Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Today Australians are struggling to comprehend the nation’s worst-ever natural disaster. The bushfires that have raged throughout Victoria over the past few days have destroyed entire communities, razing townships and taking lives. Victoria and the nation are in mourning. At this time our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to the people most closely affected—our neighbours and friends, our families and loved ones. We know that there has been a horrific loss of life and we hold grave fears for others still unaccounted for. The injury toll alone is truly appalling. The scale of destruction of homes, businesses, loved pets, personal possessions and entire communities is so vast that it is difficult to comprehend.

Today, as the rest of the world wakes, it too is being greeted by news of this horrific event. Indeed, as I speak the bushfires are running as lead stories on the websites of major news agencies around the globe: the BBC, CNN, al-Jazeera and the China Daily to name but a few. The overwhelming sentiment is one of horror at the scale and the fact that some of these fires may have been deliberately lit. Indeed, the emergency is not over and, as the Prime Minister has said, the nation needs to prepare itself for further bad news in the coming days.

The response so far from emergency services personnel has been second to none. The Country Fire Authority, metropolitan fire brigades, police, ambulance and hospital staff and volunteers at community centres throughout the affected regions have all responded with extraordinary compassion and courage. The Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment should be commended for its handling of the response logistics. I am informed that, despite the ferocity of the fires, emergency communications were not impacted. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for other communications’ infrastructure and, while providers continue to evaluate the impact, it is clear that substantial damage has been done.

The government is in close contact with telecommunications and broadcast providers regarding the disruption of services and actions to recover. Telstra has already announced that it is providing an assistance package to victims of the fires even as it works to calculate the scale of the damage. I understand that this amounts to a large number of mobile phone base stations, thousands of telephone and broadband lines and as many as 88 exchanges in affected areas. The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy is currently liaising with other telecommunications providers to establish the extent of damages.

I understand that broadcast infrastructure has also been impacted at locations including Mount Tassie, Mount Taylor, Yea and Myrtleford. Efforts are being made to ascertain the extent of disruptions and provide for recovery. In addition, Australia Post estimates that it has lost between six and 10 licensed post offices and that between 50 and 70 townships may be affected by road closures. Australia Post has announced a $1 million donation to the Victorian bushfire relief fund and that it will collect donations in more than 4,000 post offices across the country.

Local residents in the affected communities, many of whom have lost their homes and some of whom have lost friends and family to this terrible tragedy, have shown remarkable resilience and care for one another. Their dedication to their fellow Australians in the face of unimaginable circumstances is inspiring and humbling. Much of this response and support is voluntary and is a testament to the indomitable human spirit and character that runs through our communities. Bushfires have shaped the Australian environment. They have also shaped the spirit of a people who share that environment. They have inspired cooperation, courage and resilience. All of those qualities were on display on Saturday and Sunday. All of them are needed today.

As every hour brings us news of more deaths and more destruction for the families and communities who have endured horrors beyond imagination and suffered losses beyond recovery, we extend our hands and we open our hearts to them. The government, as has already been indicated, is directing the support of the Australian Defence Force to the disaster areas. Immediate emergency payments are now being made available via Centrelink for on-the-ground support in the affected areas. In addition, $10 million has been made available for a relief fund in conjunction with the Victorian government, and I urge the Australian public to support this fund. Donations to the fund can be made through the Red Cross.

Victoria is a state of closely connected communities and, given the scale of this disaster, we are all connected to it in some way. As a senator for Victoria I know many of the communities that have been directly affected by this disaster, but I also know that the people of these communities will respond in the only way Australians know how—with courage, compassion and good humour. Strong communities have been bound even more closely together by this tragedy. I was told of units from the Diamond Valley brigade who got four mayday calls from the fire front in the space of one afternoon. The mind boggles at what thoughts would have gone through the minds of any of these heroic volunteers when they heard their mates calling out for urgent assistance.

I must single out the heroism of the CFA, particularly Captain Ken Williamson, who was chainsawing through burning trees to allow CFA trucks through to the fire front at Kinglake West. Similarly, Captain David McGahy and the Arthurs Creek-Strathewen brigade, whose township was decimated by these fires, and estimates suggest that two-thirds of the properties have been burnt down as well as their school. The St Andrews brigade have a terrible homecoming: whilst they were busy saving the lives and properties of others, nearly half of the brigade lost their own homes.

Those on the ground have seen remarkable feats of survival, and there are stories of neighbours, friends and strangers pulling together to confront the kind of horror that most of us can only imagine. My friend state MP Ben Hardman, who spent Saturday night on the fire trucks, and Danielle Green, Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency Services and a CFA volunteer, report that they have been truly humbled by the response of their fellow Australians in this time of direst need.

In the face of this horrific force of nature, the human spirit and the power of community come to the fore. It is people who suffer and it is people who will pull us through—people such as teenager Rhys Sund, who drove a tiny tractor and trailer across country behind the fire front at Chum Creek near Healesville to save his sister Rhiannon and a group of frightened women and children from an isolated farmhouse; and Marg Hennell in Whittlesea, who, after being evacuated from her home due to the fires, has spent the last 48 hours working at the Whittlesea refuge centre, tending to the needs of others who have been similarly displaced. Today we are in mourning, but Australians are a determined, compassionate and practical people and we will rebuild our communities together.