Jim Molan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the time available, I'd like to report to the Senate some impressions of recent events on the South Coast of New South Wales. The Prime Minister and Minister Angus Taylor, the minister responsible for emergency management agencies, and I visited Tathra over the last 24 hours. Tathra, as many people in this chamber will know, is a picture-perfect seaside town on the southern coast of New South Wales at the mouth of the Bega River. It's truly a jewel in the stunning Sapphire Coast. It's a close-knit community, and it's enjoyed a wonderful way of life that's rich in history and long in maritime tradition.

On Sunday, Tathra was hit by a vicious and sharp fire that came out of the forest, jumped the river and got as far as the beach. As of a few hours ago, 398 houses had been saved or were not affected by the fire, 69 houses had been destroyed, 39 houses suffered significant damage and 30 cabins or caravans had been destroyed, but there was not one death or serious injury.

We arrived there with the Prime Minister and went to the evacuation centre in Bega and to Tathra itself. There I saw, I must admit, our political leaders of both persuasions sincerely caring about Australians. We're a cynical lot, but the people in Bega and Tathra actually seemed to appreciate the presence of their political leaders.

The first impression that struck me was the result of firefighting. There were damaged and destroyed houses, helicopters flying with long, dangling buckets, and lines of fire trucks and firefighters on the sides of roads waiting for the next task or about to deploy home, or with crews asleep around them. On surrounding roads were convoys of fire trucks or individual fire trucks coming in to replace tired crews—men and women firefighters with the pride and honour of being blackened. There's a great honour in that kind of blackness for a firefighter because it means they were successful in defending most homes. Some were still fighting fires on the ground, mostly individual smoking trees or stumps, or blacking out. Blacking out is about the most thankless task for any firefighter. There were helicopter bases on sports ovals, tankers of fuel, maintenance crews and wind socks, with helicopters coming in and going out. Hoses were laid out behind trucks to be rolled up. There were RFS command vehicles and even a deployed RFS semitrailer full of something it had delivered. But what we saw everywhere was the comradeship of men and women who knew they'd done a good job and the best job that could be done.

We also saw police at every point controlling the flow of traffic, looking after people's belongings and reminding us all that, even though there'd been a tragedy, a disaster, law and order still applied—and perhaps more so. The police also kept overenthusiastic residents from going back into areas with live wires or dangerous asbestos. So they, the police themselves, were in fact lifesavers. We also saw skilled communications crews and electricity crews tucked into strange places by the side of roads here and there in small trucks but also larger trucks with poles on the back and big rolls of new wire and cables to replace everything and erector vehicles. There were vehicles towing generators, and there were generators being connected to critical infrastructure such as phone switches, mobile towers, sewerage works and the evacuation centre. Also, we saw assessors travelling around the town trying to see who lost and who won out of this tragic lottery, asking, 'Is this house okay, damaged or destroyed?' and getting the addresses to convey to the evacuees later.

We saw one evacuation centre at the showgrounds in Bega. Only a few weeks ago, we'd been to that same showground for the Bega show, with happy kids, horses and the usual sideshows. Now, of course, it was very different. We saw the media, who were there to tell the rest of Australia what was going on in Tathra, and, from what I could see, with a good degree of consideration. They were considerate of the houses destroyed, of the people who were evacuated and of the officials whose job it was to help. Inside the evacuation centre was the slickness of this nation of ours. We are practised at helping our own people after disasters. The team came together under the local incident commander from, I think, Bermagui. He conducted the action with a sensitivity that was beautiful to watch. The locals unaffected by the fires had, within hours, contributed everything that the homeless needed, from bedding to clothes to toilet gear, and there were chaplains dispensing massive amounts of understanding.

The most impressive thing that I saw was the attitude of the people. There was a degree of shock, but many of the evacuees were walking around the evac centre, finding friends and relatives, taking what was needed of the things that were donated and talking and relating to others. It's unfair to mention who was there because I will definitely forget someone, but Anglicare was there, as were other church groups, hotel and motel catering staff, officials who could say what the relief entitlements were and Woolies, of course, to give stuff away. That's because everyone is part of the community that is Tathra, Bega and the whole Bega Valley. Everyone had their own story and was keen to tell it for impact but also as a relief.

What I also saw were caring social leaders. I know, again, I'll miss people—and I apologise in advance—but let me have a go. The mayor of Bega Valley Shire Council, Kristy McBain, was there. She hadn't slept for a long time, yet she was everywhere, talking things up, talking about her own community and advocating for the people around her. The state local member, Andrew Constance, was all over the place, talking, relating, caring and fixing what he could. Mike Kelly, the local federal member, was there, as was Bill Shorten today, proving what we all know—that caring crosses political lines. Premier Berejiklian was there and got around to most places. Local media personality Ian Campbell was everywhere, was trusted by everyone and was doing marvellous work. With the Premier was the commissioner of the Rural Fire Service, Shane Fitzsimmons. Shane's a great leader and leads tens of thousands of men and women throughout New South Wales who prove that you can be a volunteer and be totally professional as well.

The director-general of the emergency management agency from Home Affairs, Mark Crosweller, was there with his minister, Angus Taylor, who grew up in this area, to tell the world about the state and Commonwealth relief and recovery system. The newly appointed recovery coordinator, Euan Ferguson, had just arrived to take the lead into the future, when all of us and the media and the attention will go away. If you put the firefighting and recovery experience of Shane Fitzsimmons, Mark Crosweller and Euan Ferguson together, you would get about 100 years of rural firefighting experience, as well as an amazing amount of leadership. We are well served. And of course the Prime Minister was there. He spoke with locals affected and not affected. He spoke to fire crews, helicopter crews, helpers and children. He showed true compassion and empathy, as a national leader should but also as any person would.

At first, in the afternoon, no-one knew if their houses were lost or still there, and the topic of conversation was how they had escaped, what it was like on the beach where they gathered as the fire approached and when they moved to the surf club and finally the evacuation centre. Stories abounded of some who stayed to fight the fire at their own houses and their neighbours' houses and then ran for it, and how fast the fire went, but most people mentioned to me the overwhelming impression of the noise.

And there were questions, as we would all understand—questions that will need to be answered after we have looked after all the people, and questions which may have substance or may not have any at all. But, just like after a battle, all the participants have a different view and a different concern and different memories. I won't repeat the questions, because some of them have no substance and some are, sadly, exploitative. These are the normal questions. They may be valid or they may not be, but they will need to be checked in due course. What is fact is that some of them were being asked by the evacuees and some were, as I said, shamelessly exploitative. I have some knowledge of the Rural Fire Service, and what I do know, as I said before, is that you don't need to be paid to be professional.

To conclude, the saddest thing that I saw, apart from people in the evacuation centre, was garden hoses left lying where they fell, across the front lawns and driveways of houses that were not destroyed, confirming that, as the fire approached, residents had fought this monster with the most domestic of implements, the common or garden fire hose. Of course, you only saw them at intact houses.