Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 1 Hansard (30 January) . . Page.. 41 ..

MS DUNDAS (continuing):

It was noticeable at press conferences and through media coverage that our local journos were concentrating on expressing the loss and looking to the rebuilding of Canberra, whilst their colleagues from the federal press gallery were immediately looking to blame shift and finger point. That blame shifting was not welcome here and true Canberrans did not tolerate it.

This crisis has really shown the need to have local news and local content in our media, a call worth renewing following these events. It struck me that when the September 11 disaster occurred in New York, local television was able to tell me about the street closures in downtown New York City, yet when this disaster struck Canberra the news broadcasts from Sydney were next to useless.

I commend the Chief Minister for his work over the past weeks. When the community faces disaster, people turn to community leaders and they turn to our government. The Chief Minister was the face of our government and he spoke strongly and with clear direction during this time, and that is to be commended.

Mr Speaker, there are many personal stories to tell and every Canberran has a story. Following the devastating fires I, like many of my colleagues, spent time talking to members of our community. I spent some time at the evacuation centre at Lake Ginninderra College and witnessed first hand the tension and the fear, but also the generosity of the Canberra community, the clowns who were entertaining the kids and the lady who brought in a huge birthday cake for her 60th birthday that she wanted to share with the people at the centre.

But what may we learn from this tragedy? This is not a time for blame. We cannot undo what has happened, but we must learn from these events and work to ensure that such a tragedy does not occur again. We must look at the need for hazard reduction, the identification of areas in Canberra as bushfire hazardous areas and the application of appropriate planning controls, sprinkler systems and communication and broadcast networks. Over the years the number of staff working in ACT forests has been reduced. The role of our staff in national parks has also changed.

We do all love living in the bush capital, but we need to be able to manage doing so. Whilst the immediate task of rebuilding and continuing protection goes on, we do need long-term planning. What resources will be there to manage our bush capital? Will planning regulations recognise the environment that we live in? What will we do with the acres of land of our now scarred forest industry? These are all questions we will be seeking to answer.

While the firestorm of January 18 will go down in history as the most destructive event that has ever struck urban Canberra, the tension that affected Canberra the week before and the week after has also changed many in our community, and it isn't over yet. Today we have an extreme fire warning and huge winds blowing outside this chamber. The tension that was just starting to subside in north-west Belconnen has come back again.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .