Page 28 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 11 February 2020
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There were a lot of kids hanging around there as well and they were handing out water and platters of food, particularly helping the older people, and older kids were helping prepare and serve the food. I know there are many stories like that across Australia, but I particularly thank all those who came and fed us and boosted our morale at a point when it really needed it.
We were advised later in the evening that it would be safe to return to our homes. We went back, but we then spent two days without power, without electricity, without any communication. If it were not for ABC local radio we would not really have known what was going on. We waited to try to find out when the roads would open. (Extension of time granted.) As you could imagine, with an elderly woman and four children, I did not want to be stuck on the side of the road. It would not have been safe to do so.
We waited a few days. By this stage we were low on fuel. Sitting in the car, which was the safest place to be, although we had filled up the night before all this happened, we were low on fuel and we queued for about 2½ hours for fuel. We then got in the car and we went south. We debated, “Go north, go south, go north, go south.” It was a very difficult decision to make. If we had gone north we would have been stuck on the side of the road, as it happened, because it was closed again. We went south and it took 10 hours. We went through Surf Beach, all down that coast and through Cobargo. The devastation was horrific—animals dead and burning on the side of the road, houses burnt out, communities devastated. It was just horrific. It was very confronting.
We spent 10 hours in the queue of thousands of other vehicles heading back to Canberra. I certainly echo the point that Mr Gentleman made about the work done by the police. On the way home we got through a roundabout quickly. That saved us probably a couple of hours. Thanks to the police for doing that. It was tough. It was a difficult time and it would have been equally difficult for many thousands of Canberrans and others in New South Wales—far more difficult, of course, for those who had lost their homes, lost their stock and in some cases lost a loved one.
I say thank you to everybody that contributed and will contribute over the coming weeks as well: the firies, the police, the volunteers and just the ordinary community members, like the Greek community that went out there and helped their fellow Australians to get through what has been a very difficult summer. Thank you very much.
MS STEPHEN-SMITH (Kurrajong—Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Children, Youth and Families, Minister for Health and Minister for Urban Renewal) (11.37): I rise to speak on this motion today with a mixture of sadness at what has been lost and experienced this summer and pride in our incredible emergency services and our broader community.
I want to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of this region, who have cared for their country for tens of thousands of years, for whom country is not just sacred but also identity, heart and soul. To the Ngunnawal, Yuin, Ngarigo and Gundungurra people in particular, I recognise the deep sorrow of the devastation that has been
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