Page 9 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 11 February 2020
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While the events have been a tragedy for Australia, they have also shown communities at their best—at their most generous, courageous and caring. A broad range of senior ACT government officials have worked very hard over the summer, many interrupting their breaks. In particular, I note the role of the Chief Minister and Minister Gentleman, who, it seems, virtually lived at the ESA headquarters over this period and showed great dedication to the Canberra community.
I also want to solemnly acknowledge that the events of this summer have taken people’s lives—the lives of everyday people whose homes were struck by fires, as well as volunteers and officials who lost their lives fighting the fires. This is a terrible tragedy, and we offer our condolences and sympathies to all the families and friends of the people we lost. There has also been widespread destruction of property and of our precious environment, and this simply amplifies the scale of the tragedy.
While the fires within the ACT were relatively recent, the impacts of this horrific summer of tragedy and loss have been felt for months by way of the smoke haze, dust storms and regional fires right through New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. It has felt at times as though no part of the country has been untouched.
In the context the smoke haze, I would particularly like to acknowledge the hard work of the Chief Health Officer and her team, who have sought to provide the best possible advice to an anxious community in what has been described as an unprecedented poor, and in fact potentially hazardous, period of air quality, with Canberra at times officially having the worst air quality in the world. It is hard to draw an evidence-based response to a unique and novel issue, and I thank those who have worked so hard to provide advice to members of our community, who were uncertain about what this meant for us, as it is something we have never really experienced before.
Across the nation, we have seen communities, rightly, praise the work of the predominantly volunteer fire services. I have been personally struck by the artistic expressions of this appreciation, from street art to media cartoons showing a weary firefighter being saluted by Batman and other comic book superheroes. I do not feel that it is hyperbole to say that they have earned such praise with feats of bravery and self-sacrifice which, unfortunately, I believe we will continue to see more of in the future.
As the Chief Minister has rightly acknowledged, however, this is not the end of the bushfire and storm season. The recent rain, welcome as it is, is creating its own issues, just as the recent hailstorm did, and we cannot ignore the fact that there may be still further fires or freak storm activities. But we are starting, collectively as a country and as a territory, to breathe a little easier, and to consider what possible lessons can be learned from this terrible summer. We are all aware of the national conversations regarding commissions of inquiry and the need to more closely examine the specific needs of small localities. We believe we need federal leadership and local solutions. It will be a partnership going forward, and in these conversations it will be very important to think carefully through these matters on the basis of the evidence.
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