too numerous to name.

The strength of a community is always gauged by how people respond to these tragedies and this small tableland community has responded in a most amazing way. I was talking yesterday to Nicola Baker, who was a very dear and close friend of Nicole Dempsey. She said that Nicole had two beautiful children—Jordan, 13 and Brody, 8—and she was a very strong supporter of the school. As the member for Kennedy said, she was also heavily involved in netball and in the local footie team. What Nicola and the community are looking to do is to put together a proposal for a fitting legacy to Nicole's contribution at the local sports area. I am pleased that the Deputy Prime Minister will be going up there to hear about that. The community is already focusing on how they can make a positive out of this absolute tragedy. My condolences are with those families who have lost loved ones; our best wishes and hopes are with those who still have challenges ahead.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In a moment I am going to ask members to rise in their places to acknowledge the courage, pain and loss suffered by those in Ravenshoe. I will ask that, when we stand, we ask the Deputy Prime Minister to take with him the wishes of the House, to extend condolences to those who have lost loved ones and to extend the compassion, empathy and sympathy that the House feels for their loss when he travels there on Monday.

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

Honourable members having stood in their places—

Debate adjourned.