Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition welcomes the government’s response to the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission. As the summer season approaches our attention is again turned to the grim reality that it is also a time when natural disasters such as bushfires are likely to occur. We join with the government in acknowledging the tragedy suffered by so many families and communities.

The coalition also takes this opportunity to acknowledge the brave and tireless work of Australia’s tens of thousands of fire and emergency service volunteers. These are the men and women who are on the frontline of disaster management. We acknowledge too their families who support them and who understand their commitment to the safety and service of our community. I speak here not only of the CFA and rural fire volunteers, who are busy preparing for this summer’s bushfire season, but also of the SES volunteers in Queensland and New South Wales in particular preparing for a summer cyclone and storm season. Disaster management in Australia relies upon these people and this must never be forgotten.

The coalition, which represents so much of regional and rural Australia in this parliament, well understands the need for all levels of government to work together to prevent, prepare, respond and recover from natural disasters of all kinds. There is no better understanding of this than from former Liberal members Fran Bailey and Jason Wood, who both worked tirelessly to make their communities safer and who are sadly no longer members of the House.

We consider the best way to build resilience in communities across Australia is to engage with local government, local communities and emergency service volunteers. We hope that lessons can and will be learned from the experience of the Black Saturday bushfires. We hope too that as communities recover they will do so secure in the knowledge that they have the full and sympathetic support of both sides of this House.

On 17 August and 24 November 2009 we heard from the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission in their interim reports that many mistakes were made and more could have been done to prepare Victoria for a natural disaster of this magnitude. I would like to take this opportunity to commend Commissioner Teague and his fellow commissioners for their important work over the past year and a half. They have acted professionally and have dedicated themselves to the harrowing task of listening to the horrific events and weighing up the evidence that was presented to them so that we can all learn from Black Saturday.

As noted by the Attorney-General, the commission released its final report on 31 July 2010. The report contained 67 recommendations, of which five are primarily directed at the Commonwealth. These relate to bushfire awareness and research, Commonwealth firefighting resources and bushfire, arson and environmental protection legislation. The most fundamental responsibility of any government is the protection of its citizens. All state governments and authorities must look carefully at the findings of the royal commission and learn from the mistakes as we approach this summer’s fire season. The coalition is committed to the continual improvement of emergency management arrangements. We pledge our full support to whatever is required to effectively build individual and community resilience to disasters. I am therefore happy on behalf of the opposition to support the statement to this House by the Attorney-General.

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