Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The opening weeks of 2021 have been really tough for many Western Australians. During one week at the beginning of February, 81 houses were lost and hundreds of people had to be evacuated because of a devastating bushfire in Perth's north-eastern suburbs. My thoughts are with all the people of Wooroloo and surrounding areas who lost their homes, their livestock and their animals.

As that bushfire raged the residents of Perth, Peel and the south-west region were in lockdown after a worker in the hotel quarantine system contracted COVID-19 while doing his job. Towards the end of that same week, heavy storms flooded the Gascoyne in the mid-west with dozens of people needing to be rescued.

My electorate of Brand, in the southern metropolitan area, has also been affected by two bushfires this summer. In early January, a large fire in Kwinana, fanned by the strong easterly breeze and the hot weather, spread to a rubbish trip, jumped Thomas Road and went close to the Kwinana industrial strip. Thomas Road, Patterson Road, Rockingham Road and Anketell Road are major transport corridors that enable thousands of workers to get to work every day at the Kwinana industrial strip and also allow bulk freight, like grain, to get through to the Cooperative Bulk Handling silos. The fire was intense, the smoke was so thick and the fumes from the tip fire was so toxic that these roads were closed and traffic was limited for many days. The Kwinana industrial strip was very much under threat from this fire. It was the commitment, dedication, time, effort and hard work of the firefighters that ensured the Kwinana strip, at the heart of WA's economy, remained safe. Later in the month, more than 300 hectares of land was burnt in the Oakford fire. Thanks to the magnificent effort of the firefighters, no lives were lost and there was no significant property damage from either of those fires. I was able to visit the area of the Oakford bushfire with the Mandogalup Volunteer Bushfire Brigade recently. It was startling to see the devastation wrought by the blaze.

I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the dangerous work of all firefighters, including volunteer firefighters, and emergency services personnel who put themselves in harm's way to protect us and our industry day in, day out. Fire services across Brand fought the Kwinana and Oakford fires and spent many hours at the Wooroloo fire in the north. I'd like to quickly acknowledge the Rockingham, Secret Harbour, Kwinana, Baldivis and Kwinana South volunteer bushfire brigades; the Singleton Ward Volunteer Bushfire Brigade; the Rockingham-Kwinana State Emergency Service unit; and Marine Rescue Rockingham. I'd also like to acknowledge the frontline workers, who continued to do their jobs, and the rest of the community behind closed doors in the safety of their homes. Your contribution to the community is greatly appreciated and the community thanks you. To the wider community of WA, and in particular my constituents in Brand, I'd also like to thank you. You observed the restrictions put in place during the COVID lockdown and continued to practice social distancing and other measures that kept us all safe. Thank you.