Fran Bailey (McEwen, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This weekend our nation will pause and it will reflect and it will honour the 173 men, women and children who lost their lives a year ago on Black Saturday. This weekend will be a particularly tough weekend for many of the communities in my electorate. We still have large numbers of people who are very severely traumatised. Some people will want to gather and will want to exchange stories; some will be quietly introspective. There will be lots of tears; there will be lots of laughter as well. And, Mr Speaker, there will be lots of hugs.

I think all of those people would want me today to once again express and acknowledge the thanks of so many that have already been referred to. The Prime Minister referred to the countless numbers of public servants, including for example the Centrelink manager who, after going off duty, then went and volunteered to do some fencing. I can give hundreds of stories like that. There are the thousands and thousands of Australians who donated money, goods and services; the thousands of volunteers who travelled long distances simply to lend a helping hand. Those efforts have been absolutely magnificent in themselves but, most importantly, they have shown the people of my communities that they were not on their own; that Australians everywhere were with them.

This weekend also provides us with an opportunity to focus on the future, and never before has it been so important to harness the energy, the commitment, the tenacity, the resilience and the sheer willpower of these people in so many of our devastated communities and to allow them to direct the rebuilding of their own communities. I thank the House.

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