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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-11-26 Daily Xml
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Pinery Bushfires

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (15:04): My question is to the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services. Can the minister inform the house how the community is remembering the tragic 2015 Pinery bushfires?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (15:04): I thank the member for Kavel for his question. We note that the fires we had on Yorke Peninsula just recently have really brought everyone's attention to the upcoming bushfire season or, in fact, the season that is in front of us so incredibly early. I know the member for Kavel is very conscious in his community to make sure that his community is as prepared and as safe as possible.

It was an honour to be in the member for Narungga's electorate on the weekend. It was a very emotional time to be in the location where the Pinery fires first started and to be there with that community as they remembered four years since that very fateful day. Of course, we know we lost two lives in the fire, and family representatives of those two families were there to speak. Allan Tiller and Janet Hughes will always be remembered, and they were the two people who did pass away in the Pinery fires. As I said, people speak very glowingly about them. They are members of the community who will not be forgotten.

To see that community rally around those families and all the people who have had to take their time to mend the scars—people's lives were lost, property was lost, stock was lost, crops were lost, homes were lost, but I think, as the member for Narungga will attest, the resilience in that community, the strength in that community, really shone through on Sunday at the memorial service. What we saw were people who had fought adversity and come through at the other end and it was truly commendable.

Across from the main stage was a very symbolic row of CFS units, tankers, farm firefighting units as well, all lined up. People in uniform were there representing their local communities, showing their support for the Pinery region that had suffered so greatly during those fires. We can go back over the history of it and we know what a devastating fire it was, what a fast-moving fire it was. We heard a couple of the stories that were told, and one in particular was about the Hamley Bridge retirement village, where a number of people were cornered. When the emergency warning came, they could not move those people.

The preparation that was done by that group of people, the resilience they showed, the intestinal fortitude they showed to prepare themselves and get themselves ready and withstand that—bearing in mind, there were infirm people, there were a number of pregnant women, young kids and older people, as well visiting friends who were caught in that location—and the way they got around to each other and combatted what would have been a terrifying moment was truly inspirational. Those stories and others from around the community of how they withstood what came but then bounced back in the end were truly admirable.

Anyone who has been through that process or been through a situation like that will know the resilience within our communities right across the regions, and I stand here very proudly. I know that everyone in this chamber would endorse the sentiment that the people in our regions have great resilience, but I think even more so in South Australia we are incredibly proud of the way they operate. We think of the people on Yorke Peninsula who are going to go through that. It takes time. It doesn't heal overnight, and we are here to work with them through the process.

Our emergency services did a marvellous job and the community did an absolutely brilliant job and, to see them four years on in the position they are in, I really dip my lid to them. Again, it was an honour and a privilege to be there representing the Premier and speaking to that community, but it was an even greater honour and privilege to see the way they have responded to the tragedy they had to endure.

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