Page 914 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 24 February 2009
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Great risk comes, of course, with this level of service. As we have all been discussing here this afternoon, one of the members of our community, Senior Firefighter David Balfour, lost his life in Victoria making this ultimate sacrifice. I, along with others in this place, wish to express my deep sadness and my condolence to his family, his friends and his colleagues.
I spent a couple of hours at my community fire unit training at Hawker on Sunday reflecting on the situation that has unfolded in Victoria. It made a sobering experience for us all as we in Canberra were forced again to confront the harsh realities of our environment. In this specific context, the unit was again obliged to consider our preparedness to protect our suburb even at a time when our training program is at a particularly active phase in the middle of summer.
Community groups such as the community fire units can play a critical role in limiting the destructive impact that a national disaster can have on a community at the interface between the suburban street and the rural landscape. We also reflected on the fact that we were training as the nation was mourning. This nation was pausing to mourn those that had lost their lives as a result of the Victorian bushfires.
As Mr Corbell said, over these last dreadful weeks we have seen our emergency service workers, police and support staff rotated through the devastated areas of Victoria joining with colleagues from Victoria and, indeed, across the country and from overseas. As we know, community groups as well as government agencies also played important supporting roles in times of this emergency.
Madam Assistant Speaker, Mr Corbell noted that Australians do have a great capacity to do what they can to help others when confronted with difficult circumstances. I am pleased to note the support that has come out of this community since it was made aware of the extent of this tragedy. We received wonderful support from all over Australia and across the world at the time of our great need in 2003. Many of those people who have gone down to Victoria have said that this is their way of giving back because they were given so much in 2003.
The Canberra community—in fact, the nation—has been generous in its giving in other ways. I would suggest that there has not been any event over the last few weeks where there has not been an opportunity taken to raise funds to support those people who have been left homeless by the Victorian bushfires.
Local fundraisers have been held, as we have heard from other members, all across our community. We experienced them, of course, at concerts such as the Multicultural Festival. I attended the CAT awards on Saturday evening. At this event, as well as other arts community events, there has been generous support for the request for funds. As Mr Corbell has said, others also supported this important and vital effort, such as businesses and agencies who released their staff from normal duties, and families who waited while their family members fought fires and rendered aid to others so many kilometres away.
In recognition of the efforts of so many Canberrans who donated their time, their expertise or their financial assistance to the victims of this natural disaster, I commend
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