Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that bushfires have ravaged the Grampians National Park and associated tourist destinations including Halls Gap, Pomonal and Dunkeld in February 2024 and over Christmas 2024, the latter being a critical annual income period for small businesses in the region;

(2) acknowledges that to protect lives and property, access to towns and tourist sites like Halls Gap was closed in some cases for weeks, depriving them of tourist visitors;

(3) further notes that:

(a) businesses have expressed concern that they have been unable to afford, or even access, insurance against bushfire risk notwithstanding that in Halls Gap's case, the town has never itself been struck by bushfire;

(b) the region was struck again over the 2025 Australia Day public holiday weekend with further fires in the Little Desert National Park at times threatening Dimboola, which led to further park closures and tourists deterred from remaining in the region; and

(c) fires that started over the 2025 Australia Day public holiday weekend have continued to burn in the southern part of the Grampians National Park into February 2025;

(4) commends the bravery, commitment and selflessness of Country Fire Authority services and volunteers, farmers, landholders and community members to protect life and property, fighting and containing the fires; and

(5) calls upon:

(a) all levels of Government to prioritise opening and maintaining access to as much of the Grampians as possible to maximise the social and economic health of the region;

(b) State Governments to:

(i) provide maximum transparency on the bushfire mitigation efforts they undertake, to assist insurers in determining reasonable insurance premiums; and

(ii) fast-track their processes for seeking Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangement assistance from the Commonwealth including Category D support for small businesses affected by fire disaster related closures;

(c) the Commonwealth Government to take immediate steps to ensure bushfire insurance is affordable and accessible; and

(d) the Commonwealth and Victorian State Governments to implement a marketing strategy to encourage all Australians to consider travelling to the Grampians as soon as possible to support an internationally renowned attraction and the communities that depend on tourism for their survival.

Last week in the House, I briefly highlighted the peril of communities in the southern part of my electorate due to the ongoing impact of bushfires in the Grampians National Park and Little Desert National Park. The first of these fires in the Grampians began 55 days ago, with the initial fire burning for three weeks near the 450-strong community of Halls Gap. The Grampians fire burned 76,000 hectares, destroying four homes to the south in Moyston and Mafeking, 41 outbuildings and 540 kilometres of fencing. The fire also burnt 10,000 hectares of pasture and 1,285 beehives and killed 775 sheep, not to mention the incalculable cost to native flora and fauna. All up, including the subsequent Little Desert fire, which burnt the western two-thirds of that national park, over 230,000 hectares have burnt in the Grampians and Wimmera area.

Communities near the Grampians National Park have been struck twice in 12 months by natural disaster, after a fire in February 2024 in Pomonal, Dadswell Bridge and Dunkeld, which destroyed 45 homes and cost the local economy an estimated $200 million and hundreds of thousands of tourists. The late-2024 bushfires closed the town of Halls Gap to the public over the lucrative December-January tourist season for 18 days. Some tourist sites remain closed today.

Fire related closures are having a cumulative devastating impact on the Halls Gap community, whose small businesses are struggling to stay afloat and are in desperate need of support. I invited Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton, shadow minister Perin Davey and the member for Wannon to Halls Gap. They heard from constituents who tell me that business owners are at breaking point, with many expressing the feeling of being abandoned by the government as they continue to hear reassurances about resilience rather than tangible support.

Spending in Halls Gap has dropped by 63 per cent since the fires began compared to the same period last year. At the one-month mark, $13 million in business earnings have been lost. As the fires have persisted, an estimated further $8 million has been lost. The Grampians typically attracts between 1.3 million and 1.7 million visitors annually. However, cancellations are now extending until May 2025. Projections suggest that an ongoing reduction in tourism will see total losses in the region of between $34 million and $103 million over the year. This is simply devastating.

It is indisputable that businesses in Halls Gap are in dire need of government financial support, yet, as of the end of last week, the Allan Labor government had still not requested category D assistance from the Australian government under its Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, DRFA, despite ongoing advocacy from every angle. Without this request from the Victorian government, Halls Gap businesses cannot access the maximum amount of funding—or any, for that matter—for recovery from these devastating circumstances.

Insurance costs for some Halls Gap businesses have almost quadrupled since the Pomonal fires in February 2024, with one business paying $55,000 for public liability insurance, which even then does not cover external fire and does not provide business interruption insurance, the very thing they need. There are 120 businesses that cannot get insurance in Halls Gap, even though there is no instance in history where fire has struck Halls Gap itself. I am working continuously with locals, the insurance industry and my coalition colleagues, including the member for Wannon, who is in the chamber right now, to look at solutions to this emerging wicked problem. Under the Albanese Labor government, insurance costs across the nation have risen 18 per cent. These fires, combined with the impact of recent wildfires in Los Angeles on global reinsurance markets, may combine to push insurance premiums up further and make policies even less accessible.

Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

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

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

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

Every regional MP—in particular, Victorian regional MPs—comes into the summer anxious. In my own electorate, we've spent the last few summers anxious about floods. Communities like Rochester, Heathcote and Huntly have been devastated in recent years by big flooding events. In other electorates impacted by bushfire, as we've heard from the member for Mallee and as we'll hear from the member from Wannon and the member for McEwen, who is sitting behind me, it is part of that responsibility that you take on with being a regional MP that, come the summer, you will get the call—I'm relieved that we have not been affected by bushfires so far this season—in the lead-up to Australia Day, that opportunity to go out and meet with your local CFAs and SES to talk about the conditions on the ground. Whilst it's dry in my part of the world, it's not devastatingly dry and scary dry, as they called it in the areas of western Victoria and northern Victoria, like we've heard about so far in this debate. What happens to a community when we have bushfires is devastating. Even more devastating is what happens to our community when those bushfires are continuing, like we have seen in the Grampians.

On 17 December last year, the Grampians National Park fire started. It's continued through January and into February. Boxing Day last year was forecast to have the worst fire conditions since Black Summer. That is how hot and dry it has become in parts of Victoria. Then the day after Australia Day, on 27 January, a fire broke out in Little Desert National Park. These fires have burnt, thus far, in excess of 115,900 hectares, and forecast weather conditions this week are due to continue to pose a high risk.

Emergency personnel like our CFA, Fire Rescue Victoria and Forest Fire Management Victoria are entering their ninth week of battle. I want to acknowledge the many volunteers who put their lives on hold. They put their Christmas and New Year celebrations on hold, and now many of them are putting their work obligations on hold to fight these fires. We are truly blessed and lucky to have such dedicated volunteers to support our communities through these times of crisis.

Support is there for these communities. Through the Australian Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, we as a government are co-contributing to impacted communities. Today the disaster recovery allowance has been made available for people in communities in the Hindmarsh, Horsham and West Wimmera LGAs whose livelihoods have been impacted by the Little Desert National Park fire. DRA provides fortnightly payments for up to 13 weeks to affected people who qualify. It is paid at the JobSeeker rate or the youth allowance rate depending upon the person's circumstances. The joint funding between the Victorian and federal governments around support for small businesses is also under discussion. The Disaster Ready Fund continues to act to help communities to become more resilient towards all natural disaster, from bushfire to flood, allowing them to prepare themselves for what may happen in the future. This is a fund which we benefited from in my own electorate, where we've seen funding go to Campaspe Shire, Mount Alexander Shire and the City of Greater Bendigo to help mitigate the effects of future floods.

Insurance is worth a debate, and it is a debate we need to have soon and quickly. It is alarming to talk to business owners and homeowners who are starting to go down the path of not insuring because they can't afford insurance. That is why this government established an Insurance Affordability and Natural Hazards Risk Reduction Taskforce in May 2024 to look at insurance affordability, and we look forward to their recommendations. It will require a whole-of-economy approach towards this issue.

My heart goes out to those affected in Victoria. None of us want to see this in our community, and I wish them well.

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

I commend this motion to the House, and I thank the member for Mallee for bringing it forward and for her cooperation in working with me on it. This is an incredibly important motion. It's really just calling for one thing, and that is: would the Victorian state government please move quickly to provide additional support and help to these communities in and around the Grampians—Halls Gap, Pomonal, Dunkeld and others—that have been impacted by the bushfires which have ravaged the Grampians since just before Christmas.

What I would say is that people have been out doing their bit throughout this period of time, and the selflessness has been extraordinary, but the time has come for businesses in particular to get a little bit of support and help. The member for Mallee knows that. I know it. Everyone who can go and have a look—and I encourage everyone to do so—will see it firsthand if they just speak to local businesses. Yet for some reason the Victorian state government does not want to move quickly. Well, I say to the Victorian state government: please move quickly and help and support these communities.

To know and understand what has happened in and around the Grampians over the last six weeks is to know that a fire has raged like no other, and we have seen volunteer and professional firefighters do an extraordinary job keeping communities safe. The fact that they've been able to contain that fire, to protect communities, when we have had some of the worst conditions you can have when firefighting is quite remarkable. To every volunteer and paid professional who has been out there keeping this fire within the bounds of the national park, I say thank you. We've seen periods where it has got out, and the way they have acted to bring it under control has been remarkable.

While that has been happening, these tourist towns—Halls Gap, Pomonal, Dunkeld—have suffered. The reality is—and you can't blame them, but this is the reality—as soon as people, especially from cities or from interstate or from overseas, hear that a fire is burning, they tend to cancel their bookings and go elsewhere. They don't think, 'Well, perhaps we should wait until it's under control and then honour our booking.' They just don't do that. What that means for business is their normal peak period, what I would call their 'shearing period', when they make the majority of their money—the Christmas period, the New Year period, the Australia Day long weekend period, and now we're heading to the Easter period. That is when they maximise their income for the whole year, and that has just been taken away from them.

When we had the Leader of the Opposition come down—we visited Halls Gap and Pomonal—we heard firsthand about that, about how businesses had stopped for this period. They've had to watch their stock waste because the people weren't there for them to service. And they love servicing the tourists that come. That's their pride and joy. They love the communities they live in, and they want to make sure that, when people come, they are there and are ready to give them the best tourist experience they possibly can. But that hasn't been able to take place, and that is why we need the Victorian state government to act.

All the Victorian state government needs to do is put that claim in to the federal government so it can be assessed. They've done category A and category B. That is a big tick, tick. But now it is the businesses that need help and support, and that's why they need to move quickly on that, and that's why I want to support and commend this motion. The member for Mallee has been on the ground. She's heard about the experiences that these businesses have been going through. I have, too. We want to ensure that herculean effort that has been undertaken by those to keep the communities safe is backed by the government coming in and supporting the businesses that need it at the moment.

Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The ongoing bushfires in western Victoria, particularly in the Grampians and Little Desert National Park, have caused severe damage, as other speakers have discussed. These fires, which ignited in December, have continued to burn into the new year, fuelled by strong winds and extreme heat. As of now, more than 100,000 hectares have been burnt, and conditions remain highly volatile.

Communities in and around Hindmarsh, Horsham and West Wimmera have faced mass evacuations, the destruction of homes and businesses and significant disruptions to daily life. The psychological and financial toll on residence, business owners and emergency responders has been immense. Families have been displaced, and businesses have suffered severe setbacks. The tourism industry, the economic backbone of towns such as Halls Gap, Pomonal, Dunkeld, Dimboola and Nhill, has been particularly hard hit. Road closures, infrastructure damage and widespread cancellations of bookings have left local businesses struggling.

Yet, despite these hardships, the resilience of these communities has been extraordinary. Neighbours have opened their homes to the displaced. Community groups have organised fundraisers, and people from all walks of life have come together to ensure that no-one faces this crisis alone. Their strength and solidarity will be central to the long process of recovery and restoration.

To support these communities, the disaster recovery allowance has been made available to individuals whose livelihoods have been affected by the fires in Hindmarsh, Horsham and West Wimmera. This financial assistance has already been activated for residents in our Ararat, Northern Grampians and Southern Grampians, providing crucial relief to those who have lost income because of these disasters. For small businesses, we recognise the immense strain these fires have placed on operations. The federal government continues to work in partnership with the Victorian government to assess additional assistance measures. For the established disaster recovery funding arrangements, we're co-funding essential relief efforts, including debris removal, counter disaster operations and the restoration of critical infrastructure.

I acknowledge the member for Wannon and the member for Mallee for working collaboratively with the minister throughout this crisis. Their collaborative approach, along with the strong engagement of the Victorian government and Minister Vicki Ward has been instrumental in supporting both immediate relief and the longer-term rebuilding and recovery process. The efforts of our emergency services personnel during this extremely challenging time cannot be overstated. Firefighters, volunteers and first responders from across Victoria and from interstate have worked tirelessly to protect lives and property. I particularly recognise the local CFA crews in my community who have given up their time over the Christmas period to battle these fires and stand ready to defend our communities and those around us. A very special mention must go to the CFA crews from Bacchus Marsh, Blackwood, Melton, Toolern Vale, Myrniong, Greendale, Coimadai, Diggers Rest, Parwan, Rowsley, Eynesbury, Wildwood, Bulla, Balliang, Mount Wallace, Sunbury and the legends at my own brigade in Ballan. These men and women left their families to defend our community and others in extreme and dangerous conditions. Their sacrifice, bravery and unwavering commitment to keeping our communities safe deserve our deepest gratitude.

This remains a dynamic and dangerous situation. Without significant rainfall, the threat is far from over. The federal government will continue working closely with the Victorian government to assess ongoing needs and provide the necessary resources for recovery. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by these devastating fires. We send our best wishes to all those impacted and we stand with you as we rebuild stronger than before. I urge everyone to stay informed by monitoring emergency updates and following the advice of emergency services.

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

I commend the member for Hawke for his contribution. He commended the member for Mallee and the member for Wannon, which I will do in a minute. Sometimes in this House there are—rightly—political disagreements. We go at each other politically when we need to, but motions like this have bipartisan support. I thank the member for Hawke for his service—I know he is a volunteer firefighter in the CFA. I'm happy to hold him to account politically, but thanks is due to the member for Hawke for his contribution, as well as to the member for Bendigo, the member Mallee and the member for Wannon.

Many communities have been devastated by bushfires over so many years. Unfortunately, it's the Grampians that have gone through this tragic event in the last six weeks. It's not just the Grampians community that have been impacted—they have been impacted directly, but the brilliant thing about Victoria is that we all come together to support each other. On the weekend, I was having a listen in post in Mt Evelyn, and Rick, who is the captain of the Mt Evelyn CFA was walking through. We were having a good chat; he had just got back recently from the Grampians, having been over there as part of the strike team keeping the community in the Grampians safe. On Sunday I was presenting an Australian flag to the team at Coldstream CFA, and many of them, including their captain Sean, had been in the Grampians helping out.

Many brigades in my community have been in the Grampians supporting them, and that is the vital nature of our volunteer spirit. Our volunteer CFA members protect their own communities, but they are prepared to leave their families and their friends and their loved ones to go to another side of the state or into another state to protect another community. They do it for two key reasons. They do it because they know it's a core part of their responsibility to serve—to serve as volunteers—no matter where the need is. But, just as importantly, they do it because they know that if their community is in trouble and their community needs support—like our community needed support 16 years ago on Black Saturday and in the months afterwards—the CFA brigades from the Grampians and from all across Victoria, as well as firefighter volunteers from all across Australia, will come to help. It is that volunteer spirit that we need to continue to celebrate while we rebuild.

It couldn't have come at a worse time for those in the Grampians. It's a key tourist time for those businesses. They've been devastated by many cancelling, so I urge people: if you can, please visit the Grampians to support those businesses. As the Deputy Speaker would know, it's really challenging when you go through that short period of loss, but then there are also ongoing effects. It is never just about the days and weeks of that tragedy; it is about the months and years afterwards—the mental strain and the economic strain—that then put more pressure on businesses.

We know that many are now unable to get insurance, as the member for Bendigo said. This is an ongoing challenge in the Grampians, but, in many communities, including my community, whether it's due to the bushfire risk or the storms that the Dandenongs have had repeatedly in the last four or five years, many businesses and homes cannot get the insurance they need. We need to continue to work in a bipartisan way to find some solutions, because it is not an easy fix; it is a challenging dynamic. We've seen the floods up in Townsville. Many communities are going through disasters. We need to continue to work together to find solutions and to make sure that Australians and businesses can get the insurance that they need. It is something that is, as I said, an ongoing stress.

It's also so hard for many people in our community because it brings back memories of other fires that they've had to go through themselves. Every time there is a fire, it can cause challenges for many people. I would say those people are feeling the stress of the Grampians fires. They are feeling the stress in my community from the memories of Black Saturday. I was at an event on Friday night, talking to some people and reliving the events of Black Saturday, 16 years on. It's not something that leaves us. I want to say to those that are struggling at any time: please seek the help that you need, because you are not alone. There are many to support you, and we need to continue to support those in the Grampians today and in the months and years to follow.

Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next day of sitting.