Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is an important motion, and it is important that we commemorate one of the darkest days in our state of Victoria. Black Saturday was a day of terror. It was a day when too many lives were lost. It was a day that many people still deal with the consequences of. It was something that has changed forever how we look at bushfires not just in Victoria but right around this country. On Black Saturday, 173 lives were lost and more than 2,000 homes were destroyed. Whole communities and towns were changed forever. People, families, neighbours, communities and lives were torn apart in a matter of hours. For those of us in Victoria, especially across Melbourne's north and north-east, Black Saturday is still not something that we remember at a distance. It is something that we vividly hold and that many people still carry.

In my community of Jagajaga, many families have direct links to the communities that were devastated—Kinglake, Marysville, Strathewen, St Andrews and beyond. Many people locally were in the CFA crews and the emergency services who were on the front line that day. Some lost loved ones, some lost homes, and some lost the places that of course have shaped who they were. As I said, many are still carrying that trauma today. Today, to the survivors, the families of those who died, the firefighters, the emergency workers, the volunteers and the community members who stood in the face of that unimaginable danger: we as a parliament honour you. We remember not only what was lost but the courage that you showed and what has emerged from the ashes.

The events of Black Saturday have fundamentally changed the way we understand bushfire risk in Australia. We have in fact changed the way we talk about emergency management and the way we build, plan and prepare. As someone who, in an earlier life, was a journalist who spent some time training with our CFA crews and who has spent some time on the frontline on firefighting, I can say that the messages that went out prior to Black Saturday were very different to the messages that go out to communities now. We have as a result of that terrible disaster entirely changed the way that we tell communities to prepare and that we tell people to make sure that they are safe. In all of that, we are having to change the way that we think about climate, the way we think about weather and the way that fires now hit our communities as a result of our climate being warmer and our landscape being drier.

The royal commission into the Black Saturday bushfires made it clear that what happened was a warning of what could happen again if we didn't take that seriously. It gave us a new 'catastrophic' fire danger rating, and agencies across Australia came together to build a new Australian fire danger rating system. Emergency services across Australia built the Australian Warning System, for the first time creating nationally consistent public information for fires, floods, storms, cyclones and severe heat. We have, just this past summer, in Victoria again faced severe heatwaves, faced dangerous fire risks and faced dangerous fires, and I have no doubt that these ratings and these warnings have provided clarity and no doubt saved lives. I do hope for all the people who still carry the effect of Black Saturday that that is some comfort—that, as a result of what happened on that day, the Victorian government and governments around the country took note and said, 'We do need to be very serious and very methodical about how we look at this disaster, how we understand the lessons, how we honour the legacies of those who lost their lives and how we prepare for the future.'

As we do look to a future where we will experience more frequent and severe weather events, we will continue to recognise Black Saturday as a catalyst for change. It is a reminder of devastation, but it is also a reminder of the strength of community. It reminds us of neighbours helping neighbours, of towns rallying together and of the volunteers who drove into danger when others were fleeing. I once again thank our local SES, CFA and FRV crews who not only supported our community that day but continue to support us in the most difficult times and who deserve our deepest thanks. We honour all of those affected, not only with our words but with how we plan for the future.

Debate adjourned.

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