Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that Tuesday, 7 February 2023 marked 14 years since the Victorian Black Saturday Bushfires that saw:

(a) 173 lives lost;

(b) 414 injuries; and

(c) over 3,500 structures destroyed, including over 2,000 homes;

(2) thanks the:

(a) brave men and women of the respective emergency service organisations for their brave work on that day, fighting around 400 individual fires; and

(b) dedicated volunteers who came to the aid of the devastated communities; and

(3) remembers the people who lost their lives on that day and those who we have lost since then.

I rise to introduce this motion and to acknowledge and remember the 14th anniversary of the Black Saturday bushfires. On the morning of 7 February 2009, the state of Victoria woke up to a hot and windy day. Some saw it as a perfect time to do their washing; others thought it was a good idea to do some gardening, which was not the best case.

However, the perfect day for fire conditions was just that: an exceptionally hot and dry week, coupled with being in the middle of a drought. During this time, Premier Brumby was scoffed at for his calls to be prepared and for acknowledging that this was going to be a very, very tough day. What we didn't know was that it was a day that would go on where 173 people would lose their lives and 414 people would be injured. It was a day when we lost 35 children and 16 became orphans. It was a day when up to a million animals died. It was a day when 450,000 hectares across the state were burnt, taking with them 3,500 buildings—including more than 2,000 homes. It was a day that scarred communities, and the lives and memories of all those Victorians.

The fires that spread throughout Victoria were ferocious and devastating; some were started by electrical faults and others by lightning. But a few were started by arson. The most devastating fire was the Kilmore East fire, which burnt through Wandong and reached all the way to Kinglake, Broadford, Healesville and Toolangi. This fire, thanks to winds which drove the fire up to 200 kilometres per hour, spread up to 40 kilometres away and claimed the lives of 119 people.

It was a day that turned out with us losing friends, neighbours and people we just knew in the community. I think of my friend Reg Evans, who always used to be at the St Andrews market. Whenever you walked in there he would say, 'That's why, boy, we go round and take it.' It has never been the same to go back to that market without having Reg there to give you a push along and make sure that every person put the Labor flyers onto their stalls.

In the wake of this loss and devastation, our community stood up and helped. Over a thousand CFA volunteers were there, and other firefighters, who served their communities and fought the fire. This was a fire like no other. There had been scenes up in Coleraine, where the leaves on the trees had frozen in the direction that the fire went. Fire jumped from house to house—in some areas 50 metres apart, ignoring the bush in the middle and just jumping where the oxygen was available on a cleared house block. It taught our volunteers and our fire departments how to redo bushfires, because they had never seen a fire of such intensity and destruction before.

We will never know the full cost of what actually happened. In fact, it took until 19 March 2009 for the last, final fire to be extinguished. Our volunteers and firies worked tirelessly to bring these fires under control, putting themselves in danger to protect others. To this day, we are endlessly thankful for what they did.

I'm also thankful to all the other volunteers who supported the firefighters and everyone else in the clean-up and rebuilding efforts, from the pubs that stayed open to make sure all those volunteers got a feed to the people who helped go through the wreckage and clean up, and everyone in between. Those who gave up their time to support our community—I remain thankful for them every single day. They showed true grit—true Australian grit—and determination. It was the definition of mateship, to stand up and give others a hand when they need it. It's the kind of stuff that should inspire us as a nation.

When we remember the Black Saturday bushfires, it's important to continue to acknowledge the ongoing ramifications that these natural disasters can have on a community. The physical scars can still be seen today, burnt into the landscape, and I believe it's a good metaphor for how this disaster still lingers in the minds and hearts of all of us affected in those areas. I want to acknowledge Christine Nixon. Christine was pilloried from pillar to post for her work, but she was there every day. Every single community event, no matter what, day or night, she was there listening. It takes someone with immense strength to be able to do that. Day in, day out, she turned up and helped, and she should be recognised for the great work she did, along with her former colleague in the state parliament Ben Hardman. Ben was someone who was there. He knew a lot of people who perished, but he was there every single day and helped us out. Cameron Caine, a former Liberal candidate for the seat of McEwen in 2010, was a local policeman at the time, and he saw the devastation and what happened in Kinglake. It's taken a toll on him. He's still a good mate of mine, and I still pick on him because he needs it, to keep him on his toes! But he was someone who stood up and fought, day in, day out, to help people. (Time expired)

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second it, and I reserve my right to speak.

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for McEwen for this motion, and I'm honoured to speak here today and pay tribute to those who lost their lives, those who were injured and those who lost everything on 7 February 2009—14 years ago last week.

Black Saturday is etched into our memories in Indi. It's a day we will never forget. We remember the way the smoke burned our eyes and our throats, the extreme heat and the way the wind whipped up the embers and flame and destroyed all in its path. We remember the overwhelming roar, like a jumbo jet. We remember the way the orange sky turned black and the fire that seemed to come at us from all directions. We remember the panic and anguish as we waited to hear word about our loved ones, whether they'd made it out alive. We remember the way we felt joy and relief when there was good news, only to be hit with the devastation when there was the worst news of others.

That day, 173 lives were lost, the majority of which were in Indi. Today, we remember those we lost in Kinglake, Kinglake West, Marysville, Narbethong, Flowerdale, Strath Creek, Toolangi, Mudgegonga and the countless other towns and communities that still bear the scars today. Today we also pay tribute to the brave men and women from our emergency services, who put their lives on the line to protect others and who answered the call to protect their communities—the CFA, the SES and many more volunteers, thousands upon thousands, who rolled up their sleeves to come to the aid of those who had lost everything, and they came day after day. The way the community came together on that day and in the days and years that followed is etched in my memory as well.

Importantly, we should also note that what we are remembering and paying tribute to is not just one day. For those in fire-affected communities, this is not all in the past. Recovery is a marathon, and they're still running it. The trauma and scars in our community stretch for years and remain just below the surface. One survivor, Bron Sparkes, who lived in Kinglake, told the Age newspaper on the 10th anniversary of the fires, that it's:

… less about moving on and more about adapting to that experience and figuring out how to live while carrying that experience with you.

You incorporate the experience into every cell of your mind and body. It's really how you work with that as you progress through life. Because it's a part of you and it will always be part of you. And you can't move on from that.

For some, working out how to carry that experience with them as they move on through life has been incredibly hard. The mental health aspects, the effects on families, the impact on children who were so small when faced with such terror have been significant. And while Black Saturday was a tragedy, and the years that have followed have been tough, the fires have also left us with a legacy of community, of togetherness, of connection, of resilience. There are many groups and projects that started as a response to the fires but have continued on over the years; they've transformed to meet the ongoing and changing needs of their communities. Firefoxes Australia started in Kinglake, in the aftermath of the fire, helping with the immediate recovery and relief, and growing to help the community consider what the new normal would look like after the fires. And now Firefoxes supports women to embrace and realise their dreams.

Foundation Murrindindi began as the Marysville and Triangle Community Foundation to continue the recovery and allocate funds, but now works towards a vision of thriving, vibrant and connected communities within the Murrindindi shire. Neighbourhood Houses, Men's Sheds still connect with people in our communities post fires, and that's vital work that's too often unnoticed.

It's the connection that's created and supported by these groups at local, sporting and community events that is the real key to recovering from a disaster like Black Saturday. Because long after the buildings are rebuilt, it's the community building that really is what government must be funding and supporting for the long term. These are just some examples of the hundreds of groups and initiatives that were forged in the fire but continue to serve and connect our communities now and into the future. I'm proud to pay tribute to them, I thank them, and I remember those from 14 years ago.

Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

THWAITES () (): I thank my friend, and my neighbour to the north, the member for McEwen for bringing forward this motion, and the member for Indi for sharing her reflections and her communities needs as well.

The past 14 years have, for many people in Victoria, been incredibly difficult. There has been a lot of rebuilding to do, not just of physical bricks and mortar but of people and of communities. This work is ongoing. And while the fires did not burn in Jagajaga, they were just next door, to our north, and many locals did feel the impact. They were the people who rushed to provide support as CFA members, as community members. They stood with family, friends, colleagues who lost lives, property and livelihoods.

The Black Saturday bushfires loom large for people in our part of the world. And so today, not long after the 14th anniversary of the fires, we remember the 173 lives lost, the 414 people injured and the destruction of over 3½ thousand structures, including 2,000 homes. We also remember the loss of animals that day—domestic and wild.

Bushfire is a threat in communities like mine, particularly in the north-eastern part of the electorate. In Kangaroo Ground, Research, Eltham and Eltham North it's something that communities live with every summer. And I recognise and thank the volunteers and members of our emergency services, particularly the CFA, who continue to put themselves on the front line to protect our communities. Eltham, Research, Kangaroo Ground and communities across Nillumbik have volunteer brigades made up of locals protecting locals. And on this day, Black Saturday, just over 14 years ago it was an all-in effort from these brigades and services and the people who support them right across the state.

I'm sure that many in Melbourne and surrounds know of the Kangaroo Ground war memorial tower in my electorate. It has a long history, including on Black Saturday. It was a fire-spotting tower. The book Kinglake-350 tells us how, on the day, from the top of the tower fire spotter Colleen Keating watched in disbelief at the size and speed of the thing as it came pouring over the slopes of Mount Sugarloaf and raced towards St Andrews. It was a mountain of smoke 10 kilometres high and two kilometres wide. And how, if not for a wind change, the communities impacted and the loss of life could have been even worse. The book says:

The wind change would prove to be a bullet dodged for the residents of Melbourne's outer suburbs, a close escape most still don't understand they had. Given its speed, energy and direction, in another hour or two the inferno would have descended upon the tightly packed, overgrown suburbs of the northeast: Warrandyte, Hurstbridge, Diamond Creek, Greensborough, Eltham. For Melbourne it was a near miss.

In the aftermath of these fires and in the face of this awful tragedy, community near and far came together, and we saw the best of people come out. Victorians pulled together. The generosity of so many, including those who had lost so much themselves, was obvious and widespread. Here in our country we have seen too often in recent years—through fires, floods, cyclones, and other disasters—Australians coming together and Australians supporting each other. It is a critical part of our infrastructure, our resilience and our community. Again, I thank everyone who gave their support that day, the people who are there for the good times and the bad and who stand up when they're needed. I know there are people in my community and in others who still bear the scars of standing up on that day and supporting others, and our thoughts are with them.

Black Saturday also showed us the failures of a system that was not prepared for the scale of this disaster, either on that day or in the aftermath. For many Australians, the places they live in are areas that have faced or could face a disaster, and it is important that as communities and as governments we think about this and prepare ourselves, our properties and our communities accordingly and that we encourage all around us—our neighbours, our communities, our governments—to do the same.

Fourteen years on from Black Saturday we pause and remember the people who were lost and those who are still here but whose lives changed forever that day—the people who continue to struggle with mental health issues and other challenges. We remember the communities that are on that long path to recovery and that, while many things have recovered after 14 years, some things can never be recovered.

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the member for McEwen for his important motion on Black Saturday. I spoke last week on the anniversary and commemorated the 173 lives lost, and today I want to share my story of Black Saturday—my memories of that day as well as the importance it plays in my role in this House and the importance that we as leaders support and continue to support Australians who are impacted by emergencies.

On that day I went to my mother's house in Yarra Glen to help her evacuate and, in looking back, I know I naively made every mistake in the book. So one thing I urge all Australians, as we come out of this bushfire season and enter another one next year, is to not be complacent. So, we went to visit to evacuate my mother. We left when we could see flames, which is rule No. 1 to never do. As we left Yarra Glen—and the member for Jagajaga talked about the wind change, and it definitely saved a lot of Melbourne and a lot of lives—for us, that wind change put us into the fire front, and in about two seconds the flames went from about a kilometre away to engulfing the car that I was driving and that my then fiancee, now wife, was in with me. At that moment we thought our lives were over. I could not see anything outside of the windscreen other than smoke and flames. In a millisecond I calculated that the road we were on was about 200 metres to the bend and that if we hit that bend it wouldn't really matter, because we wouldn't be here. So, with foot to the floor, we were going in excess of 130 or 140 kilometres, as my wife repeated, in tears, 'I love you, I love you, I love you.' In that moment we truly believed that our lives would be over.

We got through those flames, escaped to the other side. My mum and her husband were in the car behind us and as we got through that, what felt like forever—it was maybe 10 to 15 seconds; I don't know—we did not know where they were. They did not have the luxury of speeding up, because they knew we were in front of them, and they couldn't see either. As a mother does, she wasn't prepared to risk running into us, so she continued at a slower speed and showed courage that defies logic. I share that story because it's foundational to who I am and why I'm here today, which is to make sure that we take our lived experiences as community members and bring that into this House. That's why I'll always support and advocate for emergency funding.

I also wanted to share that story because we were fortunate: we didn't lose property. I lost friends—friends passed away—but my family survived. The scars of that day stay with me to this day, and I know that last week, 14 years on, there were many who felt that it's still raw. I can picture those memories like I'm watching a movie. It doesn't leave you.

I want to pay tribute to all those survivors who are still battling scars. In many ways, it's the smallest things; a very hot day or the smell of smoke brings those memories back at the most unexpected times. I know that there are many Black Saturday survivors out there who continue to struggle, and, while we pay tribute to them, it also makes it difficult for them.

I want to pay tribute to not just those who survived but also the emergency services. What a lot of people don't know is that they didn't just volunteer on the day or on the day after. I've got good friends in the CFA who were cleaning up and fighting those fires for months afterwards—three to four months after. The emotional and psychological toll that it took on them and that it continues to take on them is significant.

So I urge that we continue to make sure we support mental health and provide PTSD support for emergency services, because they are the volunteers of our community who not only put their physical bodies on the line for us. They put their mental health on the line every day, and Black Saturday was just one of the many examples of the impact that emergencies have not just in my community but across the country.

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Casey for that remarkable contribution. I give the call to the member for Bendigo.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too want to acknowledge the words of the member for Casey. Like many Victorians, he has a story. It's important that we share those stories—it's what makes anniversaries so powerful—so that we never forget and never have another generation that have stories of that.

On 7 February 2009, Victoria experienced an unprecedented and catastrophic event, as firestorms raged across much of the state. There have been a lot of learnings since that day, the day that many remember as Black Saturday, but it's important that we stop and reflect and remember what did occur so that we can learn from this event.

The state was on red alert, and many commented that, when they woke up and felt the heat, they felt that something was going to happen that day—it didn't feel right. I can remember that I worked early that day. I came out of the building where I was working just before nine o'clock and couldn't get over how hot it was. You did have that gut feeling: what is going to happen today? As the day unfolded, alerts popped up, as well as messages and phone calls. It was a dark day. It was a tough day for many.

In Bendigo the initial fire didn't break out until late in the afternoon. It was in Maiden Gully at about four o'clock. The wind gusts were around 80 kilometres, and temperatures soared into the mid-40s. The flames reached 20 metres high, and the inferno travelled towards Bendigo through Maiden Gully, West Bendigo and California Gully. The fire came within two kilometres of the Bendigo CBD. It could have been a lot worse than what it was that day, but the amazing effort of locals, our emergency services and volunteers prevented the catastrophic, which happened to many others, from happening to our town.

In Bendigo we did lose one life. Forty-eight-year-old Mick Kane was tragically killed by the Black Saturday bushfires. Like many on that day, Mick was fighting to save his home and family. In Bendigo the fires devastated an area of about 500 hectares. Sixty-one homes were lost; 115 outbuildings were destroyed; many pets and wildlife were lost; and caravans, boats and much of people's loved possessions were lost. A refuge centre was established in Kangaroo Flat, where about 50 residents without homes sheltered until more appropriate accommodation could be found.

The other area in my electorate to be hit hard was Redesdale, just south-west of Bendigo. About 10,000 hectares were left ravaged. Redesdale was isolated, and the locals there felt very lucky. They believe that, when the fire formed a horseshoe shape around the town and cut the area off, it was only bulldozers and heavy machinery deployed to build a dirt barrier between the fires and people that saved them. Over 300 people fought the fires in Bendigo, and about the same did in Redesdale. Six aircraft flew over. There were 46 trucks, three bulldozers and four graders.

Remember that the fires in Bendigo broke out late in the afternoon, with so many others already deployed to fires around the state. The town was really on its own. But I want to acknowledge that the majority of the people fighting the fires were volunteers. We have roughly 40 volunteer fire brigades across the Bendigo electorate and only one professional brigade from Fire Rescue Victoria. Whilst they were involved on that day, it really was those volunteer firefighters.

It is important to acknowledge the incredible bravery and efforts of all emergency services on that day: firefighters, paramedics, police officers and the locals who banded together to help out. For those CFA volunteers, it was an extraordinary effort, with many of them fighting to save their neighbour's home whilst they may have lost their own home. To this day, when you visit their stations, they always share their reflection and memory of what happened on that day. It is still talked about. It is still that mark in the calendar where people share. Many will never forget and many of the firefighters still live with those experiences.

There was a lot of government assistance that did help both recoveries. There were lots of packages to help rebuild towns and lots of work that was done to support the mental health and the scarring. But many will not forget the images of the smoke blooms, the orange skies, the horizon over One Tree Hill. They will never be forgotten, and may they never be forgotten, because it is only then that we learn to do better next time.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to add my voice to those who have already spoken on the anniversary of the Victorian Black Saturday bushfires. Black Saturday occurred in February 2009 and, for those of us who were in the state on 7 February, I don't think there would have been anyone who wouldn't have thought that this was going to be one of the worst days for bushfires in Victoria if those fires got away. Sadly, that's what occurred. One of the things that we have to do is remember the lessons learned. The sad reality is that we still haven't learned all the lessons from Black Saturday. If you look at how the majority of fires started, you see they were overhead power lines, and yet, following Black Saturday, we have still had fires started by overhead power lines in the state of Victoria. Now, you can never foolproof and you can never completely bulletproof every single way a fire can start, but we still haven't done enough to make sure that overhead power lines are not the source of bushfires in the state of Victoria. That is something that we need to continue to redouble our efforts on.

A hundred and seventy-three people lost their lives, 414 people were injured and more than 450,000 hectares of land was lost. It was a catastrophic set of fires the like of which, I hope, we will never see again. In my electorate, there were two serious fires on that day. The first was at Coleraine. If it weren't for a sudden shift of wind, it is likely the whole township of Coleraine would have been burnt to the ground. In many ways, what happened was nothing short of a miracle. The wind changed to a nor'-westerly just as the fire was approaching the town, and that saved it.

I commend all those who fought the fires right across the state, but particularly in my electorate and particularly those who fought the fire around Coleraine, and give them a big vote of thanks for what they do. I also recognise John Smeets, who went to save the house and the farm machinery around a neighbour's place, but that wind change caught him unawares. Sadly, he received burns to over 50 per cent of his body. I've met John Smeets and I've discussed with him what happened on that day, and I must say his bravery and the way he has dealt with what occurred to him are an absolute credit to him. It shows, once again, the dangers that bushfires present to our communities and the reason we have to continue doing what we can to keep our community safe from bushfires. There was also a fire at Weerite; 3,200 acres were burnt and a rail line was damaged between Geelong and Warrnambool—over 3,000 sleepers damaged. Fortunately, there was no serious injury.

I want to end on this note: in the last five or six years we've seen significant changes made to the Country Fire Authority in Victoria. That has hurt volunteerism in the CFA in regional and rural Victoria, and we need to put it all to bed. We need to get back to doing everything we can to support our wonderful volunteers in regional and rural Victoria. We have to make sure that we're providing them with the support and the encouragement to keep our communities safe. The Andrews government needs to stop the politics in the CFA and get behind our wonderful volunteers, otherwise, if we get another fire like this, our communities won't be— (Time expired)

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.