Matt Thistlethwaite (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

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I love a sunburnt country,

A land of sweeping plains,

Of ragged mountain ranges,

Of droughts and flooding rains.

Never before have those wonderful words of Dorothea Mackellar been more prescient in this nation during the bushfire and flood season. Her words perfectly sum up the beauty and the terror of our wonderful nation. As Australians we are blessed with a warm and temperate climate, but we are also afflicted, usually each summer, by extreme weather events. This summer again has been one hell of a season. We have seen bushfires and floods ravage our countryside and inundate our towns, yet we have seen the great spirit of our people tested but not broken.

Coonabarabran in the north-west of New South Wales, in the electorate of Parkes, is one such town that recently faced the ferocity of the seasonal fires. On 17 January I visited Coonabarabran with the Prime Minister and saw what opened my eyes to the evil that so many face in our great Australian foe. During that visit I was fortunate to meet our wonderful representatives of the Rural Fire Service in their headquarters in Coonabarabran, to inspect the bushfire damage, to meet with the firefighters and volunteers and to travel around Coonabarabran and surrounds with the local mayor, Peter Shinton, and the local federal member, Mark Coulton.

The destructive capacity of the fires was overwhelming. The images that we all saw on the nightly news simply do not do it justice. More than 51 homes were destroyed in the blaze along with over 110 sheds, machinery, fencing and yet untold livestock deaths. As the Prime Minister put it, the scene resembled a charred moonscape. We listened to locals as they told their heartbreaking stories on the spots where their homes used to sit, where their livestock used to feed or where their children used to play.

We also visited the Siding Spring Observatory and witnessed just how close that fire got to destroying one of our nation's prized and valued astronomical assets. I wish to thank and congratulate the public servants, the men and women who work in and around that observatory for their hard work and dedication in saving that valuable asset. Many of them are volunteer firefighters and worked to save their workplace.

While the prevailing sense was one of sadness, there was also strength—strength from knowing that so many others were looking out and helping them in what must have seemed like their darkest days. Help did come from some of the unlikeliest of sources, but help also came from those who had been professionally trained as volunteers—people like Bob Fenwick. Bob is a rural fire captain and has been for many decades, and he fought the fires in the Warrumbungle National Park region. Whilst he was fighting fires his own house was burning down and burnt to the ground. We visited him and his wife on the site where his house once was. It is Aussies like Bob Fenwick that truly epitomise the strength and selflessness of our volunteers and emergency service workers. It is thanks to them that these devastating fires did not claim more lives.

One of the great aspects of these fires was the fact that we are getting better at them. We are learning from the mistakes of the past. The fire control systems and back-burning measures are improving; and, importantly, the warning systems are improving and people are planning their exits much earlier and much more effectively. It says so much about our nation and our people that we think of them in this disaster season. Help has not just come from within local communities; it has come from all over the country in the form of volunteers looking to pitch in and help out others in need.

But of course, when those fires had passed in north western New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, the season was not done. After the fires came the floods. Torrential rain and cyclonic conditions again hit Queensland and northern New South Wales, delivering another period of uncertainty with another of Mother Nature's cruel turns. More than 25,000 North Coast residents were left isolated and hundreds of homes were swamped by floodwaters along the Clarence River. Towns have been cut off, and locals have been left counting the cost of the disaster and cleaning up the mess. But again they did not do it alone. They showed again a strength and a resolve that is admirable and characteristic of the Australian spirit. Thousands of volunteers continue to help in the clean-up phase of this event. Many of them have left their families at home and taken leave from their jobs to put their lives on hold to help others get back on track. I know of many surf lifesavers who have been pitching in to help out despite their hands being more than full in protecting our beaches during this summer period. More than 30 lifesavers, including 10 from the Batemans Bay and Broulee surf clubs, travelled to Sussex Inlet to offer their assistance to those fighting fires in the Shoalhaven. And many of them have been helping out in Queensland and northern New South Wales in the clean-up operation.

The Aussie spirit has been on full display during this period of extreme weather events. We have seen it time and time again; when Australian communities are threatened, the greater Australian community mobilises and goes to work. On behalf of New South Wales I would like to sincerely thank these generous, selfless people for all they have done these last couple of months to help those who have been afflicted by the fires and floods over the summer period. This country would be far worse off without our volunteers and emergency service workers.

I would also like to draw to the Senate's attention the fact that disaster appeals have been set up, most notably to do with the floods in Queensland through the Red Cross disaster appeal. I encourage people to visit the Red Cross website and to make a donation to help those who are affected by flooding. Also, Warrumbungle Shire Mayor Peter Shinton has set up a bushfire appeal for those affected by the Coonabarabran fires. I encourage senators and members of the public to visit the Warrumbungle Shire Council website. In response to these appeals the government has granted tax deductibility for all donations to these wonderful appeals, and I join with the mayors and the leaders of these communities in expressing our gratitude, our thanks and our strength to those who have been involved this summer in again fighting the great foe that is the Australian weather.