Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Both sides of the House recognise the total destruction of properties and lives, businesses, tourism and the economy, and that overall it's been a devastating six months for most of Australia. No state has actually not been involved in fires with the destruction of properties but, more importantly, lives have been lost. It's been a tragedy.

I'd like to thank the police—this is across the nation and my electorate, but it applies to everyone—the SES; Rural Fire Service; rural and urban brigades; charity clubs; the Salvos; the QCWA; Anglicare;—who are very important in helping to fix destruction on properties—the international firefighting services, as mentioned by the member for Perth, from New Zealand, Canada and America; the ADF; and of course the RSPCA. They've all played vital roles. People in the communities have also lent their hand wherever they could, not just in my electorate, as I said, but across the nation. A special thanks goes to our local mayor, Matt Burnett, in the Gladstone council. He was in constant contact with our office, providing updates on a regular basis about the fires at Lowmead, Mount Maria and Tableland Road.

In 1904, in her poem 'My Country', Dorothea Mackellar wrote 'I love a sunburnt country' and about 'droughts and flooding rains'. She didn't mention fire. But bushfires aren't uncommon. In my research I found a clipping off the front page of the Sun, which was printed on 19 January 1909. It tells the story of 62 people who died in bushfires in and around New South Wales. The temperature rose to 113.6 degrees Fahrenheit and, if my calculations are correct, that's about 45.33 degrees Centigrade. It just goes to show that these bushfires are not a new phenomena. But we must take a new approach to reducing the risk of these fires happening again.

There have been several royal commissions over the years in relation to the 1851 Black Thursday, the 1898 Red Tuesday and the 1939 Black Friday fires. More recently, there have been royal commissions into fires in recent decades. However, we have not listened to the suggested remedies for bushfires, and this must not happen again.

Bushfires will occur with the build up of leaves on the forest floors. It is heartbreaking, I know, to see the loss of animals and the loss of human lives. We've got to do something and do it now.

Thirty-three people, including nine firefighters, have lost their lives, over 3,000 homes have been destroyed, and 12 million acres have been burnt. In my state of Queensland, we have lost 6.6 million hectares of land. Forty-nine houses, 68 sheds and five commercial buildings were destroyed. There were 72 aircraft utilised. Some 35,000 QFES personnel have been working tirelessly to put these fires out. I speak to the people of Flynn, and they tell me about their resolution to have this scourge of bushfires stopped in its tracks. I hear many different views and ideas from people from all walks of life. More waterbombers and firefighters are not necessarily the total answer. Some ideas out there make a lot of sense. Man has managed land for thousands of years, and we should also listen to the traditional owners of this land. It would be a great start in reducing these fires.

The land must be kept in a manageable state. A friend of mine, Mick Duff, who is no longer with us, was the owner of DiDi station in the Proston area. He burnt his property every year. Fifty per cent of the property was burnt one year, and the other 50 per cent the next year. This way he controlled the fires on his large cattle-grazing property. We could investigate the introduction of a vehicle used in the USA, a five-axle heavy-offload vehicle with a capacity of 20,000 litres. That would be a help. It's an all-terrain truck. That should be investigated.

Providing road maintenance and cool burns earlier in the year, as we know, will better prevent the fire potential. Giving landholders the permission to clear more land around their homes and sheds would be a definite plus—so that there are bigger firebreaks in place, just as there are with powerlines. If you look at powerlines across Australia, they are all cleared on both sides of the powerline, and the maintenance is kept up on a regular basis. This should be adopted on main roads and fire protection roads where fire trucks can be used in these terrible conditions of fire. The fire trucks must be able get in and get out safely.

We need better breathing apparatus and equipment for our rural fire brigades. The days of having virtually a paper towel over your nose when you go in to fight a fire should be over. It's not good enough. Rural fire brigades should be equipped with the proper breathing apparatus that our urban firefighters have.

The responsibility for firefighting needs to be national, and state governments should work closely with the federal government in developing a plan to eradicate bushfires. The process for getting permits to burn must be quickened up before we change the conditions under which farmers and graziers can burn off when the conditions are right.

We don't want to see fires of this magnitude happen again, but they will happen if we don't take this action. Remember, fire is a great servant but a terrible master. There have been several royal commissions, but, as I said before, little action has been taken, resulting in nothing being done. This cannot happen again.

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