Page 25 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 11 February 2020
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Namadgi National Park. However, I hope that the rain we are experiencing now is helping. The threatening storms that this summer has brought show little sign of slowing down. Even after the threat of fires and storms has subsided, a large clean-up effort will need to be undertaken by our ESA teams so that areas like Namadgi National Park are once again safe for us to visit.
The social and economic impacts of this summer’s fires will be felt throughout the year, as many of our local businesses and outdoor attractions recover from smoke, fire damage and lost tourism revenue. There is also the human cost. The pressures felt by those on the front lines will be felt long after the fires are out.
The ACT must continue to take proactive steps to reduce our vulnerability and improve our resilience to extreme weather events. Our changing climate and the strain it has put on our electricity network, community and essential services are only going to happen more often. The way that we react to the effects of our changing climate and devastating bushfires is not about beliefs, politics or ideology. It is about ensuring that we are taking practical steps forward to ensure that the community is best protected from bushfires and climate change.
In closing, I want to once again thank all of the brave volunteers, the ESA and the RFS, for all of their work. Our city is in your debt.
MR HANSON (Murrumbidgee) (11.25): I thank the Chief Minister for bringing this motion forward today and everybody who has spoken for their insightful and compassionate words. I offer my thanks as well to all the ACT frontline emergency staff, including the police and the firies, the New South Wales frontline staff; the ADF and of course all the volunteers across New South Wales and the ACT who have been helping.
I share my family’s experience in Batemans Bay on New Year’s Eve, which was similar to that experienced by many hundreds and thousands, probably, of Canberrans who were down the coast. I have some people that I will acknowledge and thank, most notably the Batemans Bay and Canberra Greek communities, and that story will unfold as I explain what happened to us.
Like many Canberrans, we were down the coast. It is a place that we regularly visit. In fact, I go there every year. I do a house swap with my in-laws. We spend a week in their house; they spend a week in ours. This year we were down there with friends, as we always are. There were eight of us: me; my wife; our friend, Kate; her elderly mother, Robyn; and four kids, all 13 years old, Robbie, Kit, Zoe and Ella.
Batemans Bay was already doing it tough before the fires hit. We were going to businesses and they were saying they were 80 per cent down on their normal trading, which gave us an excuse, particularly my wife, to spend in the name of doing good. She got away with it.
There was already a risk of a fire on the mountain but I do not think any of us expected what then unfolded, including the RFS. But we were vigilant. We had taken notice. Certainly we were mindful that evacuation might occur. We knew what our
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