Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

It is a privilege of public life that one is able to make a contribution to a motion before the Senate which is a celebration of human strength, human dignity and human fortitude. This is a celebration of community and mateship. As a result of the events of Anzac Day 2006, Beaconsfield—that small but picturesque township in the north of Tasmania—will never be the same again.

The commemoration of each Anzac Day is a bittersweet time to reflect and remember, and so too will be the reflections on the events in Beaconsfield on Anzac Day 2006: bitter that such a huge rock fall should occur, taking the life of miner Larry Knight, to whose family our collective condolences reach out; and sweet that, against the odds, two miners were spared, albeit trapped in unspeakable circumstances.

In our own lives, and in the life of the nation, it is often the bittersweet experiences that draw us together and remind us that the things that unite us are so much stronger, more enduring and more important than the things that divide us but which we so often allow to consume us. In this place, the motion jointly sponsored by Senators Barnett and Polley bears testimony to that fact, and I thank them for their initiative. In Beaconsfield we also saw testimony to that fact, with union and management standing together to provide comfort to the bereaved and to secure an effective rescue for the survivors. We saw it also with the churches and community groups working together and, above all, we saw it with the fellow workers of the trapped miners who risked their lives to bring their mates to the surface.

On occasions like this, there are people who make that extra contribution, and I want to pay special tribute to the mayor, Barry Easther, who I think has shown all the qualities of leadership—strength, resolve and also compassion—and has been a beacon of unity within the community of Beaconsfield. I acknowledge Senator Watson, who was the first parliamentarian on the scene. I acknowledge Senator Barnett for his daily visits to the site, who also personally kept the Prime Minister informed of the unfolding events, day after day, at Beaconsfield. I also say thank you to Bill Shorten and Matthew Gill for the way they presented to the Australian nation with poise and dignity, and for keeping us informed in a way that we wanted to be.

An occasion such as this does make you stop and think about the important things in life. I give special acknowledgement to the role of the churches in the community there. It is heart warming to think that in times such as these the Australian community do still turn to their local churches for spiritual faith, for spiritual succour and comfort, in an acknowledgment that there might be a being greater than us. The fact that the Beaconsfield community reached back to its spiritual roots was, I think, part and parcel of the strength that the community received.

On behalf of all Tasmanians and all Australians, we wish the Beaconsfield community all the best for the road to recovery. Everything that has been done to date I think indicates that the local government, the state government and the Australian government will work hand in hand to ensure that the recovery process, irrespective of the future of the mine, will be for the benefit of all the citizens of Beaconsfield.