Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Ten years ago I stood in the main chamber and spoke about the loss of life and the devastation caused in my electorate of Gippsland by the Black Saturday bushfires. I don't mind saying that it was the hardest speech I've ever had to give in my life. Days of listening to tearful Gippslanders—those who had survived, speaking about their narrow escapes, but also telling me about those who, tragically, had perished. It had an impact on me, as I'm sure it did on you, Deputy Speaker Vamvakinou, when you met with people in your own electorate who had been traumatised. It had an impact on local members that perhaps we didn't necessarily understand at the time. I have to say that I was relatively new to parliament. I had been in the parliament for less than six months. It was emotional, and at times I could barely get the words out. But my speech in federal parliament was never meant to be about me. It was about the everyday heroes of Gippsland who had fought the Black Saturday bushfires and it was about how our community had rallied together in this time of extraordinary crisis. It was about the firefighters, the community volunteers, the emergency service workers—those first responders who rush into trouble while the rest of us are rushing away—the contractors who had been put in to start removing dead trees and to open up roads, and the neighbours who had placed themselves in harm's way to help their mates in a time of great need.

As we gathered in Gippsland last week on the 10th anniversary of the Black Saturday bushfires, we had the smell of smoke in the air again as a very poignant reminder of how bushfires in regional Victoria are a part of summer. We remembered those who died, we remembered those whose lives had been changed forever and we remembered those who had contributed so much to our community at a time of need. We paused to give thanks to our community for being so resilient, and to the resourceful people who had the strength to get back in there and rebuild their lives.

We lost 11 people in Gippsland during the Black Saturday bushfires. The services in Gippsland last week commemorated their lives—the lives of Nathan Charles, Fred Frendo, Scott Frendo, Colin Gibson, David Gibson, Alan Jacobs, Miros Jacobs, Luke Jacobs, Annette Leatham, Gertrude Martin and Martin Schultz. These eight men and three women died in the fires across Traralgon South, Callignee, Koornalla, Hazelwood and Jeeralang. I think from time to time that those towns—Traralgon South, the tiny hamlet Callignee, Koornalla, Hazelwood and Jeeralang—are hardly household names, but they are burnt forever into the collective memory of all Gippslanders.

I actually had the chance on Saturday night to speak at a community event in Boolarra, which is another little town in my electorate that was hit by bushfires during the week before Black Saturday, which is sometimes forgotten in the whole Black Saturday conversation. The people of Boolarra suffered enormously in the week leading up to Black Saturday. Houses were destroyed and there was enormous damage to the natural environment. When I spoke at that function of about 250 people, which was pretty much the entire community of Boolarra crammed into the hall, I remembered something that Australian test cricket captain Steve Waugh had used in 2001 on the Indian tour. He apparently wrote on the whiteboard—I don't know if it's true or a myth—'Your attitude is contagious. Is yours worth catching?' Think about that. The reason Steve Waugh wrote that on the board is that Australian cricketers touring India notoriously would whinge about the food and complain about the weather and the pitch. Basically, they'd make excuses for why they couldn't possibly succeed in this hostile environment. The reason I raised that on Saturday night in Boolarra was that the local leadership in the aftermath of the bushfires in Gippsland was contagious. The attitude that people brought to the task was contagious—their determination, their enormous resilience, their willingness to give to each other in extraordinarily tough circumstances. People who had lost the lot would always find someone else who had lost more and then go to their aid. So we were blessed in many ways. I guess it's frustrating for us to sometimes wonder: what if we could harness that level of energy and effort every day, rather just in response to the disasters? But I've got to say that it was great to see it when it came to the fore in a regional Victorian sense in my community of Gippsland during the response phase—and other members have spoken about this: the firefighters, both volunteer firefighters and the contract firefighters through the department, the police, the paramedics. Things went horribly wrong on that day. To lose 173 Victorians in one day—things went horribly wrong.

The member for Murray has just touched on the fact that we learnt a lot from that. We learnt a lot in terms of the messaging to our communities. On the days when the fire conditions are off the scale in terms of danger, we send a message out to people: 'Yes, enact your fire plan, but if a fire starts in your community you won't be able to survive. Just because you've got a well-prepared property doesn't mean you're going to be able to make it through.' That message is very strongly understood in the community now. There are days that are off the scale and you are better off just getting out of there. I think people learnt that message very strongly from Black Saturday. If there was any positive out of Black Saturday, it was that.

The response was extraordinary. Then the recovery phase, which started while the fires were still burning, was something quite amazing to watch as well—to see the volunteer effort from our Red Cross type organisations. Our local councils often come to the fore in these moments. Latrobe City Council, Wellington Shire Council and East Gippsland Shire Council staff came to the fore in establishing centres for people to sleep. People who have lost their homes need somewhere to sleep as a starting point. Some were put up in motels. Some had to sleep those first couple of nights in community facilities.

And then, as my good friend the member for Murray just commented on, in the outpouring of community support during that recovery phase, where goods were donated and cash was donated, we saw the very best of human nature in that regard. And we're seeing it again right now in relation to the Townsville floods. Ironically, when the fires were burning on Black Saturday, Queensland was underwater then as well. Queensland was flooded in 2009. So it's not unusual, unfortunately, at this time of year, for our northern friends to be underwater while Victoria, New South Wales and Tassie battle fires. But to see that recovery effort where people opened their wallets, opened their hearts and made donations to try to help those less fortunate was something that filled me with a great deal of pride.

And then there was the rebuilding phase. The only thing about the rebuilding phase that makes it possible is that people have hope for the future. They find it within themselves to have hope that they can build a better future in their community. Now, I understand that many couldn't go back. Many in my community couldn't go back to those little bush hamlets anymore. They chose not to rebuild, and they moved on with their lives. I can understand that. I don't think anyone thinks any less of them because of that. But to see those prepared to go back into their small communities to clear the house site, to then rebuild and then to watch the natural environment rebuild around them has been something that I think has filled a lot of people in our community with a great deal of joy.

This last week has been an unusual week in my community. There's been a great deal of contemplation as people have reflected on the loss, but also some level of celebration that they have been resilient and have been able to withstand this enormous event. I was in a very small part of my community on Sunday morning, in a place called the Tarra-Bulga National Park. If anyone is listening to this broadcast, I'd encourage them at any time to visit the Tarra-Bulga National Park. It's a beautiful little rainforest about 20 minutes out of the township of Traralgon. They had a 'rhythms in the forest' concert, with local musicians performing and people from the nearby town of Balook. I think there's a total population of 12 people in Balook. All 12 of them were there. They're either in the Friends of Tarra-Bulga National Park or they form the Balook and district ratepayers association, and they put on an amazing concert in that bushland setting surrounded by the natural environment, which has been able to recover remarkably from the Black Saturday bushfires.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this 10-year anniversary of the Victorian bushfires. It wasn't only Black Saturday. There were fires leading up to that event in my community which equally had an enormous impact on our region. I mentioned it before: the level of hope and confidence in the future is what sustains these small regional towns. As I said to the people in Boolarra on Saturday night, with their positive, contagious attitudes, they're capable of achieving anything. Our little regional communities are amazing in what they do in times of trouble.

The Latrobe Valley right now faces some tough times. There have been some economic challenges around job losses associated with the Hazelwood Power Station closure. But I'm very confident that with that strong local leadership, with that same positive attitude, the people of the Latrobe Valley will go from strength to strength. We've come back from times a lot tougher than this. It gives me great pleasure to make my comments today, knowing full well that the people of Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley are amongst the most resilient and hardy people in our nation. My thoughts are with them as they deal with their own commemorations of this quite tragic event.

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