Page 461 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 10 February 2009
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lives. We will also be thankful to wildlife rescuers, who estimate that 10,000 native animals have been affected by the complete destruction of thousands of hectares of forest.
Again I offer our most sincere sympathy to those affected by this tragedy. Like many Canberrans, even six years later I can still recall the fear and shock I felt when the fires encircled my home town. I can only imagine the grief and incomprehension the people of Victoria face as they come to terms with the devastation and begin the rebuilding of their homes, their towns, their communities and their families. I believe that the people of Canberra will hold these fellow Australians in the special part of their hearts where they keep alive the memories of those we lost in the Canberra bushfires. We pray that such a dreadful event will not be visited upon Australia again.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water, Minister for Energy and Minister for Police and Emergency Services): I join with the Chief Minister and other members in expressing my most sincere sympathies and condolences for the tragedy that has impacted on so many people in communities in Victoria. The speed, magnitude and extent of the devastation we have seen on our television and in our newspapers over the past 48 hours or so defy belief. For many of us in the community, it rekindles the memories of the horrible events in Canberra six years ago. Because of those events, we more than most other communities are all too familiar with what it means; the memories, the images of smoke-laden skies, the smells and the atmosphere that come with that come back all too sharply for many Canberrans.
It is fitting and appropriate that we extend not only our sympathy and condolences at this time but also the willing hand of support and help. In the last 48 hours or so, I have been very pleased to see off the task force of emergency services personnel who have selflessly given up a very large chunk of their time to go to Victoria and provide immediate property protection to a number of communities that are still under threat from fires in that location. That task force of 95 men and women from the ACT Fire Brigade, the ACT Rural Fire Service, Parks, Conservation and Lands, the State Emergency Service and the ACT Ambulance Service as well as the Emergency Services Agency itself is now in place in Victoria and is providing much-needed relief for exhausted firefighters from Victoria. They are providing immediate property protection in the area around Beechworth where towns are still under threat. On behalf of the Assembly, I express to them our thanks for the work that they are doing and wish them a safe return.
It is also very important that we recognise that there is much that we as a community can do to extend the hand of support at this awful time. The support provided by the ACT government is just one part of what I know will be a very strong community response from community organisations, sporting groups, businesses and others—and not the least by individuals. They will all make the contribution to assist their fellow Australians at this awful and tragic time.
Clearly, there will be much to look at, discuss and reflect on in the months ahead and there will be an enormous amount of work to do. Today it is important that we acknowledge the tragic deaths of so many people in Victoria and the impact that has had on their families, their friends and their communities. We extend our condolences to them all.
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