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

I, and also on behalf of Senators Polley, Urquhart, Brown, Duniam, Abetz, Lambie, McKim, Whish-Wilson, Bushby and Parry, move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Black Tuesday Tasmanian bushfires - the worst bushfires in Tasmania's history,

  (ii) the fires took the lives of 64 people, injured 900 people, destroyed approximately 1,400 buildings, including homes, schools, and businesses, and burned 653,000 acres of southern Tasmania,

  (iii) the fires affected or destroyed towns from Hamilton and Bothwell in the Southern Midlands, to the Derwent Valley, to the edges of Hobart, and down to Channel and the Huon Valley, and

  (iv) the total damage done by the fires was estimated to be $482 million in 2015 dollars;

(b) recognises the great trauma experienced by Tasmanians from the Black Tuesday fires and the tremendous effort by emergency services during the fires and by all Australians in the rebuilding process;

(c) further recognises this valiant Tasmanian community spirit has been crucial to fire­-fighting efforts ever since; and

(d) wishes Tasmanian firefighters and volunteers a safe season for 2017 and hopes that the events of Black Tuesday are never repeated.

Question agreed to.