Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to reach out to our bushfire services across Australia, but especially in the Northern Territory at the moment, where we've had significant fires burning for quite a long time over the last month or two around the Barkly region, from Tennant Creek across to Mount Isa and now around Alice Springs.

This is a reminder to those with health conditions to be very careful. I know that, in Alice Springs itself, there have been warnings around health conditions because of the thick smoke and the concerns for those who are experiencing diabetes or who have any asthma conditions. Certainly, this month also is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, so we are very mindful on every level that patients who experience those symptoms must be very careful—and not just in the Northern Territory, obviously. We're seeing it in some other places. I've certainly seen what's going on down in Melbourne with pollen. In terms of that awareness, I do want to reach out to constituents.

I also want to say thank you to our bushfire services in the Northern Territory and South Australia, as well as Victoria and others who have come to assist us there. The other thing I'd like to add is that in the Top End of Northern Australia, it's wet season time. It's cyclone clean-up time. Make sure that you're checking your yards. Make sure you're getting rid of all those things that can fly and become hazards in wild winds and, certainly, in the tropical cyclones that we have. We've had severe flooding in the last wet season, so this is just a reminder to all people across Northern Australia—but, in particular, in the Northern Territory—to be careful. We're at that time of year again.