Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

It has been good to hear from the member for Kennedy and the member for Leichhardt in particular because of their first-hand experiences after Cyclone Larry. It demonstrates the great role that a local member of parliament can play, and both members have obviously done that. Some of it has been extremely personal, a lot of it has been very practical and you can also hear that both are going to be very strong advocates for their communities.

It was little Tyarne Stanley who so eloquently put it, after seeing the impact of Cyclone Larry. She said, ‘There’s fences broked; everything’s broked.’ It is hard to imagine this very beautiful part of Queensland being, as she put it, ‘broked’. But, as the two previous speakers have indicated, there is no question that this part of Australia will be restored. The great thing is that we have so many indications that many Australians will do everything they can to help. Already, as so many have said, we have seen the wonderful courage and commitment from the emergency service workers, the Defence personnel and all of the volunteers.

People have spoken about the tremendous way in which we have had so many tradespeople decide to pick up their tools and take them to Far North Queensland. In a time when we have such a serious skills shortage right around the country—there is plenty of work elsewhere in the country—these tradespeople have decided to take their livelihoods with them, to take their skills up to Far North Queensland, and be such a critical part of the massive recovery effort that is now under way.

We have seen, as the member for Kennedy has said, some power restored. Of course there is still an enormous amount of work to be done there. It was terrific to see the children going back to school, although not necessarily in their old classrooms, and that businesses are being reopened at last.

As the member for Kennedy said, it must be a real tonic for people to have Peter Cosgrove up there. When people are in distress, it is important for them to know that somebody of his standing is in charge—somebody who is now going to manage the recovery effort—and that that recovery effort is being conducted with all levels of government.

We have heard a lot from the member for Leichhardt and the member for Kennedy about the important role that local government has played, but we all recognise the important job that has been done, and I am sure will continue to be done, by both the Queensland government and the Australian government. There is no doubt that it must be a comfort if you have lost everything to see someone like Peter Cosgrove around the town with his sleeves rolled up, as he said himself, ready to get stuck in and get everybody organised.

One of the things that I wanted to do particularly today was to very strongly say that all Australians really need to dig deep and support the call of Premier Peter Beattie for the donation of cash to the disaster relief effort. As I understand it, he has set a target of about $20 million. This is money to be raised by all of us, individual Australians, out of our own pockets for this relief effort. I gather that about $8 million has been raised so far. I think it demonstrates that we can do more than that. To anyone who is listening and has the capacity to send some money up to Far North Queensland to help with the relief effort, I am sure it will be very well received.

Others have spoken about the need to get the tourist industry back on its feet. Coming from Melbourne, as I do—I know that it is beautiful in Melbourne right at the moment but it will not be that way for much longer; it will be pretty cold soon—I say to everyone in Melbourne: make sure that when you are taking your next holiday you go to North Queensland. We know that plenty of tourist areas have been very badly damaged, but they will be fixed and they will be fixed soon. What they need is for those of us from the colder areas down south to get up to North Queensland to make sure that the fabulous tourist resorts can deliver that fantastic holiday experience we know they can.

I do feel particularly for the farmers—the sugarcane farmers, the banana growers and the other crop growers. We have heard a lot in the media about the banana growers and the sugarcane farmers, but both the member for Leichhardt and the member for Kennedy have mentioned the other crop growers of macadamia nuts, avocados and all the other very specialised fruits that come from Queensland. We know that they have been very hard-hit. This means that families just have nothing to live on. Not only do they have nothing to live on now but also it is going to cost them a lot of money to rebuild their farms and their livelihoods. Anything that the federal government can do to support those people to get their farms back into operation I know will be very well received.

It has also been made very plain that many towns rely on these farmers for income, and so the local businesses in the towns are also being hard-hit and know that it is going to be tough for them to get back on their feet. Hopefully, though, we will see those businesses able to recover. As I say, I hope that those Australians who live a long way from Far North Queensland but know it for the beautiful place that it is will do everything they possibly can by donating to the relief effort and by getting up there to have their great holidays in Queensland. That way, in the most practical manner possible, we can do our little bit to help.

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