Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to take this opportunity to send my thoughts and my very best wishes to all Australians impacted by the devastating bushfires we've seen in New South Wales, in Queensland and in areas of my home state of South Australia over recent weeks. I would particularly like to recognise all our incredible firefighters, police and other emergency service personnel for their tireless efforts not only in fighting the fires but in their work to evacuate residents and provide shelter and support for those who've lost their homes and lost their businesses. I would like to acknowledge the members for Macquarie and Richmond and my colleague the member for Page for their contributions and for what they have been doing to support their communities during these very, very difficult times.

As I said, I want to sincerely thank each and every emergency service person for everything they have done and continue to do to keep our community safe and to keep homes and business safe from bushfires and for everything they're doing to help people recover, because a lot of communities—a lot of families, a lot of individuals—are now in the recovery phase. We know that in times of crisis Australians are always at their best and they do their very best to support one another, and they do so from all over the nation.

Today I want to personally recognise and thank the members of the CFS from my electorate of Boothby—all the wonderful volunteers who have travelled to New South Wales to support the bushfire-fighting effort and also travelled within South Australia to do so. I want to personally acknowledge the following firefighters, our CFS volunteers from Boothby, who travelled to New South Wales, and probably still are travelling, to help with the effort there. From the Belair CFS, I acknowledge Greg Wood; Amelia Yaron; Senior Firefighter Luke Raymond, who I met and had a good chat to at the CFS barbecue I hosted with Sam Duluk on the weekend; James Wilson; Illora Godwin; Brendan McGannon; and Senior Firefighter Bobbie Rice. From the Blackwood CFS, I acknowledge Linton Dabinet and Jake Barber. From Cherry Gardens CFS, I acknowledge Alan Mundy, who has actually been to New South Wales twice; Lieutenant Hayden Linggood, who also has been to New South Wales twice; Sam Linggood; and Senior Firefighter Peter Tree. From Coromandel Valley CFS, I acknowledge Scott Taylor and Lieutenant Isaac Eckermann. From the Eden Hills CFS, I acknowledge Matt Alan, David Young, Luke Smet—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Proceedings suspended from 11:00 to 11:12

As I was acknowledging, from the Eden Hills CFS we also had Matthew Rex, who has been twice to help out the bushfire effort in New South Wales. I would also like to recognise the following members of my local CFS brigades who provided assistance with the fires on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia recently—and the member for Grey made a contribution in this place this morning noting how serious the situation was on the Yorke Peninsula for those who live in Yorketown, Edithburgh and surrounding farming districts. There were 5,000 hectares burnt out, and 11-plus homes and many other buildings were lost. I want to pass on my sincere thanks to the following CFS volunteers who made the trek across to the Yorke Peninsula, in very serious weather conditions for us in the seat of Boothby at the time. It was very good of them to head across to help those who were desperately in need.

From the Coromandel Valley CFS, we had Lieutenant Ian Mitchell, Senior Firefighter Isaac Eckermann, Janita Bentley, Sammy French, Greg Whittaker, Chris Andrews and John Simpson Smith. From the Belair CFS, we had Chris Langley, Amy Harris, Amelia Yaron and Adam Basedow. From the Blackwood CFS, we had Jhye Moroney, Julian Butler, Nick O'Donohue and David Russell. From the Cherry Gardens CFS, we had Andrew Desteno, Rob Ellis, Lawrie Linggood, Craig Cram, Kayla Anthony, Sam Linggood, Wayne Stainer, Barry Sheppard, Geoff Newblack and Alan Juilian. From the Eden Hills CFS, we had Lieutenant Tom Campbell, Neil Board, Tahlia Lockwood, Victoria McCluskey, William Flynn and Neil Gloyn all head across to the Yorke Peninsula to help out those in very desperate need during those very serious fires.

I also want to acknowledge the CFS coordinators, who managed the absence of these volunteers from our area. It was quite a logistical effort and challenge because we did, of course, have catastrophic bushfire conditions in the seat of Boothby and surrounding areas on 20 November. So my sincere thanks go to Dale Thompson and everyone else who helped to manage sending those volunteers across to help those in desperate need whilst also making sure our local area was protected.

And so, whilst we were lucky not to be personally impacted on 20 November, it was a really good reminder of the danger that the bushfire season brings. Last week we had particularly hot and windy conditions which did result in the catastrophic fire danger declaration in the Mitcham Hills area and in suburbs including Blackwood, Belair, Glenalta, Eden Hills and Bellevue Heights. We were very lucky this time, but, with a hot summer ahead, I urge every single resident living in those areas and those suburbs not to be complacent. We know that people love to live in the Mitcham Hills, the foothills and the Adelaide Hills because of the beautiful bushland, the native vegetation, the gorgeous gum trees, but we know that this brings with it a very high bushfire risk. So I'm urging everyone in my community and everyone around Australia who lives in a bushfire-prone area to please ensure that you have your bushfire action plan in place now. As the CFS says in South Australia: Prepare. Act. Survive. Please get your bushfire plan in place now.

I want to thank sincerely the Sturt CFS Group for their continuing work and the support they give to the brigades at Blackwood, Belair, Eden Hills, Coromandel Valley and Cherry Gardens and who keep the residents in Boothby and surrounding areas safe each summer. I want to acknowledge the incredible hard work of the head of each brigade—Mark Brookes at Belair, Jamie Emswiler at Blackwood, Ben Gloyn at Eden Hills, Rohan Clarke at Coromandel Valley and Lawrie Linggood at Cherry Gardens—as well as every single one of their dedicated volunteers.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 11:17 to 11:28

What some members of my community—and, in fact, people around Australia—might not realise is that the CFS don't just help us during bushfires. They also respond to a range of emergency situations from vehicle accidents to hazardous substance spills and other emergencies throughout the year. So I want to thank them again most sincerely for everything they do for my community throughout the year. And, of course, as we head into bushfire season, they play a critical role in helping to spread the message about bushfire safety, including how to prepare homes and properties and what to do in the event of a fire.

I am so grateful to all of my local CFS brigades for always welcoming me very warmly and taking the time to take me through the brigade, explain all of the different equipment to me and demonstrate what they do in terms of their training to prepare for bushfire situations. I recently visited the Belair CFS and I'm most grateful to Captain Mark Brooks and team members Ilora Godwin, Stuart Freckelton, Jack Adcock and Ian Hage for showing me around and having a chat to me about the bushfire season ahead. All of their efforts require significant time and equipment, and not just during emergency situations. Every Friday night these wonderful volunteers go through their training drills, update their skills and make sure they are ready to protect and assist our community.

On behalf of everyone in my local community, I'd like to say a huge thank you in particular to the Sturt group coordinators—Sturt group officer, Dale Thompson and deputy group captains David Sims and Chris Smith—for what they do to help coordinate the entire group. To show our support in our small way for the Sturt CFS group, my state colleague the member for Waite, Sam Duluk, and I hosted our annual CFS fundraising barbecue on Saturday 23 November. We raised a good amount of money for the Sturt CFS and I just want to thank all of our local residents who were so generous with their donations. I know we had a lot of young community members who were really excited to see the fire truck there and to be able to talk to the volunteers about what the fire trucks do.

The bushfire events of the past few weeks do serve as an important reminder to everyone in our community just how fast a fire can spread and the devastating damage that it can cause. I again urge everyone in my area to do what the CFS ask you to do: prepare, act, survive.

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