Julian McGauran (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise as a Victorian senator to add my support to the Senate condolence motion on the devastating effects to date of the Victorian bushfires over the weekend. The state and the Senate are grieving the loss of over 180 lives, and we know that the death toll continues to rise. On Sunday, we awoke to the front page news that the toll was 14, and that was a shock. But the real shock was to come. The fact that these lives were lost essentially within 24 hours adds to the bewilderment. While the damage to property now seems secondary, over 800 homes have been burnt to the ground. My colleague Scott Ryan, who is in the chamber with me, put the matter in perspective this afternoon when he said that he never thought that he could hear such good news from a friend when he told him their family had lost everything but their lives.

There has been the obliteration of towns like Marysville and Kinglake. The homes did not so much burn down as explode because of the sheer heat. If you look at the pictures, you see these homes are completely flattened. Adding to our bewilderment is the chilling story in today’s Australian newspaper about the last fire truck to leave Marysville before the township was consumed. It was a picture the firefighters will no doubt never get out of their minds as people ran to the truck thumping on its sides. The experts and even the most seasoned firefighters were shocked by the sheer speed of the occurrence. The devastation happened so quickly. The film footage was breathtaking as lips of fire moved as fast as bullets across the ground. I have seen grass fires speed across paddocks, but I have never seen anything like this. The emotion of anger will follow now that we know many of the fires were deliberately lit. These arsonists have caused these deaths and they are terrorists.

While country towns are no strangers to bushfires, and live through the summer on watch for outbreaks, this is an unprecedented event in our history. It was beyond the people’s ability to fight, no matter how prepared they were. The member for Gippsland made a point in his address this afternoon that is worthy to note—that is, we need a more heightened early warning system for days such as last Saturday, because these days are beyond even the most prepared and fully alerted CFA to tackle. We need to have degrees of alertness, not dissimilar to the terrorist alerts that we have, with days like last Saturday at the top of the list. These alerts would denote days when it is almost impossible to fight these fires—in short, get-out days.

Past events like the 1939 Black Friday fires and the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires have entered our Australian lexicon. We now witness Australia’s worst natural disaster, worse than Black Friday and Ash Wednesday—Black Saturday. The lives lost are unprecedented outside war. While that is the tangible measure of the Victorian bushfires, the emotion is almost inexpressible. Speakers in the Senate and the House have grappled with trying to explain it, as of course have those at the fire-front. They have spoken of the human fear of seeing the fire roll over the hills and catch people totally unaware; the thunderous noise that preceded it, which seems to be the single greatest impact upon the survivors, and the sheer heat that melted steel and sucked the oxygen out of the air; the horror of thinking of those trapped and, equally, awaiting news of those families and friends that were missing; the shock of learning that family and friends had died; and the sheer jubilation, as expressed by colleagues in both the Senate and the other chamber, on hearing of people who had survived. These are the inexpressible emotions all rolled into one.

I was in Whittlesea on Saturday morning just as the fires were breaking but, like everyone, I was unsuspecting of the devastation that lay ahead. But it was obvious in Whittlesea that Saturday morning that there was great menace in the air. You could feel it and almost touch it, and it turned out to be so. The property I was visiting was burnt out but home and life were not. The owners consider themselves greatly fortunate.

My home district of Gippsland has not escaped the tragedy of death by fire. In fact, the district has been ablaze for several weeks now. Boolarra and the surrounding districts made the news a few weeks ago but, thankfully, no lives were lost. But this time over the weekend the Churchill district and Callignee hills were ablaze, and lives tragically have been lost. There are a lot of farmers in the Callignee hills, people I would describe as salt of the earth, who have been doing it hard and who now must face the almost impossible challenge of starting again. Again, the member for Gippsland addressed the other chamber today. He has spent several days visiting the affected areas, and he has captured the events and feelings very well.

Like my fellow senators, I pay tribute to the Country Fire Authority. ‘Thank you’ seems almost trite, given the magnitude of their tireless efforts to help other human beings. The CFA, as my colleagues know only too well, are such a big part of the country communities. The CFA grew out of the 1939 fires, when it was recommended that what was needed was on-the-ground volunteer firefighters who knew their district. The CFA have grown to the extent that they are not just heroes of fire fighting but very much a part of every level of the local community. So, when the reviews of this disaster are undertaken, they must include a recommendation of greater resources, funding, help and support for the CFA. Without the CFA at full strength, where would we be? And then of course there is the Red Cross, the Salvos and all the other charity organisations that have been with us for decades and even centuries. To all the community organisations and helpers who are manning the halls and caring for the thousands of shell-shocked evacuees, please accept my thanks and the thanks and gratitude of this chamber.

Australia is the envy of the world in terms of its volunteer networks and organisations. We are not only the envy of the world; we are the model for the world. No country has more voluntary organisations at different community levels than Australia. With regard to our volunteers, we have much to be proud of and grateful for. Where would we be without all these volunteer organisations, particularly in the rural and regional areas? They make up the very fabric of a district. Again, any review undertaken must include fully funded support and help for the voluntary agencies. To the hospitals, the burns units, thank you for your professionalism. To the patients in the burns units, we wish you well. We pray for your strength and grace at this time.

It is a very rare occurrence when the parliament suspends business for a day, but it is fitting to do so. Equally, it is fitting for the parliament to unanimously support the motion of condolence and the government’s efforts to help and send long-term aid to the victims. I thank the Senate.