Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was heart warming to see the demonstrations of mateship and community cohesion after the terrible Victorian bushfires. People of all backgrounds, all ethnicities and all makes supported each other through one of not only Victoria’s but Australia’s worst ever tragedies, as we saw. Individuals, community groups and organisations were all reaching out, and are continuing to reach out, to those who have suffered so terribly from the impact of those bushfires. As we have heard here in this place from many members who were affected, many people lost loved ones and everything that they owned.

People in South Australia, including those in my electorate of Hindmarsh, share in their grief. Many of the residents in my electorate are providing practical support for those in their time of need. With more than 6,000 people now homeless, in the city of Holdfast Bay, which covers the suburbs of Somerton Park and Glenelg in my electorate, people joined forces with Solo Resource Recovery to send help. Residents were asked to place clean new or near-new items into a plastic bag in their yellow-lidded recycling bin for collection the day after their scheduled recycling collection day. Those who are familiar with South Australian rubbish collection know that we have two bins, a green bin and a yellow bin, one being for recycling. With this particular bin, Solo decided to put a truck out the day after their normal pick-up day to pick up goods that would be useful to those people who had lost their homes and were devastated in the bushfires. All items collected have been or will be sent to Victoria. This was promoted through the bushfire appeal of Radio FIVEaa in Adelaide. I congratulate Radio FIVEaa, Solo and the Holdfast Bay council for their tremendous work.

We also had staff at the City of West Torrens council hold a fundraising barbecue to raise funds for the bushfire victims. One of the students at Fulham North Primary School in my electorate asked the school to get involved in supporting a fundraiser which they have put together to assist the bushfire victims. Their fundraiser will be a fire alert day where students will all wear something red to identify with the bushfire theme, and then students will be asked to make a gold coin donation. This was from a primary school student, and it showed great insight into the concern all around Australia for those who lost loved ones or their homes in the bushfires.

On Sunday, which was the National Day of Mourning, I attended a service down at Port Adelaide at a little Greek Orthodox church that, even though it is just out of my electorate, has a parish which covers my electorate as well. It is just over the border and covers the suburbs of West Lakes, Tennyson, Semaphore Park and Semaphore South. So there were many people from my electorate at that mass. They held a fundraiser after the church service. There would have been fewer than a hundred people at this particular fundraiser, and in a matter of two hours, under the guidance of their president, Bill Tsogas, they raised $8½ thousand. These people were pensioners, people who did not have a lot of money, but they all pulled together and donated. They were all going up to the stage, giving cash and getting their receipts. Within a matter of two hours, there was $8½ thousand there. This is from a community miles away. Maybe it was because we were affected by the bushfires in 1983 in South Australia. I know that back then the President of the Port Adelaide Greek Community, Bill Tsogas, was a cab driver, and so was I. In 1983, when we had the bushfires, we were both driving cabs and we got a call to drop all work, go to pick-up destinations, pick up clothes et cetera and take them to central points. I suppose that, because of his experience of those days, he really pushed and ensured that they raised as much as they possibly could.

South Australia is one of the driest states in the driest continents in the world and those of us there are always aware of the risks of bushfires. The recent Victorian bushfire, as I said, makes us recall the terrible bushfires we had in South Australia on Ash Wednesday in 1983. As a South Australian I was also shocked by the events on 11 January 2005 on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, where we lost many lives tragically. I made a speech about that as well back then, when I was first elected. It was a tragic, tragic event on the South Australian calendar. (Time expired)