Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday, as thousands enjoyed A Day on the Green at Sirromet, in my electorate, a pall of bushfire smoke covered the city, reminding us of just one of 115 bushfires that are raging at the moment across Queensland. North Stradbroke Island is obviously quite isolated and quite challenging. We have firefighters coming from all over the country, from as far as South Australia, endeavouring to bring this bushfire under control. Helicopters continue to water-bomb some of the affected areas. The three tiny townships are surrounded by bushland and quite isolated from each other, connected by just a single-lane road that can easily be cut. We've got peat swamps that are burning in the centre of the island. Campers are being asked to move to safer locations. Let's remember, of course, that on an island like that the only source of current economy is tourism, so this presents a real blow to business owners as well as a personal safety element for those who are residing there and those who are holidaying and don't know the evacuation routes to follow.

There have been meetings for those affected by the fire on North Stradbroke Island as well as Russell and Macleay Islands, the great Southern Moreton Bay Islands. Russell Island in particular—that eight-kilometre long, very flat island at the base of Moreton Bay—is faced with telecommunications issues too, because a bushfire can knock out fixed lines; it can knock out a wireless repeater station and Russell Island only has the one tower. So there is a critical need for a southern Russell Island tower so that people can use a mobile phone or receive information by emergency SMS alerts when necessary. The reality is that people on Russell Island, living just 40 kilometres from a CBD centre, are often unable to get a mobile line and reception. That shows how remote these islands are, even though we see on a map that they're not that far from the mainland.

I want to thank everyone involved in this response. It's not just the people on the frontline fighting the fires—there are literally hundreds of people behind them making that possible. Fighting bushfire is incredibly complex. As Australians, we live in a nation where even in the nation's capital we've been affected by bushfires. It's never far from anyone's mind. We are banking on an improvement in the weather that may come midweek. At the moment, the winds are looking more concerning, with changes due tomorrow that may make fighting this bushfire even worse.

Stradbroke Island frames our horizon. In the city where I live, it's what we see when we look to the sea. We don't want to see that island completely ravaged by bushfires. It has been now twice in the last 10 years. North Stradbroke Island is an area with huge tourism potential. The bushfires make that impossible. It's a fragile local ecology which we want to protect, and it of course has some great assets that draw Queensland tourism and international tourism to our city. It's the lifeblood of tourism and new money to my city, because people who go to the island travel through Cleveland and Capalaba. Thank you to the firefighters involved.