Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing and Seniors) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of my constituents, last week when we were talking in this place about the impact of the recent Australian bushfires, I talked briefly about the impact on my community, which had bad bushfires just 12 months ago, and how long it takes to recover. Of course, Tasmania has sadly been hit by far too many catastrophic bushfires—the Dunalley bushfires, the '67 bushfires. They impact families and locals not just for days, weeks and months but for years and, indeed, for decades. We need to ensure that all Australians, as they have been retraumatised by these bushfires if they've experienced them before and as they deal with the current bushfires, get the support they need not just in the weeks and months ahead but in the years ahead. This will take years to recover from. It will take a generation for some people to recover from the trauma of what has happened during this bushfire season.

On behalf of my constituents, I want to pass on my sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the at least 34 Australians who have died during these bushfires. It is a tragedy that so many Australians have been killed during this bushfire season. It's a tragedy for those families that have lost their homes. It's a tragedy for the Australian fauna and flora that have been impacted by these bushfires. Indeed, it is a tragedy for the nation.

We should have been better prepared for these bushfires. That is the truth of it. We were warned. We were warned by former fire chiefs. We were warned by Ross Garnaut more than a decade ago about the impact and future impact of bushfires in this country. We need to be better prepared. The climate is going to be changing more frequently. We are going to have longer bushfire seasons. We are going to have fiercer, more intense fires and we need to be better prepared.

I am concerned about the way that this government has been slow to act. I am concerned that day after day we continue to hear stories about businesses, communities and individuals who can't get access to the support that is supposed to be there for them—for those people who are trying to access Centrelink payments, for those people who are trying to access small business grants and loans, for those people who are trying their very best to survive and to get medical and health care in some of these communities. The stories are endless. We know that this happens after every bushfire but, as I said, we as a nation should have been much better prepared—much better prepared indeed.

I also want to thank the millions of community service workers in community organisations and thank the volunteer firefighters who are out and about. I know that many Tasmanian career firefighters and volunteer firefighters have repaid some of the kindness and support that were shown to our community last year by travelling to the mainland to fight these ferocious fires. I say to all of the volunteer firefighters and firefighters across Australia and all of the emergency service workers, the first responders, the park staff and the forestry workers: thank you for everything you do on behalf of our community every single day during these bushfire seasons and, of course, beyond that.

In recent days, we have of course seen floods in some of the areas that have also been impacted by drought and by bushfires. We are a nation of flood and fire, but this year we've seen much worse and, sadly, I think it's going to get worse again in years to come. We need to be better prepared as a nation. We need our states and territories to work with the Commonwealth and we need the Commonwealth to show some leadership. We need to get much better at this. The government should've been prepared, and it was not. It needs to do better.

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