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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 1 Hansard (30 January) . . Page.. 8 ..
MR STANHOPE (continuing):
ACT Bushfires-Ministerial statement, 30 January 2003.
Emergency Management Act-
Declaration of a State of Emergency in the ACT 2003-Notifiable Instrument
NI2003-27, dated 18 January 2003.
Assignment of Territory Controller Functions and Powers 2003-Notifiable Instrument NI2003-30, dated 18 January 2003.
Approval of an Alternate Controller 2003-Notifiable Instrument NI2003-31, dated 18 January 2003.
Authority 2003-Notifiable Instrument NI2003-32, dated 18 January 2003.
Appointment of an Alternate Controller 2003-Notifiable Instrument NI2003-33, dated 18 January 2003.
Emergency Management-Revocation of Declaration of a State of Emergency 2003-Notifiable Instrument NI2003-43, dated 18 January 2003.
Administrative Arrangements 2003 (No 1)-Notifiable Instrument NI2003-39 (S1, dated 23 January 2003).
I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the ministerial statement.
MR SMYTH (Leader of the Opposition) (10.49): Mr Speaker, the ACT has been through a terrible time. Lives have been lost. Homes have been lost. Infrastructure has been destroyed. Thousands of hectares of bush, forest and farmland have been destroyed. There is no-one in Canberra who has not been affected either directly or indirectly by this tragedy.
This has been a time for the community to unite, to respond to the crisis and to create a recovery. At all times during the emergency my colleagues and I have sought to support, encourage and commend the efforts of all those involved in responding to the crisis. We have sought to be constructive. This has not been a time for partisan political point scoring. As leader of the Liberal Party in the ACT, I have been determined to ensure that our contribution is as positive and supportive as possible.
Mr Speaker, I know from my own experience that this has been a dramatic and traumatic time for a great many people. It is clear that there has been an extraordinary response from the ACT community-and from Australians everywhere-to the bushfire crisis.
The people of the ACT and members of this Assembly owe gratitude and thanks to emergency personnel from within and outside the ACT who put their lives on the line in fighting the bushfires. These heroes have worked in most trying and dangerous conditions. They have worked in terrain that is as rugged and inaccessible as anywhere in Australia, and over a protracted period. These fires started following lightning strikes in early January-on the 20th anniversary, I am told, of the 1983 Gudgenby fires which blazed to the south of the city.
We should also acknowledge those Canberrans who are not firefighters but soon learnt to be. Many local residents with no firefighting experience helped to save homes through quick thinking and commonsense at the height of the crisis. Many will tell stories of what they have seen and heard.
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