Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to give a shout-out to those volunteers and professional emergency services that have been fighting the fires in my electorate over the weekend. One fire has been burning in the north-west of my electorate and in a couple of adjoining electorates, and the other is in and around a section of the Great Ocean Road. Obviously, the weather conditions that we faced in Victoria over the weekend were hot and windy, which meant that those bushfires needed to be brought under control very, very quickly. They also needed a rapid response, and that's exactly what occurred. The fact that, year in, year out, volunteers and professionals are prepared to put their lives on the line to keep our local communities safe should not go without recognition. I know they all do it very, very selflessly—they do it not wanting recognition—but, time and time again, they're prepared to put themselves in harm's way to protect us. With a bushfire season ahead of us that we know will challenge us, as it always will, I say to everyone in the community to please take care and make sure that you contact the emergency services as soon as you see anything that might be catastrophic.