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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-12-01 Daily Xml
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Women's Honour Roll

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light—Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (17:37): I would like to make a contribution to the adjournment debate on a couple of matters. First of all, last night I was fortunate enough to attend Government House for the 2015 Women's Honour Roll announcement, regarding the women who were inducted onto the honour roll. I am pleased to advise the house that two women from Gawler have been inducted onto the Women's Honour Roll for their outstanding contribution to their communities, albeit one of them after her passing. Additionally, three other women in the Light electorate were recognised for their work by the Minister for the Status of Women, the Hon. Gail Gago, at the ceremony at Government House.

Mrs Linda Bertram was inducted onto the honour roll for her services to the CWA and Mary Graham was recognised (unfortunately, after her death) for her dedication to providing good health services to Aboriginal people, and they were two amongst the 30 women across the state who have been inducted onto the honour roll this year. Linda Bertram has been an extremely active member of the CWA and has worked in various positions at branch—she held the position of branch secretary in Gawler, and that is where I met Linda—state and national levels over the past 30 years. Linda is the current state president of the CWA and she does an outstanding job in supporting rural communities, and not just women but communities in general. The CWA does a wonderful job in supporting communities.

Mary Graham's vision was for respect and reconciliation for her people. She was part of the stolen generation and founded the Aboriginal Health Team at the Gawler Health Service. I worked alongside Mary on a number of projects in terms of reconciliation and I found her approach a very positive one. I certainly learnt a lot from what she told me about her experiences. Mary's sister, Lizzie; son, Christian; and daughter, Maryanne, accepted the award on her behalf.

Three other local women were also included in the ongoing list of nominees for the 2015 Women's Honour Roll. Mo Shepherd was nominated for her work with the Wasleys Community Group and being the primary driving force to bring about the inaugural Wasleys ANZAC Day Service recently. Rhonda Smedley was nominated for her work as church chair of the Hewitt Community Church of Christ, in her role as manager of the Hewitt Community Centre, and encouraging women to succeed. Rhonda does a wonderful job in the Hewitt community of engaging with communities. She puts a lot of effort into developing a lot of adult training and learning programs and runs a range of programs through the Hewitt Community Centre. The third woman who was acknowledged is Bev Thom. Bev was acknowledged for her tireless community work in many community organisations such as the Gawler History Network, the Gawler Museum and the Gawler Visitor Centre, but particularly for her care and compassionate work in her chaplaincy support at the Gawler Interchurch Council for the past 18 years.

As the local member of parliament, I was extremely proud that these five women have been recognised for their outstanding contributions and achievements in leading the community towards greater respect and inclusion. It is pleasing to see that all five women who have demonstrated a huge passion and commitment to their community have been acknowledged in this way. Initiated in 2008, the Honour Roll is now held every second year and acknowledges the amazing contribution made by women in our communities. A full list of the nominees and their contribution to the community can be on the Office for Women website.

The other matter I wanted to raise briefly is that on Saturday I had the opportunity to catch up with quite a few people who have been affected by what is being referred to as the Pinery fires. As people may be aware in this place, probably a third to half of my electorate was affected by the fires. Most of the rural areas were affected by the fires in some way. Particularly hard hit were the communities of Templers and Wasleys, and the surrounding districts—for example, Woolsheds, Pinkerton Plains, Magdalla, Kangaroo Flat and other districts—were affected by the fires in some way.

In Wasleys, the post office and adjacent home was severely damaged, the general store was impacted and the bowling club was burnt. These three institutions in country communities are important symbols of how communities thrive. What was particularly upsetting, apart from the loss of life and the other experiences of people losing their homes and farms, was that the post office and general store only reopened in the last few years after closing down. The community worked really hard to get these institutions opened in their communities and now they have been damaged by the fire. I note that the general store opened on the Saturday and they were very keen to support their community. As I said, I met a number of farmers, some of whom lost everything, some only have their home but have lost their livelihood, and I feel for them and the hardship they are suffering.

One of the things I noticed about this particular fire as distinct from the Sampson Flat fire was the number of burnt out vehicles which were caught in the fire. It was a particularly unusual symbol of the nature of this fire in the sense of the sheer speed at which the fire moved. The Sampson Flat fire went on for a longer period but covered only a fifth or a seventh of the area. What is particularly concerning and worrying, when you think about the people at the centre of the fire, is that families told me of their experiences of trying to drive away from the fire and the fire caught up with them and burnt their cars with them inside it and they had to get out of their cars. I just cannot imagine the horror you would be experiencing to be driving along the road, seeing the fire come up behind you and actually capture your car with your family inside it, and having to stop and move out of the car to survive, and then the car has been burnt.

However, amongst all this heartache and trauma, there are some really good stories, too. I received very good feedback from the community regarding the emergency services workers, and there was heaps of praise for those workers. There was also praise for the local police officers in particular, who risked their lives in trying to get people to safety. I have passed on those commendations to the emergency services and to the commissioner.

One thing I would like to say is that men in particular in rural communities, who tend to be very stoic and resilient, tend not to accept support and assistance readily, particularly support and assistance which comes in the form of counselling or psychological support. They are very proud people and they do not like to accept that sort of assistance. I met a couple of farmers on the weekend who, when I mentioned it to them, said, 'Yeah, we don't need that, Tony,' but experience has shown that people are traumatised by such events. As much as they would like to stand tall and deal with it in their own time, unless they actually grieve and process that experience it does catch up with them.

I pray that these people do accept the hand of support and assistance when it is shown to them. I really hope that they do seek it because it will be some time before they get an opportunity to process the sheer enormity of this fire. You really cannot understand it. The pictures on the TV tell a story, but it is not until you actually drive through the area and meet with the people that you see how indiscriminate the fire is, how some people's homes are still standing and some are not. There is a sense of loss and grief, but they may also not understand why their home was picked to be burnt while their neighbour's house is fine.

There is also the loss of a living. For some people who have lived for generations on those farmlands, they have lost not only their home and their farm but also that lived experience of generations. They have a history of the area, their family's experience, their family's history and their grandparents' history. I think those sorts of things will hit hard once people have a chance to get themselves on their feet. I urge all those people to take up the opportunity to seek that support from counsellors and social workers. It may not be seen to be the strong thing to do, and maybe it will be seen to be weak, but I can assure people that the road to recovery can be very bumpy unless they do they seek that out.

With those comments, I would like to acknowledge the courage of the people who have been through this experience and also the wonderful and professional service given by our emergency services workers.


At 17:48 the house adjourned until Wednesday 2 December 2015 at 11:00.

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