Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Summer is a time of excesses in this country. The extremes of the climate—the joy of families working and playing on the land and at the beach, the parched deserts and the rainforests, the welcome sunshine and the gentle rains that can turn to impossible heat and water—are not just figments of poetic licence; they are a fact of life in every corner of this country—rude evidence of which we have seen in the past months and which we continue to dread.

In the north-east and east, towns and cities have faced devastating deluges and floods that have washed away homes and habitats. In other parts of the country, west to east, we have seen perilous bushfires that have outrun our country fire authorities and engulfed houses. Among the places worst affected by the natural calamities of this summer was my home state of Tasmania. Fuelled by record-breaking hot weather, with the mercury reaching 41.8 degrees Celsius in Hobart on one day, with wind and precious little rain, the bushfire risk was extreme to say the least. When fires begin at Bicheno on the east coast, at Lake Repulse, Ellendale and in the Derwent Valley, in the north-west at Montumana, and worst at Dunalley and on the Tasman and Forestier peninsulas, the best efforts of some of the most dedicated people in our community—firefighters from around the state, around the country and New Zealand—struggled to limit the damage to property, to livestock and to lives. One man, a firefighter from Victoria who had come to lend a hand, lost his life in a selfless and successful effort to prevent any other loss of life. I record my thanks and my condolences to his family.

Social media and spontaneous community organisation have been invaluable to the bushfire relief and recovery effort, and I acknowledge the contribution of the coordinator of the Tassie Fires—We Can Help Facebook page, Mel Irons. This page, launched when it first became clear that communities would need assistance, now has over 20,000 likes. Its wall was plastered with offers for assistance in all types of areas—offers to ferry water to firefighters and feed to farms, offers to share experience, knowledge and information and, of course, offers of a helping hand. Now that the flames have died down, the communities affected by the fire are faced with a new kind of problem. Barely into the first week of the busiest period of the year businesses as well as homes were affected by the fires. With roads closed and journeys into the peninsula too hazardous to risk for some, bookings were cleared from hotels and restaurants throughout the region. While the community is fully in the process of recovering, students will return to school at a temporary Dunalley primary school on 13 February, while teachers have already gone back and there is still considerable uncertainty around the region.

Many would-be visitors have heard that the peninsula was affected by bushfires and fear that the region remains in danger, it has been too ravaged to provide services let alone tourism experiences, or has been robbed of its natural beauty. None of these things are true. While in Australia one should always be alert to the dangers of fires, people have returned to their homes and their shacks. Business stands ready to welcome visitors with the hospitality that is trademark in Tasmania. The peninsula remains one of the most stunning parts of Australia and of the world where incredible regrowth in fire affected forests tells a story about the community.

That is why I want to support the local community campaign to urge people to visit the Tasman Peninsula in Tasmania at a time when local businesses need the most support. In partnership with tourism organisations around the state, the Mercury and the Sunday Tasmanian newspapers recently launched the 'Tassie calling' campaign to let the nation and the world know that the Tasman Peninsula is once again open for business. Started on social media networks like Twitter and Facebook, the campaign encourages people to get down to the peninsula and to share their experiences identified by the hash tag 'Tassie calling'. A search under that hash tag throws up a photographic record of dozens of trips, showing the colour of the cliffs, the beautiful water and utterly striking evidence even without the aid of an instagram filter. The bushfire effort has turned from emergency coordination to spreading the positive message, and groups like Social Hobart are planning on Twitter trips to the peninsula.

There is a hugely positive message to tell about tourism and hospitality in Tasmania. In recent years Tasmanian tourism experiences have captured the imagination of opinion leaders from across the world. Tasmania's growing reputation is no surprise to those who are fortunate enough to call Tassie their home, and I am very fortunate to be one of those people. Hobart recently made the Lonely Planet list of the top 10 cities for 2013 and the city was also listed on the popular travel website TripAdvisor as one of the top 10 destinations on the rise.

Tasmania's rise to international prominence is due in no small part to the extraordinary appeal of the Museum of Old and New Art. In just 18 months, MONA has become an integral part of the Tasmanian visitor experience with the potential to attract even more visitors to Tasmania over the years to come. It has overtaken Port Arthur as the most visited site in the state and has brought in thousands upon thousands of tourists who, in making the trip to see the museum, have stayed for days or weeks and fallen for the island itself. The impact of MONA is much broader than just visitation to the museum, although that visitation has certainly been great. In fact, in its first year of opening visitation to MONA was over 400,000. But festivals and activities associated with MONA, most prominently MONA FOMA which was concluded at the end of January, have also brought a new crowd to the state. While visitor numbers are yet to be released, it is fair to say that Hobart and surrounds were as full of visitors as they ever have been. The visitors came to explore the Taste Festival, a food festival in Tasmania; the port at the end of the Sydney to Hobart; or the incredible music brought to Hobart by MOFO, as it is familiarly known.

I have to say MOFO attracted a number of hipsters of Melbourne—at least, they identified themselves through the streets of Hobart during that time. It just shows you what a hip city Hobart has become through the creation of the MOFO festival. In fact, more than 55 per cent of the prepaid tickets to that MOFO festival were purchased by those visiting from interstate. Thousands more tickets to a special fundraising event for the bushfires organised by the MONA/FOMA curator—ex-Violent Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie—were given away to volunteers and people affected by the bushfires. Buses were chartered from the Tasman Peninsula communities to the venues on Hobart's waterfront for the largest of a whole series of bushfire relief fundraisers by organisations and individuals across the state. I was pleased, and I give thanks to those performers who not only performed as part of MOFO but also chose to stay on and contribute a free performance for that night to give their support, through their contribution at the MOFO festival, to the bushfire-affected areas and those communities that had suffered.

Of course, that particular bushfire fundraiser as part of MOFO was not the only fundraiser that was held during that time, and fundraisers continue to be held in Tasmania to support bushfire-affected communities. There are a number of fundraising efforts, which shows again the passion and the compassion of the Tasmanian community who want to come out, do their bit and support other community members in the state through fundraising for the bushfire-affected areas and communities. There are events organised by the Red Cross, of course, and the Red Cross is coordinating efforts that a lot of the fundraising has been directed to. A colleague and friend of mine who is a fantastic jazz pianist, Tom Vincent, and his quartet performed at the Baha'i centre in Hobart and raised funds for the Red Cross for the bushfire-affected communities. There were also a number of volunteers giving up their time through the St Vincent de Paul Society, which coordinated all of the goods that have been donated by individuals, as well as pharmacies, other small businesses and the like, providing goods that, as you can imagine, are much needed for people who have just lost absolutely everything, including their home.

On top of that, I think the success of the MONA market, another part of MONA, which is held each Saturday during the summer as a showcase of local arts, crafts, foods and talents, has meant that there is scarcely a moment in which the grounds of Moorilla, where MONA is located, out in Berriedale in Hobart's northern suburbs, have not been fully occupied. Many who attended MONA/FOMA would have been as familiar with some performances as they were amazed by new ones. The festival is as eclectic in its audience as in its artists. It must be remembered that, quite aside from the economic and tourism aspects of MONA, it has also been received with enthusiasm as a new and in some ways quite different space in which the Tasmanian community feels invested and from which they also feel the benefits. Perhaps even more substantially, there is the demonstration of the capacity of MONA to bring high-quality producers, craftspeople and consumers together in a showcase that is on display to the world in a sense that connects also with our original, existing museum, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, which at the moment has an exhibition called Theatre of the World, a combination of works exhibited by MONA and those exhibited by TMAG.

But I think the market at MONA, as well, is a taster of some of the incredible things that are on offer around our beautiful state—a promise of what can be found beyond the now well-worn path between the airport, the city and this world-class museum. MONA brings a world to Tasmania and has brought Tasmania to the world, and both of these aspects are vitally important for our state. What I hope is that visitors who come to MONA will spend time exploring the rest of Tasmania. I hope that they will take advantage of the new and emerging tourism experiences, many of which have been supported by the Gillard Labor government to transform potential into sustainable, high-quality attractions: things like the heritage buildings at Redlands Estate and whisky experience, to complement the burgeoning Tasmanian whisky industry; Mount Gnomon Farms rare breeds experience; and support for an orchard and cider experience at Spreyton on the north-west coast, which joins an industry already using famous Tasmanian apples at the other end of the state in the Huon Valley.

I hope they take the time to visit some of the most pristine and remarkable natural heritage in the world, a World Heritage space nominated for expansion by the Gillard Labor government. And, of course, I hope they hear Tassie calling and are tempted by the history and the beauty of the Tasman Peninsula, still proud, still standing and still open for business.