Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the opposition, I join with the government in supporting Senator Evans’s motion and in expressing our profound sadness about what has occurred in Victoria over this terrible weekend. This really is a tragic event, and I think the full ramifications of what has occurred are yet to be fully realised. There is still great risk; there are fires still burning out of control in Victoria. The devastation these destructive fires have caused is unbelievable to local communities in that state. We have had small and very close knit communities completely torn apart, whole towns wiped out like they had been bombed in some war. The pictures are horrific. Of course, as Senator Evans said, what is incumbent on all of us now is to join together as Australians and show our full support for those whose lives have been devastated by what has occurred. The loss is extraordinary: people, homes, property, stock. Many families have lost everything. People who have devoted their lives to building their homes and houses and communities—all wiped out in seconds. It is just a reminder of the sort of country we live in, one that can be beautiful one day but fierce and destructive and violent the next.

The ferocity of the fires, the magnitude of the destruction, is really beyond comprehension and touches many of us in many ways. My wife and I had a very difficult night on Saturday night knowing that her brother and his family were on their farm in Gippsland, surrounded by fire and unable to leave. Telephone communications ceased about midnight. Fortunately they were spared—we discovered the next morning they were spared—but it touches us all.

As Senator Evans said, Australians are incredibly resilient. We will overcome this. We all now have to turn our attention to how we help those affected by the tragedy. We support all of the initiatives that the government is taking. We will seek to provide our own suggestions as to how the government can continue to help.

These fires are a reminder of the history of bushfires in this country that have devastated so many parts of it. The fires here in Canberra in 2003, which I was present for, the fires on Eyre Peninsula in my state of South Australia not that long ago, the Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1983 in Victoria and South Australia, and Black Friday in 1939. My mother lost her brother in the 1939 fires. So we are all touched one way or another by these sorts of tragic events. But we have rebounded from those: communities have come back together, rebuilt their lives and their communities, and that will happen again in this case.

I am reminded that it was only last year that we observed the 25th anniversary of Ash Wednesday, which we thought would never be surpassed, but this tragedy has done so. It has happened again, and I think we are all shocked by the extent of the devastation and the ferocity of these fires. The opposition supports all of the efforts of the Victorian and federal governments to help those communities. Everything that can be done must and should be done.

To all those emergency service volunteers—and last night, as I was coming from Adelaide to Canberra, outside Adelaide Airport there were volunteer South Australian firefighters heading to Victoria to help—the CES and the CFA in Victoria, we pay enormous tribute. They do put themselves in enormous danger fighting to protect the properties and the lives of their communities. We want to thank the personnel of the Australian Defence Force who are now moving into the area and helping in the aftermath and in the continued effort to contain, as I say, fires that are still burning out of control. To all the volunteers who are assisting as they can, we express our appreciation for their efforts to make this as easy as possible for the victims and their families and the communities, who are going to need all the support we can give them to rebuild. To the Red Cross and all the medical teams—the terrible work of those in the burns units in hospitals in Melbourne, dealing with those who have lived but who have horrific injuries—we extend our sympathies and support for their work.

There are some amazing stories of survival emerging, and we hope there will be more. As Senator Evans said, 108 people, regrettably, have perished, and there is every possibility that that tally will rise as more of the homes that have been destroyed are properly searched. It is a tragic reality that there may be more victims. It is a tragic day for Australia. The whole parliament is united in extending our thoughts and prayers to all those who are victims of what has occurred. We stand strongly behind all those Victorian communities affected and we will certainly, for our part, support the government in everything it can do to help in what has been an absolutely tragic weekend.