Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Fire, drought and flood are so much part of our environment. Might I pass on my sympathies and best wishes to those folk further north who have been affected by very serious flooding again. The member from Queensland and my colleagues here have been working assiduously with their communities again, and I really do sympathise with you. To face this again after two years is a monumental challenge. But our sympathies go with you, particularly from Tasmania, and of course into New South Wales.

In my home state of Tassie, as you might be aware, towards the end of January very serious fires occurred in the Tasman Peninsula in particular, which is part and parcel of Dick Adams's electorate of Lyons; on the east coast of Tasmania, which is also in Lyons; and in the Derwent Valley, which was Dick Adams's patch. We had some serious fires up in my electorate, but fortunately they did not threaten, beyond our immediate concerns, houses or persons.

I joined the member for Lyons recently, at his invitation, and went to visit the Tasman Peninsula. I know that there are people in this chamber and certainly in this parliament who have before faced serious bushfires and their consequences, and also flooding. But I must say that these fires, like most extraordinary fires, needed to be seen to be believed.

I particularly want to congratulate the people of the Tasman Peninsula on the way that their community has rallied in the face of these extraordinary fires, fires that in fact crossed rivers and bays of considerable size—they completely skipped major rivers—and, of course, caused damage in areas that you would never believe would face serious fire. That community has responded magnificently. In congratulating them, I would like to also recognise their local council, which has done everything possible to rally to support the community. The Tasmanian government has been very, very good. So has the federal government in giving ready support and assistance, particularly in declaring disaster assistance and disaster zones. I know that has been replicated throughout the country with the unfortunate circumstances in Queensland. We expect nothing less of federal governments, no matter what their political persuasion, than to support their people. But I do congratulate the Tasman Peninsula community in particular.

I attended a meeting with the member for Lyons, Dick Adams—and I must congratulate Dick; he really does know his area and they know him well, and he seems to know every little nook and cranny that was affected by the fires. I also want to congratulate Dick and his office for the tremendous work that they were able to do—as I congratulate my colleagues here. I say to every person, no matter what their political persuasion: I am so sorry your communities have been touched by disaster; I know how much work you would have done and how much you care about it, and I do thank you all for the work you do there.

We went to the meeting, which was auspiced by Sue Madden from Blue Lagoon Oysters. There were three oyster farms in a row and Sue's business was completely wiped out. I have never before seen the consequences of heat as I saw in this circumstance, and in an area with very few trees. Right next door, they were processing oysters. All this was going on and we were having the meeting, and the next minute a bloke arrived with a tray of oysters from right next door to Sue's. Then, next door to this oyster place that looked like it had not had a fire near it, another business was wiped out. It is extraordinary. Fire does not discriminate, in either its path or its ferocity. But I thought it was typical of the spirit shown that here was a guy coming around with oysters for us from his oyster bed. He did not have a factory left, but he had the oysters, so he brought them round for everyone. It just demonstrated a fantastic spirit.

Sue Madden auspiced this meeting, and we must have had at least 35 people representing, in particular, primary industries and small business in the area. One of the things that came out of the meeting, apart from an expression of shock and grief and the resilient attitude shown by the locals, was that sometimes disaster relief is paid, for instance, immediately to the primary producer but not necessarily to the small business that depends on the primary producer. So the provision of disaster assistance is an issue that Dick and I will be taking up.

Colleagues in this chamber and others have talked about the insurance industry. I know there are some insurance people who do the right thing, but I have heard of so many cases where people are dealing with an insurance company and do not feel confident that there is any certitude in their relationship with the insurance company. All I know is that the premiums continue to go up, so the service should be commensurate with the premium. People should not be worrying about the definition of an 'act of God'—that is a slippery definition. We have taken steps towards amending this problem, making sure it is expressed in plain English and is more definite, but I think we have a way to go. As members of parliament, if we believe someone has been done over by an insurance company, we are more than happy to step in, and they tend to listen to us when we do.

On that matter, whatever happens in Australia when it comes to the insurance industry affects us all. We have sought clarification of and fought over the definition of 'flood'. To give you an example, I live in the valley of Forth, near the Forth River, which I suspect would now be classified as a zone at risk of flood. My insurance premiums have gone from $1,100 to $4,000. I have not been flooded out, but that is the effect of living in that region. So I will go shopping for insurance and I urge others to shop as well. If insurers are going to charge these sorts of rates, the service they offer must be commensurate—and people should not have to worry about whether they are insured or about slippery stuff like what defines a flood. We hope we have overcome all of that. I know members in this place are listening to and taking up the cause of their people on the subject of insurance. It was something that was raised with us on the Tasman Peninsula. People should not have to worry about that.

We then visited Kelly's Timber. This tells you a little about fires. When I was entering the Tasman Peninsula, there was a mill and you would swear that they would not know what fire was. Then, straight down the road, a complete sawmill was absolutely wiped out. It was worse than a bomb zone; it was completely wiped out.

They employed 50 people. They had been there for over 50 years and were completely wiped out.

One of the things that came through all of this was: when we talk about insuring, do people understand what it means to insure for the replacement value because so many people were underinsured. It is like a national consciousness; we really have to take stock of ourselves when we look at this stuff. So many people are underinsured, like Kelly's Timber at Dunalley. Through all of this they lost all their business. It is heartbreaking. There is an opportunity for them to continue one aspect of their business and they want to try to do that. I hope, through Dick and myself, the federal government will be able to assist but that is dependent on the intergovernmental agreement on forests in Tasmania. Again, all of this stuff is tied up.

Then we visited a potato growing and packaging business, which had taken up fence insurance. It is a dichotomy of emotion. They see people getting assistance, in some cases the full amount, to rewire their properties yet they do not have insurance for it. It is these types of issues that we need to have a look at as a community and what that means in the insurance industry. I do thank Sue and Dick and all those people who attended that meeting. I know Dick now is in communication with our government to try to assist individual cases there. He did a superb thing.

I would like to finish by thanking some people in my electorate. I am up in the north-west of Tassie. This fire was right down in the south and the south-east. Like your communities, my community feels very deeply for those who suffer. I do want to thank those people who came, particularly from Victoria, to help with rebuilding fences. Tasmanians went over to Victoria and did it for them. Isn't it remarkable how these people share? So much for their holidays—they spent them helping other people. It was fantastic.

I would like to thank Greg McDonald and John Sadler from beautiful Flowerdale up my way. They asked: what can we do to assist our colleagues? People said they needed stockfeed. So we gathered stockfeed. How were we going to get it there? Through my office—and I thank my office so much for the work they did—we were able to talk to some transport and logistics companies. Chas Kelly from Searoad Logistics, Bruce Monson from Monson Logistics, Hazell Brothers Group and De Bruyn’s Transport came on board and worked out with Greg and John and Bill King, who was up at Wynyard, as well as Alan Lord from Smithton to bring down stockfeed to support their colleagues on the Tasman Peninsula. I thank them very much and I thank my office for the work they did in coordinating that. It is not something you put out publicly because the last thing you want to do is even look like you are grandstanding on anything like this. I want to thank my office for their terrific work and have it on the record. I do want to thank Greg and all those who carried out that fantastic support.

Again, to my colleagues in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, commiserations and I do have great sympathy for you and your communities. I hope they can get through it. To have it twice in two years is very difficult to comprehend. Thank you for all the work you do and thanks to the federal government for the work it is doing. I know that whole communities are banding together, particularly on the Tasman Peninsula. It is not to be forgotten.

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