Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak to the matter of the bushfires that have cast such a pall over my home state of New South Wales and, indeed, over the whole country. These fires have shocked not just our nation but the entire world due to their size, longevity and sheer destruction. On Sunday, as I came down to Canberra, I shared a flight with a local group of rural fireys from the northern part of New South Wales. I want to acknowledge them—and I think this was the sentiment of the whole plane—as the true heroes in our midst, people from community who stepped forward in our time of need. They've come from the fires in the northern part of New South Wales, which began in August, to help here in Canberra and in the alpine areas. They had plenty to say, and I hope that what they say and what they have concerns about is documented and changes practices in this country. I do sheet home, particularly to the state governments, responsibility for the correct provision of resources for people to fight fires in the way that they know how.

The fires that we're talking about have burned an estimated 46 million acres and killed one billion animals and have tragically killed at least 33 people. They've caught the horrified attention of the world. All of us here, along with our fellow Australians, are appalled at the scale and the relentless devastation that has marked this summer. Indeed, people have spoken to me here in the halls of this very place since I've arrived about the way in which the whole notion of summer has changed. People have spoken to me since I arrived in Canberra about the incredible loss of pastures and fencing, concerns about their community, concerns about their families and concerns about access to health services for the mental toll that it's taken on them, their families and their communities. I want to sincerely convey my condolences to each and every person who has lost a member of their family, a close friend, a colleague or a mate. Your loss is, indeed, profound. As a representative of the people of New South Wales, I say: we wish we could rewind the days to the happier times you knew before this great personal tragedy struck.

My home state of New South Wales has been in the grip of these fires for months now. I want to particularly acknowledge the work of three of my colleagues in this state—Susan Templeman, Mike Kelly and Fiona Phillips—for the incredible community support that they've offered to those who elected them at the last federal election. Blazes have raged across the south-east of New South Wales, the Blue Mountains and all over the North Coast. The destruction has spread to Mulwala, Pilliga, Coonabarabran, Uranquinty and even the very edges of my home region, the Central Coast of New South Wales, particularly reaching the farmers and the community at Mangrove Mountain.

I want to thank my local RFS brigade at Copacabana for their sterling work in fighting dozens of fires across the coast, including the vast Gospers Mountain blaze, over the summer. In fact, I have my very own copy of the December-January issue of Copa Life. In it, a story about the rural fire brigade by Matt Francis speaks of the Gospers Mountain fire. At that time, he said, 'It still remains within the proposed containment lines outside the Central Coast LGA,' but at that stage it had burnt 185,000 hectares. Little did they know, when they were providing this amazing resource to the local community about preparing for bushfires, the toll that would be taken by the fires of the summer of 2019-20.

There is a group of amazing local volunteers in Copacabana, my home town in my home state, and I was able to get funding for them for a Striker, which is a very small vehicle that is able to fight fires in contained areas. That was one of my first contributions in public life, in fact—to be able to get the state Labor government to commit to that. We hold the Copacabana Rural Fire Brigade in great esteem. We're a proud community and we're very proud of those who do that work in our community and across this state. Yet, when they dared to put up a crowdfunding request for some money to buy adequate face masks because the ones they had been provided did not provide enough protection, they were actually shut down. The money arrived, but the PR arm of the New South Wales government, the image minders, attacked those firefighters from the Copacabana Rural Fire Brigade. They were men and women who needed adequate protection and needed masks to protect their health, but instead they received a telling-off and a silencing by leaders who should have done better and should have given them adequate safety gear in the first place. This is simply not good enough and it's not right. It's a disgrace that our brave firefighters and our volunteers from all of the services should have to go around rattling the tin for the bare minimum resources that they need to safely protect themselves in order to protect our communities, especially when the New South Wales state government crows about a surplus and its extravagant infrastructure program at the cost of human health and wellbeing and support for these vital firefighters.

As one of many in this building who have travelled to Canberra in the last few days, I don't have to look far from this building to see how the fires continue to threaten communities so near to where we're speaking today. It's a reminder we are not out of the woods in this long summer of fire, and we still stand to lose even more.

I was devastated, like men and women right across this nation, to hear of the tragic deaths in Buxton of two brave firefighters—Geoffrey Keaton and Andrew O'Dwyer, young fathers and proud members of the New South Wales Horsley Park Rural Fire Service. I give my particular condolences to their families and their friends and to the members of the Horsley Park Rural Fire Service. This is a tough time for those who have already given so much. These amazing young men died volunteering, giving their time to protect Australian lives and Australian property, and the loss of their lives is tragic. Their youth and their service to the country in its time of need makes this loss incredibly heartbreaking.

There is no doubt that this is my state's worst bushfire season on record. It featured the largest forest fire in Australian history not far from where I live—the Gospers Mountain bushfire, which had reached that record level on 15 December. By Christmas Day, it had burned another 162,000 hectares. But it is not just the state of New South Wales that has been devastated. Victorian Premier Dan Andrews was forced to call a state of emergency for his state after the terrible fires in East Gippsland burnt through three million acres of land and over 200 homes. Fires still burn across the east of Victoria, and my thoughts are with the residents and emergency services personnel still battling those blazes there.

Australia looked on in horror at the scenes of over a thousand Mallacoota residents being evacuated in a miniature Dunkirk move by the Navy. They were chased off their land by a massive fire front and had to seek shelter on the beach and wharf. I want to take the opportunity also to thank the Defence Force and, particularly, the reservists who came out over summer to undertake the necessary work of protecting life, limb and infrastructure in this country.

I can't add to the comments that the Leader of the Opposition made when he spoke of the terrible tragedy that was visited upon the people of Kangaroo Island. Engulfed in flames, it is a community that has had about one-third of its island razed. People were tragically killed. Many of the species of wildlife, like the koala population, were pushed to the brink. The entire community has been devastated. As a senator for New South Wales, I think that those on Kangaroo Island have felt the deep, deep hurt of this season in the same way that our state has.

The smoke from the fires across this nation was so vast it could be seen from space as satellites circumnavigated the globe. New Zealand, our partners across the ditch, were blanketed in smoke. The whole of the South Island was caught in a yellow haze.

The heroism of the RFS volunteers giving their precious time and devotion over the holiday season cannot be overlooked. They have lifted the community spirits of this very nation. Their tireless efforts, their self-sacrifice and their grit has ensured that their deeds this fire season will never be forgotten by a grateful nation.

I want to also thank the firefighters who've come from so many nations to aid us in our struggle. We cannot thank you enough for what you have given. Three of your own citizens, sadly, gave their lives in service of our nation—Ian McBeth, Paul Clyde Hudson, and Rick A DeMorgan Jr. Thank you to the governments and the people of Canada, Fiji, France, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and the Philippines for your help.

Australians here opened up their homes and their wallets to help those doing it tough. Celeste Barber's fundraiser alone raised over $50 million, shattering the world record for the largest ever Facebook fundraiser. Over $140 million has been gathered and now needs to be poured into deserving communities. We've seen Australians of all kinds and of all ages motivated by a range of views, including their religious views, to put their faith into action, to exercise mateship and to travel, in that spirit, to bushfire ravaged areas to deliver food and desperately needed supplies. We've seen people like my state colleague Jihad Dib who travelled to Adelong with the Lighthouse Community Support Muslim Women's Association, Lakemba Travel Centre, Human Appeal, the NRL's Bulldogs and the GWS Giants side-by-side with dozens of volunteers to stand by our fellow Australians.

I also want to acknowledge that I was proud to represent the Leader of the Labor Party, the Hon. Anthony Albanese, at St Andrew's Cathedral for a service of prayer for those affected by the bushfires. We have gathered not just in churches but in halls, on the edges of streets and in corridors to seek to salve the wounds of this burning summer.

I urge every Australian: keep doing what you can. Donate to ethical, accountable charities. If you want to put your money into a particular local area, look to the local councils for mayoral funds that will be greatly needed in the times ahead. We need to support businesses, particularly small businesses, across this nation. It's regional and rural Australia that has been most affected by this sad summer. We need to make sure that those small businesses that didn't burn down but were affected by the burn get the support that they need—not more paperwork that prevents them accessing the dollars that they need to get on with the job and to keep jobs alive in their communities. Please, if you can, make sure that you visit great and beautiful places like the South Coast of New South Wales, East Gippsland in Victoria, the Blue Mountains and, indeed, the Central Coast. Reinvigorate those small businesses and industries that give life, jobs and hope to countless communities.

We must be proactive in our efforts to rebuild these communities, and we have to help one another right now. The government has no time to take a backward step. This is a time for rebuilding. But we must be better prepared. Our services must be better equipped for the inevitable next fire season. We also need to look at the impact this season of fire has had on the mental health of emergency service volunteers and families directly impacted. The scenes of hell that have emerged through the media can hardly be compared to the heartwarming experience of watching locals look after one another despite the loss of their homes and the loss of their beautiful environments. It feels as if a dull, passive ache rests on the heart of the nation.

Emergency service workers have gone above and beyond the call of duty. I want to particularly commend Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons for his entirely remarkable leadership in what must be one of the most trying times of his career. I'm also mindful of this morning's prayer gathering here in Canberra and the lessons that we learned, documented in a prayer that was written in 2009 after the dreadful fires in Victoria. I close with the words of the first hymn:

Now thank we all our God

For courage meeting danger,

When selfless spirits fight

For mate or helpless stranger,

When wind and bushfire flare   

And terror grips our faith,

Compassion keeps us strong,

Through tragedy and death.