Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to second this motion and commend the member for Hindmarsh for bringing this matter to the attention of the House. He did very well with his Italian and the translation just a moment ago.

All of Italy was in shock on 24 August. It was in physical shock in the central part of Italy where the earthquake and the subsequent tremors took place, but the rest of the country was in emotional shock as a result of what was happening. I will not go through all of the statistics again, because I think the member for Hindmarsh has already done covered the extent of the devastation that occurred on that day—and, indeed, on subsequent days. I understand that even up to a couple of weeks ago there were still tremors being felt in the same region generally. Instead, I just want to make some general observations and comments about what happened in Italy.

Italy is not a country where the people are unaccustomed to natural disasters, be it earthquakes, in particular, or floods or landslides. The records will show that over the years, particularly in the last 100 years, there has been a series of events, one after the other, where people have lost their lives, homes have been lost and many people have been left homeless. The country is quite accustomed to dealing with natural disasters. In fact if we look at some of the statistics in recent years, we find that in 2009 in L'Aquila, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake left 308 people dead, 1,500 injured and 65,000 homeless. On 24 August we saw that happen again, with a very similar numbers. In 1997, so in the last 20 years, another 40,000 people were left homeless and 13 killed as a result of an earthquake in Umbria-Marche region. So the country is accustomed to dealing with crises.

But this particular time I could sense from the news reports I was reading that were coming out of Italy and from people here in Australia who were in regular contact with their family members in Italy that this was quite devastating. I think the devastation was because they knew what happened on 24 August was not necessarily the end of the earthquakes and that they would continue, and I think the scientific advice that was being provided to them was suggesting that that would be the case. Whilst I understand that, at the time, the relief efforts were absolutely fantastic—indeed, the member for Hindmarsh and I met a young man at the Marche Club who had just come from Italy and who had participated in the relief efforts at the time. He talked about the devastation—he had seen it firsthand—and was able to give us a firsthand account of what happened there. It was truly terrific to see everyone pulling together.

One may well say, 'Italy is an advanced country, and I am sure that they can manage to deal with situations like that.' But I believe that when countries like Australia and others stand up and show acknowledgment for what has happened and in turn try to do what we can to give support, it adds a level of moral courage to the people who are back there doing the work. I think that is the importance of what happened at the Marche Club in Adelaide a couple of months ago, when the community came together to raise funds—I do not remember what the final figure was, but it was tens of thousands of dollars—that will be sent back there to help them, as we saw with $5,000 from the Greek community. It is that moral courage to let people know that you are not alone at a time like this. There are people around the world who are happy to stand up and support you in any way they can.

I particularly say that since, in Australia, we have nearly a million people who would claim that their heritage is of Italian descent. Indeed, some 700,000—or thereabouts—Italians have come to this country over the years. Of course, a lot of them are no longer still with us and have passed on. Italian migration largely stopped in 1970, but the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those migrants are still here and still have connections with those regions and the people there. They visit them when they go on holidays back to Italy, and so they are familiar with the country and the connections that they have made.

It is wonderful to see that the Italians who have come to Australia have not forgotten their heritage and have been prepared to stand up at a time of need and support their country in any way they can. Congratulations and well done to all those who have supported this cause, and in particular to the Marche Club for organising the fundraiser in Adelaide. Once again, I thank the member for Hindmarsh for bringing the matter to the attention of the House.

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