Senate debates

Tuesday, 4 February 2020

Condolences

Australian Bushfires

8:54 pm

Photo of Richard ColbeckRichard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make my contribution to the debate on the condolence motion on the bushfires that was moved by the Leader of the Government in the Senate this morning. As has been said a number of times, none of us in this place haven't been touched in some way by the devastation that was seen across Australia this summer—that is still occurring. We saw when we flew into Canberra on Sunday night that the fires are still alive close to this city, our nation's capital, where we work this week.

We extend our condolences and sympathies to the families, the communities and all those who've been touched by these quite tragic events—to the families of those who have been lost, those 33 lives; to the individuals in the communities that have been affected by the destruction of over 3,000 homes and all that those things mean; to those who remain on edge while the bushfire season remains; to all of those firefighters who remain away from home, whether they're local, from interstate or, as we've heard a number of times, from overseas, who are assisting in the effort to manage these fires; and particularly to those firefighters who've lost their lives tragically, looking to defend their communities or, in the case that has been mentioned many times during the debate today, those from overseas who have come to assist us. We extend our thanks to all the emergency services workers and the Defence workers who have come out to assist—whether volunteering or turned out, in the case of the Defence Force. It's an extraordinary effort at an extraordinary time. I'd like to add my voice of recognition to those who have spoken before me and will speak after me in the chamber.

I'd also like to add a bit of a shout-out to some in the community who haven't been noticed or haven't been recognised as part of the debate but who nonetheless have played a role and are some of the people who will play a continuing role as communities recover in the aftermath of the fires, as communities look to rebuild. I was down on the South Coast of New South Wales the week before last and called into headspace at Bega—talking to the workers there who were preparing for the additional resources that were going to come their way, working out how they might manage those, how they might best fit into the community and how they might best be engaged. Adjacent to the headspace services and job placement service, those people are looking to assist young people with their mental health. They are preparing for when all the kids go back to school and for the issues that will start to manifest once the kids all get together and start talking about things as a group. All of these people are of those communities and have been impacted themselves.

One chap there whose house had been saved—the only thing remaining on his property, but he'd been without power for 20 days—was still at work trying to assist young people to find work. Ensuring that these people are looked after as this process continues, as the recovery continues, is going to be extremely important, because they are the people who are assisting in looking after the young people in that community as the community recovers. It's important that they themselves are looked after. Brianna Armstead, who's the manager at headspace in Bega, and her team have a huge job in front of them but are all dealing with the impact of the fires in their own lives as they assist the communities to recover. It is a big job and it's a special job.

I also took some time to visit a number of aged-care facilities in the region. Some of the stories that I heard there were quite instructive—what worked, what didn't work. We're working really closely with those sites to get a good understanding of what worked for them and what didn't work for them in certain emergency situations when everything was stressed—all of the logistics services were stressed—and of how they managed. In New South Wales, prior to Christmas, there were six facilities that were evacuated. In Queensland, there was one. Since Christmas, 405 care recipients at 10 aged-care services were safely evacuated and then returned to the facilities, and there were another 73 from three multipurpose services and 15 that had to leave a retirement village. In Victoria, there were about 260 people all up from facilities there: 174 from four multipurpose services and 81 from a residential aged-care service.

I called into Tura Beach south of Bega and spent some time with RSL LifeCare there. Three facilities had been folded into one for five days. Madam Acting Deputy President Bilyk, I know you're interested in aged care. If you can, imagine 120 people residing for five days in an aged-care facility that's built for 60 and the work that was done by the staff to manage that. In one case, they moved 60 residents and their beds so that they would be comfortably catered for at the facility that they had to be evacuated to, to look after the residents of the aged-care facilities.

I acknowledge Jan Hume, Julie Evans and Katie Hughes—Jan is from Hugh Cunningham Gardens, Julie Evans is from Albert Moore Gardens at Merimbula, where everybody went to, and Katie Hughes evacuated her residents all the way up from Eden to Merimbula—and the goodwill in the community. The staff had to come in and bring their families in to assist with moving the people because everything was stretched. All the other services in the communities were stretched. A couple driving past in their transit van saw the activity and said, 'Can we give you a hand?' They spent seven hours ferrying supplies seven kilometres down the road to assist the aged-care facility to manage the evacuation of the residents. The residents were there for five days, and then they were all moved back. I was talking to Julie. When her daughter rang and said, 'Mum, we've been told we have to leave; you have to come with us,' she said, 'Well, I can't; I have all these people that I'm responsible for, that I have to look after.' These are the things that people have confronted in the aged-care sector. They've had a pretty tough 12 months, but you could see the care and the passion they had for looking after the residents that were in their facility, and I can only congratulate them and all their staff. They did a wonderful job, and they're to be commended.

I acknowledge Leanne Turner at IRT Crown Gardens at Batemans Bay and IRT Moruya. Again, they had spot fires on the site that they were looking to manage. They had people that they'd brought in. They evacuated to a number of facilities. They had no power. They couldn't cook the food. They had to find ways to manage all of these things, yet they did it. The chef was on site for 48 hours straight to feed the residents of the facility—extraordinary efforts and extraordinary stories. I can only, from a ministerial perspective in the portfolio, extend my sincere thanks, gratitude and congratulations to these people for the wonderful work that they've done, because they really did go above and beyond the call of duty.

Down at The Glen Residential Care Service at Catalina, just south of Batemans Bay, the manager, Amanda Ackerley, was standing outside the building with the fire hose damping down the site outside, and the fire came to the building. They had 80 residents inside, and yet they defended that. A number of issues came up that they had to deal with, and they will all be very, very important learnings for how we manage these circumstances in the future. We've started the process of gathering the information to make sure that those learnings are incorporated into the systems as they need to be, because, as we've heard, we can only expect that these events might occur more commonly into the future.

Can I return to those who have lost their lives—whether they be citizens or whether they be firefighters from Australia or from abroad—and to their families, and extend to you this place's deepest and sincerest condolences. I know that in the context of those who you've lost, effectively all you have left is your memories. I hope that they're strong and they remain strong. I hope that they can give you comfort at this most difficult time and that they can endure and continue to give you comfort, particularly memories of those who have been lost fighting the fires. It wasn't in vain; it was for a good purpose. And, to the children of those firefighters: know that your parent gave everything for your community, and let that be a strong part of the memory that you maintain and gain strength from as you grow up, because from this place, on behalf of a very, very grateful nation and community, we say thank you. It's a terrible thing to have to endure, but we just hope that there is some comfort that can come to you from the warm memories that you hold of your loved ones. I thank the Senate.

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