Alan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As we gather here today, from all corners of Australia, we have all been moved by the torrent of disasters which have swept across the country this summer. With the floods, cyclones and fires, this has been a summer which will be long remembered. I join my senatorial colleagues in expressing my sympathy and extending my condolences to those who have suffered damage, injury or death in these natural disasters.

Like you, Madam Acting Deputy President Crossin, having lived in the Northern Territory, I, having lived in the Pilbara, went through many cyclones and can personally empathise with the cyclone and flood victims. Two cyclones in particular are etched in my memory, these being Cyclone Joan in 1975 and Cyclone Dean in 1980, both of which wrecked my house at the time. According to the US weather service, Cyclone Joan was probably the most severe cyclone to have ever struck the north-west coast of Australia and at that time was one of the biggest storms ever recorded. The wind battered Hedland for over 10 hours, roaring like a train in a tunne1, which I could hear for weeks afterwards any time I closed my eyes. I was a doctor in Port Hedland then, working at the Port Hedland Regional Hospital. I was sent to South Hedland because it was thought that flooding would cut access to the Port Hedland hospital and medical service was needed in South Hedland. This proved very lucky for me as after the cyclone I returned to find my house by the beach in ruins. The whole street resembled a war zone littered with wreckage.

So I understand from personal experience what those who were caught in the natural disasters we have experienced or are currently experiencing are feeling. In Western Australia we are all too aware that we live in a land of extremes, from the ravaging effects of the fires now occurring in the Perth Hills around Kelmscott in Don Randall’s electorate of Canning to the widespread destruction of cyclones and flooding in the Gascoyne region in Barry Haase’s electorate of Durack. As we try to rebuild homes and crops inundated by torrential rain and flooding in Carnarvon, we can relate firsthand to the devastation felt in communities affected by the Queensland floods and Cyclone Yasi.

Apart from damage to the town of Carnarvon and the plantations on the river, as Senator Cash pointed out, it is also important to recognise the impact on outlying pastoral properties in the Gascoyne and Murchison, which have experienced major damage to homesteads, water infrastructure and loss of stock. Visiting the region in January with Barry Haase and Julie Bishop, I found it heartening to see firsthand the steely resilience of the locals, led by shire president Dudley Maslen, when faced with the recurrent flooding of the Gascoyne River.

I also acknowledge the contribution made by Mark Lewis of WA’s Department of Agriculture and Food, who coordinated and managed the restoration of topsoil which had been washed away from the plantations on the Gascoyne River. I also pay tribute to the skilled emergency service workers and generous volunteers who selflessly put their hands up to help neighbours they had never met.

North-west communities held fundraising drives; delivered food, water and fuel supplies; and organised skilled tradesmen to help with the effort to rebuild the damage to Carnarvon and the area around it. I think this is a true insight into how Australians pull together in times of stress and adversity. The largest employer in Carnarvon, Rio Tinto, made a significant contribution to the relief effort, providing labour, equipment and access to flights and aircraft. That was assisted by other mining companies in the area. Again, I think this shows the true community spirit of Australians in dealing with disasters and other situations in which great hardship occurs.

Dorothea Mackellar once described the beauty and the terror of Australia in her famous poem. How true that description is and will continue to be. Just as Australians have shown great fortitude in the face of present and past natural disasters, so I am sure they will continue to do so in the future. I believe that it is a feature of our national character as Australians to accept the setbacks that nature periodically delivers and then stoically set about going forward to restore and rebuild. And of course, as Senator Williams said, it is always nice to have a little bit of assistance from the federal and state governments in the form of financial grants to assist that process.