Brett Whiteley (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to take this opportunity to thank, on behalf of the Braddon community, the many firefighters, SES personnel and other emergency workers and volunteers who have worked around the clock to protect people, property and businesses from the devastation of the bushfires in Tasmania over the last few weeks. I am pleased to say that most of those threats have now been downgraded and lives and property are no longer in immediate danger. However, the situation does remain severe with approximately 68 fires still active, 43 of which are currently uncontrolled. To date, more than 107,000 hectares have been burnt—including 18,374 hectares, or 1.16 per cent, of the Tasmanian World Heritage area.

The response to these fires has been enormous. The contribution from other states and territories has been generous and is gratefully appreciated. Firefighting resources from Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, the ACT and New Zealand have been deployed. There are currently approximately 170 firefighters from interstate working with personnel from Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, Forestry Tasmania and Tasmania Fire Service, and there are 41 aircraft operating throughout the state to assist in combating the fires to bring them under control over the coming weeks. I want to thank all the dedicated personnel from the SES, fire services and volunteers for a mammoth effort. I also want to thank all the residents and owners of the properties, who followed to the letter the emergency advice and directions of emergency personnel to preserve life during these emergency situations.