Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My heart and thoughts are with the people of Fiji, and their friends and relatives in Australia who have been so worried about their welfare. On 14 February, the Fiji Metrological Service began issuing tropical cyclone warnings for the southern Lau Islands of Fiji. Tropical Cyclone Winston was expected to be the first recorded category 5 storm to make landfall in Fiji. The cyclone moved away on 16 February and we all breathed a sigh of relief, but it doubled back on 18 February and struck with devastating force on 20 February. Hurricane-force winds levelled villages, cut power to 900,000 people, took out telephone services and forty-two lives were lost—maybe more as contact is still being made with very remote islands.

The efforts of the Fijian people to band together at this incredibly difficult time, even when isolated from the rest of the world, is quite extraordinary. Thanks to the relief organisations and volunteers who have delivered emergency aid to some very remote islands. Thanks too to the Australian Defence Force helicopters that will fly to hard-hit areas from today.

The rebuild will be difficult, not only because of the loss of life and homes but also because the two main ports on Taveuni were severely damaged and largely rendered unusable. Southern areas of the island became isolated when a bridge was destroyed. Early estimates indicate damage to schools to be in excess of over US$1 million in the Western Division alone. The sugar industry sustained nearly US$40 million in losses. The Fiji Electricity Authority estimates that it will take three weeks to restore service to most of the Western Division and, similarly, phone services will take up to three weeks.

The tourism industry has also been hit. In recent years, growth in Fiji has been largely driven by a strong tourism industry. Fiji's gross earnings from tourism in 2011 totalled over US$1 billion, more than the combined revenues of the country's top five exports: fish, water, garments, timber and gold. Due to cyclone Winston, Fiji's primary income from the tourism industry has been severely disrupted and will be for some time.

Cyclone Winston took no hostages. It impacted Tonga twice in the span of a few days. The first passage resulted mostly in crop damage and the second took down structures.

My electorate of Parramatta is home to many Pacific Islanders, and a large majority of them call both Fiji and Australia home. Like all our expat communities when their first country is faced with these sorts of crises, they leapt into action. An emergency community meeting was called on Monday, 22 February by Tia Roko from Fijians in New South Wales and CEO of Auburn Diversity Services to create the Sydney Fijian Disaster Relief Committee, which unites non-profit organisations and Fijian expats to raise funds and deliver aid to Fiji. The group is currently sending monetary relief to Fiji as well as organising care packages and a containership of basic goods to help recover from the disaster. Our expat Fijian community is one of Fiji's best assets.

It is not the first time that my communities have banded together. Following the recent Nepalese earthquake, the Nepalese's community was incredibly effective in raising funds. The telcos also came to the party. One of my constituents phoned and said he could not afford his phone bills anymore. He was mounting up enormous numbers of calls trying to reach his family in Nepal. We contacted the telcos and asked them to provide free calls and over the next week all three did, which was great of them. This time we were faster and we were on the phone almost immediately after the cyclone struck. I am pleased to say that all three of the telcos once again have come through. Telstra, Optus and Vodafone are all providing free phone calls to Fiji, both text and word. The durations for which those free calls apply are different, so if you are with one of those three telcos you should check the finish dates. They range from 27 February through to 10 March across the three telcos. I thank those organisations for assisting our local Fijian community in reaching their relatives. Thank you to Lisa McTiernan from Telstra, Rowena Gilbertson from Optus and Tim McPhail from Vodafone for their assistance in making this possible.

Organisations from the Sydney Fijian Disaster Relief Committee are also holding independent fundraising activities and, as a whole, are currently in discussions with Parramatta Park to hold a huge fundraising concert on 20 March. It is in my diary. I hope others put it in theirs.

It is amazing to see how the community has united to assist the islands of Fiji. Their spirits are as beautiful as the islands from which they come. I acknowledge this very special Pacific community of Fiji at this very difficult time. Bula vinaka.