Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Banking and Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

It is with great pleasure that I arise to make a brief contribution to the bipartisan motion moved by my colleagues Senator Barnett and Senator Polley in respect of the Beaconsfield mine disaster. It was with mixed emotions on Tuesday morning that I watched on TV the recovery and emergence of survivors Todd Russell and Brant Webb from the Beaconsfield mine. I say mixed emotions because there was great happiness and joy to see those two miners, after their approximately 14 days of being trapped underground, emerge from the mine safe and well—amazingly safe and well, given the circumstances—but that was tempered by the memory that one miner had died. Larry Knight did not survive the disaster. Two survived, but unfortunately one died. So there were really mixed emotions.

It is on occasions such as these that I do think we see the great Australian spirit of mateship emerge. Over that two-week period we saw a great unity of strength. It was a unity of strength that gathered around the families of the trapped miners and the family of Larry Knight, who had died, and a unity of strength that gathered around the workforce—the incredible efforts that the workmates of the three miners put into recovering the body of Larry Knight and ensuring that Todd Russell and Brant Webb emerged from the mine alive. It was an incredible effort. I have been into a number of underground mines, and it is a very tough work environment—a very hard, tough, usually hot and dangerous work environment. The effort that the workforce put into firstly locating and then freeing the trapped miners was just incredible. There was unity of strength from the union, the mine’s management and also the community. That was reflected in a number of ways that I can think of, such as the local school and the local churches. So it was a great coming together at a time of disaster. As I say, it reflects great mateship and the Australian spirit.

There are a number of individuals that I do want to mention publicly. The mayor, Mr Barry Easther, has been referred to by I think all the other senators who have spoken on this motion. The mayor of a local community reflects the local spirit and the feeling of a community. He is the elected representative. Mayor Easther, on this occasion, really did a fantastic job both in the media and in dealing with the myriad and very difficult emotional circumstances that arise across a community when such a disaster occurs. I also mention the mine manager, Mr Gill, the AWU National Secretary, Mr Bill Shorten, and the AWU Tasmanian secretary, Mr Wakefield. Mayor Easther, Mr Gill and Mr Shorten were very important in keeping not only the local community but also the Australian community, and ultimately the international community, informed in a very dignified way.

Mining is, unfortunately, inherently a more dangerous occupation than most. Thousands of miners die around the world every year. There are, I think, three inquiries of various descriptions to be held into this disaster, and I hope that what emerges is a safer environment for mine workers and that the lessons that can be learnt from this will minimise the difficulties that mine workers face.