Russell Broadbent (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently part of my electorate of Monash was completely devastated by a massive out-of-control bushfire. It couldn't be contained with safety. We threw everything we could possibly throw at it, but the devastation to homes, to farms, to businesses, to wineries—to the whole community—has been shocking. The community is dealing with that as best they possibly can. They're brave. They're resolute. They're tough. They're strong. To replace the infrastructure just on a farm can be an enormous proposition, having regard to the fact that most fittings and fixtures are now plastic and they're gone from every trough. That's not the only problem though.

When there are bushfires in other parts of Australia and governments make announcements about what they'll do for particular bushfire areas, the people in my electorate, who have not been offered exactly the same opportunity by government, of course come to me and say, 'Why?' And I say, 'It's a matter of fairness. You're correct.' So, as a government, every time we make a decision that we're going to distribute in a certain way or look after a certain group in our community in a certain fashion, we have to have consideration of those people who have been only recently affected by exactly the same problem, as we treat the same drought-affected victims right across the nation. We don't say, 'You get a little bit of drought support there,' and 'Not much support there.' We say, 'We, the people of the great south land, are going to look after these people.' So today I'm asking directly of my government for the people who have been affected by fires north of the highway, from Nar Nar Goon to Tonimbuk, who have been devastated by that and lost their businesses and lost their income, that they will be treated in exactly the same manner as those people who have lost their homes in northern New South Wales and Queensland. It's only reasonable for any government to treat its broader citizens in exactly the same manner. We're a federal government. We look after the whole of our communities. So I'm appealing today on behalf of the people who feel forgotten, who feel devastated and who feel lost, and who are calling themselves 'the forgotten fire'. You're not forgotten. You're not forgotten by me, and you won't be forgotten by this government. I give you that commitment.