Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the awful devastation wrought by Tropical Cyclone Winston on the people of Fiji and to offer my support to all the families who are suffering and have lost loved ones. Tropical Cyclone Winston is the most devastating storm, the fiercest cyclone, ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere. The category 5 cyclone struck Fiji last Saturday, generating winds of up to 350 kilometres per hour that pulverised virtually everything in its path. It has killed 29 people, and that number continues to rise. It has destroyed homes. It has destroyed livelihoods.

Early estimates put the damage bill in the hundreds of millions of dollars. With power and communications still down across vast areas of Fiji, it will be some time before the full devastation is revealed. The Fijian government and aid organisations are now racing to protect families and communities from disease outbreaks, while grappling with the critical need for clean water, emergency accommodation and medical supplies. The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O'Brien, says whole villages have been destroyed. He estimates that more than 8,000 people are sheltering in about 70 evacuation centres, with concerns about sanitation and clean water.

For its part, the Australian government has offered an initial $5 million humanitarian assistance package, including Defence transport helicopters carrying personnel and equipment and two Orion surveillance aircraft. Australia's medical evacuation team will provide urgent support and supplies, including water and hygiene kits, medicines and access to shelter. Humanitarian agencies such as UNICEF Australia and CARE Australia are also at the front line of Australia's support. I would like to acknowledge the Australian aid organisations and NGOs who are working on the ground in Fiji. These organisations are on the front line of Australia's humanitarian response and assisting with the delivery of Australia's $5 million package.

Tropical Cyclone Winston serves as a reminder of why our aid program matters. Australia delivers $35 million a year in bilateral aid to Fiji. It is good and it is right that aid be delivered by Australian government officials and Australian aid organisations, and my support goes to those organisations. Labor welcomes the support the Australian government's initial contribution has provided but calls on it to urgently do more. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ms Bishop, has promised to 'stand ready to provide further assistance to support Fiji's relief and recovery efforts'. I welcome that commitment and strongly encourage the Australian government to keep monitoring the recovery effort and consider additional assistance to start repairing the likely hundreds of millions of dollars of damage.

I hope the devastating events wrought by Cyclone Winston in Fiji will go some way to highlighting the vital importance of a strong foreign aid budget. I also urge Australians to again show their generosity and make donations to support the people of Fiji. The Australian Council for International Development provides links on its website to Australian organisations running such appeals. The website of the Fijian High Commission in Australia also has information on how to donate. In fact, in relation to immediate assistance, the Fijian High Commission has asked for donations of money towards relief efforts as it is the most effective form of emergency assistance. It will empower cyclone victims to purchase what they need the most—as they know what they need—and will also ensure that much needed foreign exchange is injected into the local economy. The High Commission goes on to highlight that the Fijian government itself has established bank accounts to receive financial donations in the wake of this crisis and that those funds will be used to directly benefit those Fijians who have been left homeless and without adequate food, water and essential services, especially those living in the most rural and maritime communities in Fiji. In Australia, Westpac and ANZ banks have waived international telegraphic transaction or TT fees for remittances and donations to Fiji, and the High Commission's website has listed those.

I have this morning spoken to the Fijian High Commissioner to Australia, Mr Yogesh Punja, to offer my condolences and support. Mr Punja is deeply concerned about events in Fiji and is working tirelessly to help co-ordinate support efforts and provide information to the Fijian diaspora here in Australia. The High Commissioner is also adamant that climate change contributed strongly to the severity and destructiveness of tropical Cyclone Winston. This continues to be an issue in the Pacific. I share Mr Punja's concerns. Scientists have continually warned that climate change is increasing the risk and severity of storms, cyclones and wildfires. The devastating events in Fiji serve as another warning for governments like the Turnbull government to finally get serious about tackling dangerous climate change.

The devastation inflicted by tropical Cyclone Winston on the people of Fiji is also deeply personal for me. My father is a Fijian-Indian and was born in Fiji, and my family still live there. Cyclone Winston came very close to family members on both Vanua Levu and Viti Levu. Roads and other infrastructure near my late-grandparents' property in Bua have been washed away. In particular, the cyclone travelled through the Bligh Water—the stretch of sea that separates the islands of Vanua Levu and Viti Levu. Lieutenant William Bligh famously saved himself and a group of loyal crewmen by navigating his seven-metre launch through this stretch of water and to eventual safety in the Dutch port of Timor. The strait therefore bears his name. As I discussed in my first speech in this place, Bligh Water is a deeply significant place for my family because my father survived a shipwreck there as a young child, with my grandparents and his two brothers. Dad's remarkable experience has shaped both his and my character and perspective of the world. His journey as a nine-year-old boy surviving a treacherous shipwreck in shark-infested Fijian waters to seeing his own daughter become the first person of south-Asian origin to sit in the Australian Parliament is a source of great pride and meaning for him. Fiji and the Bligh Water is therefore deeply special, and the impact of Cyclone Winston in that area is very significant. Our family has so much identity and belonging attached to the Fijian people and to those places affected so heavily by Cyclone Winston. Dad has been extremely busy contacting relatives and hearing the harrowing stories of terrifying winds, homes uprooted and carried away, as well as many near misses. I can understand his desire to be close to and actively support family in Fiji at the moment. The devastation and trauma of Cyclone Winston feels very close to home.

Of course, we have our own history of such events here in Australia. No-one will forget that Cyclone Tracy flattened Darwin in 1974. Such tragedies show that Australia is not immune to extreme events and the sort of crisis witnessed in Fiji last Saturday. More recently, we have seen Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy savage coastal communities in the United States. As climate change intensifies, so does the risk and intensity of these natural disasters. The people of Fiji are experiencing that right now. So, in the immediate term, we must come together to support the people of Fiji—our neighbours—in rebuilding their homes and their lives, which will take some time yet to come. Just as importantly, we must, as a society, rise to the challenge of tackling dangerous climate change and making the world a safer and more sustainable place for our shared humanity.

My heart goes out to the people of Fiji, to those who have lost loved ones from the severity that Cyclone Winston left in its wake. I hope it is a stark reminder to all of us that we must do more to support our Pacific neighbours in any way that we can.