Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to 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.

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member. Is the motion seconded?

Matt Smith (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When we talk about catastrophes, there's a terrible story concerning a family. Like my own family, they were original settlers in north-west Queensland. A TV crew from the ABC had come out with me to visit this person. His entire property had been burnt out and he was loading a 243 rifle—bolt action. The interviewer said, 'What's the situation?' He said: 'Well, you know what happened to my father and the two stockmen.' The interviewer said, 'Yes, I know that story.' One of the stockmen got tangled up in the barbed wire fence, and his father and the other stockman went back to rescue him. The fire rolled over all three and incinerated them to death. Anyway, this was the son of that father, and he was loading his rifle. The interviewer said, 'So what are you doing now?' He said: 'Well, I've lost all my sheep. I'm gone. The banks have sold me up. I'll walk off this property penniless.' The journalist said, 'So what are you doing now?' He rubbed his eyes and said, 'I've just got to shoot some more sheep.' As the sun went down—bang, bang.

That is what it's like to live in the mid-west of North Queensland, and I think Victoria, with your fires, probably appreciates our situation. But we also have terrible floods, and we're in the midst of one now.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 18:05 to 18:25

I was telling the story of a man at Julia Creek, watching four generations of contribution by his family vanishing in front of him, which was somewhat better than his father being incinerated to death along with his brother and one of the stockmen on the station. Having said that, we've just had yet another flood, and a very prominent, wonderful young family, with four or five kids, just watched 3,000 head of cattle worth about $6 million flow out to the Gulf of Carpentaria. I don't know whether they're going to be able to recover from that, and they weren't Robinson Crusoe.

We keep saying: 'Oh, this is terrible. The government must give us some money because we've had this terrible thing happen to us.' It is dead right that we really do need the government to come in, but what would be infinitely better? I can't talk about fires in Victoria, but I can talk about floods in the mid-west of North Queensland, my homeland. My family went out there in the 1890s in a Cobb and Co stagecoach, so I can speak with authority about there. With a few well placed dams and a few other ameliorative measures, we just won't have to suffer this. Why haven't you built a dam in Australia in 30 years?

I represent half of every drop of rainfall that falls on Australia, and I will have the invidious fate of having to leave politics—even if it's in six years time or ten years time—without having seen a single gully with a block of concrete across it. You could say, 'Well, you're a pretty incompetent beggar.' You could say that, except that I was told by my tribal leadership in the mid-west of North Queensland that I had to get the Bradfield Scheme. I had to find out what it was. It took me about two months to find out what it was. Well, I got it! The federal government announced the building of the Bradfield Scheme. It's sort of like the Snowy Mountains Scheme, only bigger and much more effective. The Clarence River diversion would double the original project on the Murray-Darling. It'll double that production. Similarly, the Bradfield Scheme will double that production again.

It diverts a little tiny bit of the waters where it rains all the time. In the heart of my electorate, we're getting 100 inches of rainfall. A little tiny bit of that water is sent out to where I come from, the mid-west plains, where there is beautiful, rich, flat, rolling black soil. Now when we die and we go up to meet Jesus, he's going to say: 'What did you do with this wonderful asset I gave you? You're growing prickly trees on it—

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The question is that the motion be agreed to, and I give the call to the member for Leichhardt.

Matt Smith (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This summer across Australia we've seen bushfires, flooding, severe storms and cyclones. In my home state of Queensland, it is the usual story of storms, flooding and cyclones. Yet sometimes it can feel a world away. You see it for a 90-second grab on TV, a couple of minutes here, a couple of minutes there. You spare a thought to remember, but these are people's lives and their livelihoods. Homes are gone, not as quickly as in a fire with a flood, but then, a couple of weeks later, the mould will show up. You might have had it structurally okay, but you're going to have to demolish it anyway. Livestock are gone, as the member for Kennedy referenced. Farmers love their livestock. They love their land. To see them go is not just an economic impact. It's heartbreaking. They know those cows. They know those sheep. They love them. They've cared for them. Communities are torn apart. The ongoing impacts, the mental toll, young kids trying to go to school, trying to navigate their way through their ATAR, through year 11, through year 12, not sure what their home looks like any more, not sure where they're going to be living in the next couple of weeks, people hurt, people killed, businesses gone—we've already seen this year lives lost to natural disasters.

When we talk about the loss and the damage, I want to make sure that on record I give my thanks to our emergency service personnel, who are on the front line. These are the people who walk towards the danger when everyone else is trying to leave. They put their lives on the line. They help people when pain and loss are at their most raw. Sometimes they're out responding and helping others when they're losing their own homes, yet they do that for our community. These people are heroes. They're Australian heroes. I know that, in the most recent disasters in Queensland, a lot of which impacted the member for Kennedy's region, people from my electorate headed to the disasters to help. That's Australia and that's Australians. You don't have to ask for the help; it just arrives. It's who we are. We understand that, at times, this great country that we call home fights against us, but we always push back together.

Disasters are nothing new for Queensland. We face nearly every kind of natural disaster imaginable. What is new is how bad these things are starting to get. We're getting more extreme weather and stronger events. When I grew up, it was called summer. It invoked ideas of the beach and fun with my friends. These days we call it disaster season, and it's putting more people and more places at more risk of these disasters coming.

To be clear, this isn't a complaint. We are Queensland. We are the north. We take these sorts of things head on. We square our shoulders, and there is nothing more Far North Queensland than stocking up on beer ahead of a cyclone, battening down the hatches and sheltering, knowing that you've got your bathtub full of water and that Ergon do a great job of getting the power back on. But that's not what we should have to do. And these disasters are having an impact on the future of our regions. These disasters are expensive. Research from the Insurance Council of Australia suggests extreme weather events, including floods, storms, bushfires and earthquakes cost around $4.5 billion annually. This is money out of Australian pockets, money taken from communities.

But I do want to give credit to governments of all stripes, because we know they will step up and provide support for communities when it's needed. This is not a blue thing or a red thing or an independent thing. I think we all agree that responding to a natural disaster is not and should never be a political exercise. It is a human one, and we continue to face these disasters, but we need to figure out how better to prepare for them. There's only so much preparation you can do, but there are things that we can do, things that we're implementing right now: making sure our emergency services are resourced, that the brave men and women who often are out there working while their own infrastructure, lives and homes are at risk, have the support and the equipment that they need; proactive bushfire management down south; making sure our weather data is as accurate as possible to give communities warning about coming danger; and ensuring that our flood mapping is up to date, limiting building on floodplains and making sure we understand where the water is going to come from and where the water is going to go.

We can all be prepared for these disasters. We can do it individually and we can do it as a country. Every year, I am relieved and given a sense of new wonder at Australians as we respond to these together.

Sophie Scamps (Mackellar, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, it has been a dreadful start to the year when it comes to natural disasters in Australia. Over the summer, large parts of our country have been hit by destructive storms, floods, fires and deadly heatwaves. It underscores the fact that Australia is at the forefront front of climate change harms. In Ceduna, South Australia, the temperature reached a record 49.5 degrees on 26 January, and across south-eastern Australia communities endured temperatures above 40 degrees for seven or eight days straight. These are not isolated spikes but part of a pattern of longer, more extreme and more frequent heatwaves. Intense heatwaves like these are now five times more likely to occur, because of human-induced climate change. What we once considered an extraordinary heat event is now something a primary school student today will likely experience several times before they finish high school.

Also, last month, cyclone related intense rainfall led to flash-flooding in Queensland, destroying homes, livelihoods and livestock. Then, along Victoria's Great Ocean Road, communities saw their roads turn into swollen rivers in a matter of hours. People watched in horror as cars and caravans were swept away and familiar landscapes were torn apart. One week, the region had emergency evacuation orders, due to bushfires, then, a week later, they had them again, due to this flooding. This summer, Victoria also was seared by some of the most destructive bushfires in its history. A cattle farmer lost his life, and 900 structures were destroyed, including 338 homes. More than 15,000 livestock were lost.

My thoughts are with the families who have lost loved ones and those who have lost homes, livelihoods and a sense of security. These events are deep personal tragedies that will be felt for years to come.

My own community of Mackellar is also at the forefront of climate change impacts. Recent severe rain events have been destructive and alarming. On 17 January this year, torrential rain struck our region, causing flooding in Narrabeen, Newport and Mackerel Beach. Two hundred and sixty-four millimetres of rain was recorded at Great Mackerel Beach, causing a landslide, impacting three homes, and sending a river of mud and trees smashing into the kitchen and living room of Mick and Sharon's home. It was only by sheer luck and quick thinking that they, thankfully, both avoided serious injury.

As a coastal seat, Mackellar has also been badly affected by sea-level rise and coastal erosion over the years. Again at Mackerel Beach, safe access for around 20 households is cut off daily at mid and high tide, due to coastal erosion. Residents must scramble over rocks and through waves to access their homes. In June 2016, a severe storm caused massive coastal erosion at Collaroy Beach, destroying several properties and causing an in-ground pool to collapse into the ocean.

I want to acknowledge and sincerely thank our emergency services personnel and first responders, the local RFS and SES volunteers, and fire and rescue services, who once again stepped up under extraordinary pressure. They are being asked to respond more often, in more dangerous conditions, and with less margin for error. But this burden cannot just fall on them, and it cannot continue to fall on affected communities. Governments and this parliament must step up. Natural disasters and extreme weather events in Australia are being exacerbated by climate change from the burning of coal, oil and gas. While communities across Australia are paying the price with their health, their homes and their livelihoods, first responders are often made to put their own lives at risk and deal with the aftermath.

There are different ways to make polluters pay for the damage their emissions are causing. One option is a climate disaster levy, which would require fossil fuel producers to contribute to the growing costs of disaster response, recovery and resilience. Another is outlined in a recent report from the Superpower Institute, which shows that a 'polluter pays levy' would raise significant public revenue, reduce emissions and help fund both household relief and Australia's transition to a cleaner, more prosperous economy. The impacts and costs to Australian households and businesses will keep rising, as fires, floods, drought and heatwaves become more extreme as a result of climate change, unless we also stop new coal and gas projects. It's time we made polluters pay.

Emma Comer (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This motion rightly acknowledges the scale and seriousness of the natural disasters that Australians have endured over the summer of 2025 and 2026, and today we pause to reflect and recognise the loss, the hardship and the extraordinary efforts of those responding on the ground. Australians have had a tough summer. Queenslanders have been hit with major flooding and Victorians with fire. Across our country we are witnessing the impacts of extreme weather. In Victoria communities have faced devastating bushfires, with more than 400 homes lost and a loss of around 20,000 sheep. Families have lost not just their houses but memories, livelihoods and a sense of safety. In Queensland communities have been hit with extraordinary amounts of rainfall, particularly across the north and the north-west. The full scale of the damage is still emerging, but we already know the losses are significant, with stock losses of around 50,000.

These events underline just how exposed many communities are to severe weather events. For primary producers, small-business owners and households, the loss of homes, stock, equipment and income is not only financially devastating but emotionally exhausting. Many Australians have lost property or livestock as a result of these disasters. We express our deepest sympathies to the Australians who have lost their incomes, their homes or their lives during these events.

The Albanese Labor government has been working closely with the Queensland government to activate disaster assistance across 46 local government areas. More than $66 million has already been announced through the joint Commonwealth and state disaster recovery funding arrangements. This funding will support communities, farmers and businesses. This includes primary producer grants, emergency fodder support, small-business recovery grants, mental health and wellbeing programs and critical infrastructure repairs. Personal hardship assistance and disaster recovery allowance payments are helping families meet immediate needs while they begin the long task of rebuilding.

In Victoria nearly $330 million has now been committed under joint Commonwealth and state arrangements to support recovery from the January bushfires. Assistance includes clean-up programs, emergency accommodation, mental health services, primary producer grants, concessional loans and restoration. These measures are about more than dollars; they are about dignity, stability and giving communities the tools they need to recover. I want to thank the emergency service personnel and first responders for their work in keeping Australians safe—firefighters, SES volunteers, police, paramedics, defence personnel and the community volunteers that have worked tirelessly in extreme heat and dangerous conditions to protect lives and property.

We all share a responsibility to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters in a changing climate, and the frequency and ferocity of these events is set to increase. As such, the Albanese government has made preparedness the national priority through the establishment of NEMA, the $1 billion Disaster Ready Fund, increased investment in aerial firefighting, upgraded flood-warning systems and the creation of a national emergency stockpile. In Queensland alone hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested to reduce risk and strengthen resilience, particularly in North Queensland. We are committed to supporting communities before disaster strikes, standing with them during the crisis and walking alongside them through the recovery.

The high-risk weather period is not over yet. I want to encourage everyone in our community to stay informed and be ready to act if conditions change. What matters most right now is that we are prepared, informed and connected. Make sure you're getting your information from trusted sources. Download emergency warning apps, tune in to ABC Emergency or your local radio station and follow emergency service channels online. It's important to have access to critical, real-time information when it matters most. I encourage everyone to take just 15 minutes to make or update a household emergency recovery plan. Know what you'll do, where you'll go and how you'll stay in touch if you need to leave quickly. Don't forget to include your pets, important documents, medications and an emergency kit with the essentials.

Finally, please look out for one another, just as our community already does. Emergencies don't affect everyone in the same way, and a simple check-in with a neighbour, especially someone who may need the extra support, can really make a difference. Strong, connected communities are safer during emergencies and recover faster afterwards. Taking a few small steps now can help protect lives, reduce stress and keep our community safe when the next weather event arrives.

Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to pay tribute to the families and communities who've had their lives devastated by recent floods in Queensland and fires in Victoria. When natural disasters hit, there's very little any of us can do to control what happens. For the families affected, I know that words we speak in this House can't offer assurances that life will simply return to normal. These events leave a lasting impact. Many people are still standing in what's left of their homes, looking over their paddocks, where livestock has been lost, or wondering what the next step looks like. For those who've lost loved ones, no words can ease the pain. We can't take away your grief, but we can—and we must—make sure your loss is met with real care, real support and a genuine commitment to recovery.

This motion rightly acknowledges the extraordinary contribution of our emergency services personnel, as we've heard already from many members in the House tonight. I want to shine a light on my local SES unit in Fowler, where there are more than 90 active volunteers. They are our neighbours who have given up family time in the middle of the night or stepped away from their workplaces and put their own lives on hold and at risk to help others when it matters most. Under the leadership of Inspector Darren Eurlings, the Fairfield SES unit had an extraordinary year. Their work shows exactly why this motion matters.

In March last year, Fairfield SES volunteers were on the ground in Tweed Heads during Tropical Cyclone Alfred, carrying out flood rescues and damage assessments. In April and May, they moved from riverine flooding in Wanaaring to storm-hit communities across the Hunter region and Taree. In August, they were again deployed to northern New South Wales—Gunnedah, Narrabri and Wee Waa—ready for in-water rescues. Closer to home, they responded to more than 340 incidents across the Fairfield local government area. These weren't minor callouts. Many were urgent situations where lives were on the line. I remember constituents reaching out to me during one of the major storms when a huge tree had uprooted and they didn't know what to do. So I called our local SES, who quickly turned up to remove the tree safely, making sure the family was out of danger.

What really defines Fairfield SES, though, isn't just the scale of what they do; it's the length of service and commitment of the people who make it work. Nathan Lin, a local high schoolteacher, joined the unit back in June 2003 and has given more than 22 years of continuous service. David Ton first joined in August 1999, served for 15 years, stepped away to raise his young family and then returned seven years ago. Altogether, he's given more than 21 years of service. Jenny To joined in February 2008 and now serves as a trainer and assessor. For 18 years, she's helped prepare others for the front line. She's joined by Frank Seraglio, also with 18 years of continuous service, and Ross Weller, who joined in March 2010 and has given more than 15 years of steady, reliable service.

Together, these volunteers represent decades of experience, local knowledge and quiet leadership. They are the backbone of Fairfield SES—passing skills on, setting standards and showing what service really looks like. The Fairfield SES is also a model for the nation when it comes to diversity. In one of the most multicultural areas in the country, communication can be lifesaving. Between them, volunteers speak more than 10 languages, helping people feel understood and supported in moments of real fear.

We can't stop the rain from falling or the fires from starting, but we can make sure that, when disaster strikes, no Australian is left to face it alone. The Fairfield SES unit represents the very best of our country—resilience, service and compassion in action. I join the member for Bendigo in thanking every first responder who has worked through this difficult summer, and I especially commend the men and women of the Fairfield SES for everything they do for our community and our nation. I commend the motion to the House.

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is interrupted.