Page 464 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
conversation here about this. I know it is being taught in schools. I know the government urges people to look at what happens. But looking forward, working through the CRC, I am sure COAG will have a response to this and I am sure the Chief Minister will listen and put our position there quite clearly as well.
It strikes me that Australia appears on the television overseas when we have a flood, when we win the cricket or when there is a fire. All too often lately, we are appearing in international press and on TV because we have had a fire. I think there is a fundamental question that we have to address here as a nation about the future, and it is about where we live and how we live. We choose to live in the bush, and that is great because that is what we love about our country. We choose to have trees near our homes, and there is a whole lot we can do to ameliorate the impact of that and prepare our homes for safety.
I think there is an even more fundamental step that we now have to take. It will be done in the education systems and it will be done at home. But we have to start teaching our young ones about fire safety, I believe, in a way that we have never thought about. We were sitting in north-east Melbourne and watching the smoke. People were saying to me, “How far away is that?” I was saying: “Well, from what I can see, that is coming up the highway 10, 30, 40 or 50 kilometres. There are a number of fires.” They were saying, “Oh, we’ve got plenty of time.” In conversations we had at the hotel we stayed at and at the shops we visited, it was interesting to note how people perceived it.
We should have a different view of it. The data is there. The knowledge of the speed at which these things move is there. It was reinforced by what happened at the weekend. I would urge all governments, when they meet at COAG, to look at how we instil in all Australians, but particularly in the young, as a way of moving forward, what this truly means. We quote the history. It was there again in all the papers on Sunday and Monday. They talked about Black Friday in 1939, the Hobart fires and Ash Wednesday. Indeed, when I was driving down, and listening to the radio, they were saying, “The conditions are worse than Ash Wednesday.” From what I could see they did seem to be quite well prepared. But when it comes, you cannot be prepared for it. Fundamentally, at the heart of where people are, that urge to stay and protect what is yours is incredibly strong. Whole lifetimes are encapsulated in one small building, in one small room or in one filing cabinet, and the desire to defend that must be strong. It is strong. People do it. It is almost a natural reaction.
I think—I do not think; I know—that we have to instil, particularly in our young ones, what the consequences of this are, and let it become as second nature to them as tying a shoelace and crossing a road.
I commend the government on their quick response. I think the money is generous, and there may be a call for more later. I am sure that we will be sending more than one task force down, so I say to the members of the ACT Rural Fire Service, SES, Ambulance Service, Fire Brigade and police that I wish them well. To those that can, I ask that they consider giving blood. Those of us who have special skills should make that known to the government or to the relevant authorities. To those that have excess goods, whether it be kids’ toys, an old bed or whatever it is, as it becomes known where they can be sent and how they can be sent, please reach into your hearts and respond as others did to us.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .