Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes the significant natural disasters that have taken place during the summer of 2025-26, including major flooding in Queensland and fires across Victoria;

(2) expresses its condolences to the Australians who have lost their lives during these events;

(3) offers its sympathy to Australians who have lost property or livestock as a result of these events; and

(4) thanks emergency service personnel and first responders for their work in keeping Australians safe.

The motion that is before us acknowledges that it's been another tough summer for the Australian people. Whether it be major flooding in Queensland's north or bushfires that have devastated parts of Victoria, it has been another summer of challenges. I rise today like many in this place to express condolences to the Australians who have lost their lives during this period and to offer sympathy to Australians who've lost property or livestock as a result of these events. I'd also like to thank the emergency services personnel and the first responders for their work in what they've done to help keep Australians safe.

It is very fitting, perhaps, that this motion comes after the previous motion, acknowledging the loss and the devastation of the Black Saturday event that devastated our home state of Victoria. I'd like to acknowledge the many speakers that spoke on that motion and the stories that they shared with this chamber. Their legacy was learnt. Their loss was not in vain. Victoria, like all other states, has changed how it responds to days of catastrophic fire. As other journalists and writers and speakers have commented, their legacy does lie in how many lives we saved this 9 January. In Victoria, 9 January was the first day since Black Saturday that a catastrophic fire day had been declared for Victoria. The conditions were the same. I am pleased to stand here to say that people in my electorate, like across Victoria, heard the message and got out. Kinders were closed. Council services were suspended. people stayed at home as directed. People did what was required. Some people grabbed their go box, ready to go just in case.

As I stand here today, even when we did everything right, we still lost a significant number of homes, land and livestock in the state of Victoria. Over 400 homes and countless properties were lost—small businesses, livestock. The damage was immense. In my own electorate, the town that was devastated that we've heard most about was Harcourt, impacted by the Ravenswood South Harcourt fire. The fire started quickly and, before we knew it, it was in the town of Harcourt, a small town of about a thousand people. It jumped the Calder within half an hour.

As a legacy of Black Saturday, not just the CFA but all the other emergency services were deployed quickly and got there as quickly as they could. The coordination efforts on the day and after need to be recognised. It was the CFA, the SES, Vicpol, Forest Fire Management Victoria and also the FRV. How they worked together needs to be acknowledged through the incident control centre. The stories from the day are harrowing not only in the way in which some people just got out but in how people worked together. People can remember the names of the trucks that rolled in to help them to defend their homes, and people listened to their CFA when they said, 'We've got this, it's time for you to go.'

Now that the fire has passed and people are starting to recover, the Albanese and Allen governments are there with support and the support will continue. To just quickly outline some of the funding and support that has flowed into Victoria as a result of the Commonwealth state disaster recovery funding arrangements: over $15 million towards establishing community recovery offices and recovery hubs; $16 million in financial assistance for prolonged power outages; $40 million for primary producer grants; $10 million for concessional loans; $11 million for council support; $122 million for a state-coordinated clean up program; $1.7 million for case support work for business; $500,000 for the reconstruction of the Harcourt cool stores in my electorate; and the list goes on.

The Albanese government will continue to stand with communities through this recovery, and it's a reminder every summer that another one of us will be standing in this place to move a similar motion. Our government will continue to stand with those members and with the people affected.

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