Senate debates

Tuesday, 4 February 2020

Condolences

Australian Bushfires

1:31 pm

Photo of Jim MolanJim Molan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Acting Deputy President, you may be relieved to know that I will speak to the condolence motion. I won't edge into the politicised climate change debate, and I won't speak about fuel loads or donations. There is another time and place for that, and I look forward to that time and that place.

It's been a summer of tragedy across Australia. The devastating bushfires have taken lives and homes and impacted on the psyche of our country. We've seen an immense outpouring of grief and emotion both in Australia and around the world. Sadly, 33 lives have been lost across Australia as part of this disaster. They include fathers and brothers, military veterans and people who were dedicated to their communities. I would like to especially mention father and son Robert and Patrick Salway, both of Cobargo, who were tragically lost defending their family farm. To Janelle, to Renee and to your families: the loss of both Robert and Patrick must be truly heartbreaking. Our thoughts, prayers and best wishes go to you both now and into the future.

I would like to pay particular tribute to the six firefighters and three aerial firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice to defend their homes and the lives of others. As an RFS volunteer who has fought these fires, I know the type of people who offer themselves up as firefighters. They are community minded people who want to defend not only their homes but those of their neighbours, friends and communities. They are a selfless group driven by love of others. One such firefighter was Samuel McPaul. Samuel passed away when what has been described as a 'fire tornado' flipped his truck, taking his life and injuring his fellow crew members. To his wife, Megan, who is pregnant with their first child: we think and pray for you both now and into the future.

I would also like to make specific mention of our three American brothers who lost their lives when their aircraft went down near Cooma. As a former aerial firefighter myself, I know how difficult and dangerous this work is. Sadly, they fell fighting for the lives and homes of others half a world away. The captain of the C-130 was Ian H McBeth. Ian had served with the Wyoming Air National Guard and was still serving with the Montana Air National Guard. He was a highly qualified C-130 pilot who had fought fires with the US military as well as with Coulson Aviation. The first officer was Paul Hudson, who lived in Arizona with his wife, Noreen. He was a former pilot in the US Marines who had retired as a lieutenant colonel after more than 20 years service. The flight engineer, Rick DeMorgan Jr, lived in Florida and served in the United States Air Force as an engineer on C-130s. He had more than 4,000 hours as a flight engineer with nearly 2,000 hours in a combat environment. His love of flying was only matched by his love of his children, Lucas and Logan. These three men were dedicated to lives of service to their community, country and planet. Their loss, as well as the loss of our own firefighters, is particularly tragic. To their families, I say: thank you for supporting your sons, husbands and fathers in helping us. Australia will never forget their sacrifice for us.

We must also spare a thought for those firefighters who have been injured on the front lines. We have heard harrowing tales of close escapes from disabled tankers, of near misses and enormous flames. For some days badly damaged fire trucks stood as a warning outside the Queanbeyan fire coordination centre, not far from here. These tragic losses of life and injuries will never be forgotten and nor will this summer. We have seen widespread housing losses across Australia, with homes lost in multiple fires. I can identify with this loss, having lost my house in 1983 to bushfires in the Adelaide Hills. Fortunately, we were interstate at the time so did not experience the added trauma of standing and fighting unsuccessfully in front of a doomed but loved home.

These losses also allow us to reflect on the great acts of service undertaken by our volunteer firefighters, as well as by the Australian Defence Force, in supporting our communities. The firefighters in my shed, Guises Creek, south of the ACT, on the border with New South Wales, may be more urban than rural in many cases, as the majority come from the suburbs of Canberra, but dedicated and skilled firefighters they are—as dedicated as those that stood between their communities and the monster bushfires in places like Quaama and Cobargo. For the last few days ACT firefighters have once again fought for their communities, just as they did in 2003 when fires swept into Canberra taking lives and 500 houses.

The plume of smoke from the Namadgi fires that we have been able to see to the south of this place over the last week is a reminder that, unless we treat our environment with respect, it can reach out and strike us down. It is a reminder that our Indigenous people treated this landscape in a totally different way to the way we now treat it, and there is much that we can learn from them. It's also a reminder that we can mourn for the loss of those that lost loved ones. We know what a burnt house or farm or business looks like, but sometimes it's harder to understand the mental health and other costs of the loss of your income—the inevitable result that we see now of these fires, especially for small businesses or farms, or for employees of small businesses and farms.

I know our firefighters, many of whom are volunteers, but as firefighters they are professional. They are led, as volunteers, at the highest level by paid staff who are also professionals of the highest calibre—especially those who are incident controllers and who run our fires, who direct the strategy to save their communities, or at least minimise the losses—and, of course, they are backed by many who do not fight fires, and by their families, who give them up often at critical times.

In recent weeks, the word 'unprecedented' has been regularly used by politicians and commentators. However, to be unprecedented does not mean to be unplanned. It has become apparent that the fire services and our government spent a great deal of time planning for this fire season. In New South Wales it is not too soon to acknowledge that, despite individual tragedy and loss, what has happened over the last few months is a significant, positive event which has lessened the appalling impact of these fires on our communities. While these successes are tempered with the feelings of loss and heartbreak for those families who have lost loved ones and who have lost homes, it is nevertheless a real achievement, even though it is far from over yet. While 3,000 homes have been lost, the New South Wales RFS estimates it has saved over 14,000 homes by their valiant efforts. By comparison, the Californian wildfires in 2018 saw over 18,000 homes lost—a dramatic difference in the impact of wildfires on lives and communities.

We must support those who have had their lives shattered, but it could have been so much worse. So to Commissioner Fitzsimmons and the New South Wales RFS, I thank you for your leadership and your valiant efforts. Although, for historical reasons, I serve as a member of the ACT RFS, I serve beside the New South Wales RFS every deployed day. Of course, the bushfire services in all our states are of high value, because that is what Australians do. We produce such groups and we have produced them for a long time, and we must hope that we will continue to produce them. You, the volunteer RFS firefighters, have stood at the gates of hell and saved the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people. You have now fought for months across the length and breadth of this state and others, and you have done so magnificently.

I want to commend the efforts, particularly, of the Australian Defence Force troops. While travelling on the South Coast I was fortunate to see them in action as they deployed to rebuild their lives and the lives of those impacted by fires all over Australia. They're clearing roads, helping reinstall fences and undertaking dozens of different community tasks to support our communities, as the Minister for Defence has described. The ADF has been involved in these events since September of last year, with numbers that range from 900 to, currently, 6,500.

It was also a pleasure to meet with reservists who are supporting our communities from all over Australia. In one tent at Batemans Bay I met in uniform a schoolteacher, a civil engineer and two university students, each bringing their skills and experience to the mission they were carrying out. They were handing out items donated to evacuees. They not only performed a service necessary until local shops opened but they also gave great confidence to the people, that someone from outside the local community cared. This was very, very important, particularly in the early days.

As someone who has had extensive experience with the ADF and disaster zones, I know only too well the support that our armed forces can bring to disaster relief. Our ADF brings both confidence and unity to our communities. The confidence of seeing our troops in disaster-stricken communities, ready to help locals, provides a much-needed morale boost to areas desperately needing it after disasters. They also bring a sense of unity, of our nation pulling together to help those of us who need it.

While travelling around the South Coast I witnessed a convoy from the 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment of the Army. These were soldiers, from Brisbane, delivering fodder donated from Western Australia, carried in trucks with 11 volunteer drivers—organised by Ingrid Bridges, Joe and Belinda Hall, and Brett Catalano—travelling 4,000 kilometres to Cooma, transhipped to ADF trucks, who then delivered it to Bega and Eden on the New South Wales South Coast. What a great way to show just how our nation can come together to support victims of a disaster.

This unity has also been seen in the charity of Australians not impacted in fire zones. Our community has been incredibly supportive in those areas impacted. Some have been major organisational efforts, like the work of the Business Council of Australia in setting up BizRebuild to support small businesses in impacted areas. Others have been small but no less important, such as Ryder Grierson, who donated all his pocket money to support victims and got his family to donate its campervan to someone who lost their home in Cobargo. I want to thank all Australians for their generosity in supporting those who have been impacted.

In speaking to this condolence motion I would also like to focus on the impact this has had on my part of the world, in southern New South Wales. Not only have we lost lives but we have communities heartbroken and struggling in the wake of this massive disaster. In the Snowy Mountains we have seen both tourist and forest industries, critical to local communities, suffer significant damage. The Snowy Valleys shire is heavily reliant on forestry manufacturing, and the damage to their economy will not be easily recovered, due to the serious damage to the plantation forests. On the South Coast, from Nowra to Eden, we have seen damage to forestry and tourism as well. Last week I met with locals in Merimbula and they emphasised how damaging these fires were to the South Coast economy. January is the most important month of the year for hotels, restaurants and retail stores in the Bega Valley and through Eurobodalla, and we must continue to support small businesses throughout impacted areas.

Many of these impacts are affecting businesses that, in theory, have been untouched by fire. They haven't had buildings burnt or people injured. But the lack of trade, the closure of roads—and today the Princes Highway actually opened—and the fear created by the fires have badly impacted economies. Their confidence has been rattled and they need our support to refocus tomorrow. It is not uncommon to meet business owners who have lost 80 per cent of their normal summer holiday turnover, and the summer holidays have now finished. It's not uncommon for such businesses to rely on this period for most of their annual income, and that has now been lost.

We must understand the mental health implications of such a loss. That mental health impact may manifest itself immediately or might take a long while to come out, and it will be disproportionately impacting on the children.

Last weekend showed the bushfire season is not over. My own home, just south of Canberra, sat very close to the impact zone last Saturday, and we prepared to evacuate. Other areas in the Monaro, including Michelago and Bredbo, saw significant threats. But as the fires pass and our communities begin to recover we must support them to become more resilient and to rebuild in ways which suit their way of life.

Finally, again: thank you to all those who serve on the fire fronts and in support of the families. We as a nation continue to grieve with you and we continue to think of you in our prayers. (Time expired)

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