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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
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Motions

South Australian Bushfires

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. S.S. Marshall:

That this house—

(a) expresses its deep regret at the loss of life as a result of bushfires in South Australia so far this summer and extends its condolences and sympathy to the families and loved ones of those killed;

(b) records its sorrow and support for those who suffered injury and who lost their homes, property and personal possessions;

(c) praises the work of firefighters and other emergency services, volunteers and community members for their courage and sacrifice in responding to the fires and protecting our communities in this time of need;

(d) recognises the profound impact on those communities affected and the role of governments and the South Australian community in assisting them to recover and rebuild at the earliest opportunity; and

(e) appreciates the great generosity and support to the affected communities by all those who have contributed to the Premier's Emergency Relief Fund and other appeals.

(Continued from 5 February 2020.)

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (16:32): I rise to support the motion moved in this place by the Premier, which, in summary, expresses our support for those affected by the bushfires that have plagued our state in recent times and which also wishes them well in the recovery efforts that are ongoing around the state, including in my electorate and at Yorketown near Edithburgh.

This is an important motion that records our sorrow and support for families within communities who lost lives and for all those who have suffered and lost homes, property and personal possessions as a result of the bushfires across the state this summer season. It is also an important motion that rightfully praises the work of firefighters, emergency services, volunteers and community members.

I have stated in this place before that no praise can be high enough for the firefighters, volunteer and paid, who displayed inspiring bravery and commitment to the task of containing fires and saving lives and property. On 14 February, I was pleased to again visit Yorketown for a post-fire community check-in gathering, which provided another valuable chance to say hello, to check in with everyone and to see how the recovery from the ferocious fires in late November in that area of the Narungga electorate was going.

As I stated in parliament in my recent Address in Reply speech, the fires on SYP in late November, which burned more than 5,000 hectares across a 61-kilometre front, were just the start of a devastating season of bushfires of unprecedented scale that went on to burn some 12 million hectares across the nation, taking some two months and flooding rains in the Eastern States to finally extinguish. The news on 6 February that finally, nationally, all fires were declared contained was welcome indeed and a great relief. Whatever the size of the bushfires, the devastation is real for all, as are the shock and ongoing stress in the recovery period that stretches ahead for so many communities around our nation, including for communities on Yorke Peninsula.

The 14 February community event at Yorketown highlighted the ongoing impacts being faced on the road to recovering from what is a significant trauma felt by everyone—individuals, families and landowners—who has lost much and is soldiering on with the assistance of a great many people. The powerful rallying of communities of people digging in to help others has been staggering and inspiring, as have been the amazing efforts to raise funds for various appeals.

I commend the Yorketown Fire Recovery Centre Coordinator, Deb Richardson, for all her work done well over the past three months, and the local Bushfire Recovery Committee, which is chaired by Deb and features wonderful local contributions from people across the fireground, from Yorketown and all the way up to Maitland. There were a number of areas that burned on the peninsula during that period and most are represented on that committee.

I congratulate that committee on having already distributed over $60,000 in donations raised locally. Amazingly, since I last spoke on this topic in this place only some three weeks ago, the tally of local funds has risen by an extra $30,000, up to in excess of $90,000, which is an amazing local effort and show of collaborative support.

A special moment at the 14 February community check-in at Yorketown was the presentation to the recovery committee by seven-year-old Amahli Ziersch of Kadina who, wanting to do whatever she could to assist the cause, collected bottles and cans and created a Go Fund Me page to raise funds for people affected by the fire. Her father, Damien, tells the story of their sitting at home watching the news and Amahli turning around and asking what she could do to help, and as a family they came up with this idea.

Through that initiative developed by her family and Amahli, and the hard work she put into it, she was able to present a cheque of $825—a wonderful commendable effort at such a young age to help others. It was terrific to be on hand to see the fake cheque the committee had prepared for Amahli being handed over as part of the presentation. There was a real sense of occasion about the moment and it was really pleasing to see the smile on her face.

The whole family—her siblings, parents and grandparents—travelled down to see her present this wonderful, large, fake cheque to the recovery committee. The applause that greeted her upon doing so from the locals at Yorketown, who have been so appreciative of every effort but were particularly appreciative of such a young person raising such a significant amount of money for their efforts, was a really uplifting moment and it was really pleasing to be a part of it.

At the community gathering, there were also important information displays from PIRSA, the Department for Environment and Water, the CFS, SA Health, and the Salvation Army and Red Cross, as well as updates from Deb; from Yorke Peninsula Council mayor, Darren Braund; and from me. It was important information not just for those who were there but for those who continue to be impacted by fires and those seeking information on how they can best assist those who have been impacted.

Many people across the SYP community and the peninsula as a whole have been pitching in where they can, and I have felt privileged to witness it firsthand. Having already described in this house the massive efforts of some 53 CFS brigades who flocked to Yorketown on 20 and 21 November to stop the catastrophe that was unfolding, I will not be too repetitive. Rightfully, so much has already been said about the firefighting assistance—the bravery, the exhausting effort and the volunteer spirit. Frankly, it has been unbelievable and, as I have already said, no praise is enough for these wonderful people, both volunteer and paid.

I will instead use this brief time that I have to focus on the recovery efforts underway, the government assistance and how important are assessments of how we can improve the management of such emergencies moving forward. With local recovery coordinator, Deb Richardson, appointed within 72 hours of the Yorketown fire and a recovery centre that remains open after actively assisting people to this day three months after the fire was contained, I commend those who ensure that assistance from the Department of Human Services was swiftly coordinated.

With initial personal hardships grants made available the day after the fires—such wonderful promptness in getting those grants out to the people who needed them so drastically—I advise that 374 of these initial emergency grants were distributed to people forced to evacuate at Yorketown and Edithburgh, totalling over $175,000. That is a fantastic effort and, as I said, it was pleasing to see that distributed and made available so quickly to those people who needed it at that time. It was wonderful that they could have that help in such a devastating instance.

Next to work quickly were the Red Cross and BlazeAid, with the latter only just leaving the area on 23 February after continuously helping farmers with fencing for three months. Having been a volunteer for only one day down there, I would like to take a moment to properly acknowledge the contribution those organisations made to the recovery effort.

Over that three months, over 25 fire-affected properties with 250 fire volunteers, BlazeAid was able to rip out 253 kilometres of burnt fence—an extraordinary achievement—doing perhaps the most important job in removing some of the damage that can play on the minds of those farmers who have lost it all. It is difficult to go out and see kilometres of your fencing lying on the ground or burnt to a crisp. For those people to get out there and remove that fencing and take it away from the front of mind of farmers is wonderful, and 253 kilometres is an extraordinary length of fencing. Not only that, they also installed 162 kilometres of replacement fencing, an extraordinary effort, and I would like to take this opportunity to commend every single one of the 250 fire volunteers who went down there and contributed some of their time.

The mayor, Darren Braund, was kind enough to host the BlazeAid camp on the grounds of his church at Edithburgh. Those of us who have volunteered for BlazeAid before will be well aware of the fame of the camps, the camaraderie and the community we experience. There was a wonderful array of caravans and people there for the entire three months, and the mayor made available to them all the facilities of the church, the meeting rooms, the bathrooms, the kitchen area and the mess hall. It was a wonderful contribution and show of support from the mayor, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for all the facilitation work he did to make BlazeAid happen.

Similarly, Karen and Graham Warren were the local convenors of the BlazeAid camp and every morning made sure that lunch was ready for people to take out, that there were teams of eight going to particular spots and that the love was shared equally around all those 25 affected properties. They did a mountain of work over the entire three months, and I bet Karen is finally sleeping well after being up before everyone else and being the last one there every night as well. Thank you very much to Mayor Darren Braund and to Karen and Graham Warren for the work they did in helping BlazeAid give such wonderful service down there on the fireground.

Following the arrival of Red Cross and BlazeAid came the disaster recovery payments and income support from the federal government jointly funded with state government initiatives. Later came the tax and fee relief measures made available by the state government, which have been welcome, as have the special considerations from the Valuer-General working with the State Recovery Office and Land Services SA, with fees waived to replace lost documents like driver's licences and births, deaths and marriages certificates, legal advice, waste management assistance and financial assistance from the Yorke Peninsula Council.

The Volunteer Firefighters' Financial Support Program has also been appreciated, being compensation for volunteer firefighters who have put in extended time to volunteering this current fire season and incurred financial cost by doing so. I can attest that the state government's announcement last week of the availability of concessional loans to assist small businesses, primary producers and non-profit organisations impacted by the bushfires on Kangaroo Island and at Cudlee Creek, Keilira in the South East, and Yorketown on Yorke Peninsula to further assist in the rebuild and, importantly, to ensure small businesses impacted have every chance of continuing to operate while the region recovers, have also been well received.

These loans of up to $500,000 are available to help businesses such as tourism operators restore and replace assets and property that have been significantly damaged in the fires. They also cover costs of salaries, creditors, rent and rates. This is an important scheme needed to assist small businesses in regional areas to stay in local communities and, crucially, continue to operate and employ local people. When announcing the concessional loans scheme, the Treasurer stated that small businesses and primary producers are the backbone of our regional economies and that the government is pleased to be able to support them as they get back on their feet in the wake of the devastating bushfires.

I am pleased, too, to announce that the Yorke Peninsula Council has qualified to receive $200,000 from the National Bushfire Recovery Agency fund. This money is very much needed to assist council to restore the extensive infrastructure damaged or destroyed by the fires on Yorke Peninsula where homes were destroyed, along with more than $1.7 million worth of crop and livestock. In terms of area losses across the YP Council, in November and December the Price fire burned 321 hectares, the Yorketown fire burned 5,017 hectares and a fire at Maitland on 20 December burned another 2,472 hectares, amounting to an affected area of almost 8,000 hectares.

These fire events have left the YP Council with a significant clean-up bill for recovery works, including road repairs and resurfacing, roadside tree cleaning, burned signage and road markers, restoring public spaces at parks and campgrounds (including fencing, picnic tables, landscaping and streetscaping), replacing and installing new concrete firefighting tanks for truck and plane-filling at Yorketown and Maitland airstrips, erosion control rehabilitation and replacing lost habitat and roadside vegetation corridors and 50 kilometres of roadside.

I expect the $200,000 allocated will be very quickly spent, but it is a start. The Yorke Peninsula Council area also, pleasingly, qualified as an eligible LGA area to receive grants of up to $75,000 for farmers and $10,000 for small businesses from the jointly funded commonwealth and state disaster recovery fund to address the immediate costs of recovery. Importantly, it is a fund that does not close until 31 July this year.

Under the jointly funded Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, multiple assistance grants have been made available. There are re-establishment grants of up to $10,000 for the uninsured to re-establish homes, recovery grants of up to $50,000 for small businesses to assist with clean-up and restoration, recovery grants for eligible primary producers, as well as other assistance available from the SA Bushfire Appeal and Red Cross.

Importantly, too, is that information and assistance are available in relation to mental health services, which will be a pressing issue in the months and years ahead. There is a recognised great need to assist people experiencing the grief and stress that naturally come with a disaster like a bushfire. There is also assistance with native vegetation and livestock, legal advice and mediation services if required.

At the 14 February Yorketown fire update gathering, I also took the opportunity to strongly encourage participation in the independent review into the 2019-20 bushfire season thus far that is underway, which was announced by the Premier on 28 January. It is hoped that as many people as possible who have firsthand on the ground experience of the fire events make submissions, including the CFS and all emergency services and responders, farmers, community members impacted and organisation leaders. Such feedback from the very people on the ground who experienced the emergency is vitally important.

The review's specific terms of reference are valid and include identification of resource and equipment gaps, how to reduce ignitions, ideas to improve response actions and warning systems and much more. Many issues have been raised with me by locals and farmers on Kangaroo Island with whom I spoke when I visited, including ways to improve communication procedures, CFS vehicle-tracking technology and the need for tracking capacity, firebreaks management, assistance for fodder donors, water access and replenishment, and grants criteria and their rollout. All such information is relevant to the independent review for which submissions close on 22 March.

I would like to also commend the RAA for their Regional Safety Grants program and their recent allocations. In particular, I note the Yorke Valley and Northern Yorke CFS groups and the Yorketown CFS are among the 15 worthy organisations announced as successful applicants. I am advised that these local CFS personnel will use their allocations to purchase safety equipment, thermal cameras that detect flareups and identify hotspots and a mobile signal booster, all vital assets when it comes to fighting fires. Such support and provision of assets is vital. I commend again the RAA for this initiative.

I am pleased the Marshall Liberal government well recognises the need for such vital support and is offering multiple programs that have been welcomed and that are assisting in bushfire recovery in South Australia. Finally, on behalf of all the people who live and work in the Narungga electorate, I thank all those across the electorate who rallied at the height of the emergency, who are continuing to work hard in recovery and who are doing all they can to help the many locals impacted. A huge task lies ahead, but together we will recover. I would like to pay tribute to you all and commend this important motion to the house.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay) (16:49): I rise today to reflect on the tragic bushfire events that occurred in South Australia over the past few months. Last year, in the final week of parliament, we came together in this place to honour the brave volunteers, community service workers and emergency response teams who responded to the Yorketown fires at the end of November. Little did we know that, on our return to this place just two months later, we would again be reflecting on the horrific consequences of more catastrophic bushfires that resulted in the loss of life, homes and businesses. I think it is fair to say that our communities remain shocked and frightened at the scale of destruction unleashed by these bushfires.

The digital age means that every Australian has been able to get a deeper awareness of the sheer power and destructive forces that these fires can wield. Be it for good or bad, we have been able to witness firsthand footage of the devastation these fires left in their path. I am sure many people here have seen the video filmed by the Davis family on Kangaroo Island. As their home was overtaken by the fires, they remained trapped inside as a tsunami of fire swept past them. Their eventual escape, among other remarkable stories, was heroic in the extreme, though sadly their home and their business—a sheep and honey farm—were destroyed.

This capacity for us to see and hear the real impact of these fires has, I believe, led to one of the most significant and generous outpourings of charitable donations in our nation's history. As we collectively witnessed the suffering, pain and devastating loss of others, we felt moved to do everything within our power, big or small, to assist in some way. Of course, we got international focus, and I recognise the fact that other people in other countries put their hand in their pocket to support us.

Let me talk a little bit about the support for bushfire donations. One of the things that has really blown me away is the diversity of people across the Australian community who saw what happened in Yorketown, on Kangaroo Island and in the Adelaide Hills and put their collective belief together that they wanted to give back. Recently, I spoke about our Hazara community and how they asked me to come along to talk about the campaign that they had run. All up, collectively, $120,000 was raised by this Afghan community in South Australia.

I followed other communities as well: the Vietnamese community have put money into the KI Mayoral Relief and Recovery Bushfire Fund, the Cambodian community have supported as well, and just on the weekend our Sikh community gave money to the Gumeracha CFS to make sure that its fire siren is up and working.

While I talk about the diversity of this support, I can also talk about the many Australians and South Australians who contributed support to help people recover and get back. As many families across our state prepared for holidays and Christmas festivities, on 20 December the Cudlee Creek bushfires raged through our beautiful Adelaide Hills, impacting townships, including Brukunga, Charleston, Cudlee Creek, Gumeracha, Harrogate, Kenton Valley, Lenswood, Lobethal, Mount Torrens and Woodside.

We watched with horror as families walked the familiar winding Adelaide Hills scenic roads to escape with children, animals and a handful of possessions. We watched as football ovals, normally home to summer afternoon cricket games, suddenly became refuge points for evacuees. We heard with shock that approximately 30 per cent of Adelaide Hills vineyards were caught in the fire zone, with some losing everything, including their homes.

Udder Delights, the iconic Adelaide Hills cheese brand, lost all their stock due to heat and smoke damage although, thanks to the courageous efforts of firefighters, their factory, along with neighbouring Lobethal Bierhaus and Emmaline's Country Kitchen, were saved. I am sure children across South Australia, the country and perhaps the world have taken heart from the news that the amazing Big Rocking Horse, their beloved alpacas and other farm animals, and the iconic Melba's chocolate factory also survived the blaze.

As we waited anxiously each day for news, hoping to hear that the fires had been contained, a combination of heat and wind caused fires that had been burning on Kangaroo Island to spread catastrophically. The Duncan fire, which also began on 20 December at the northern end of the island, had been burning for some 10 days before lightning activity in Flinders Chase National Park caused the fire to break containment lines and, by 3 January, it merged with a fire on its eastern flank.

A combination of searing temperatures, low humidity and a series of unpredictable wind changes created a formidable and virtually unstoppable front that destroyed everything in its path. This became the fire we now know as the Ravine fire. By the time the Kangaroo Island fires were contained on 20 January, almost half the island had been impacted in some way. However, amidst the stories of despair and the tragic loss of life emerged equally inspiring stories of resilience and compassion.

We have read reports of the last of the Barristers wines being auctioned, raising more than $10,000, only to be returned by the successful bidders, who donated it back to raise more funds; businesses such as the Ozone Hotel on Kangaroo Island making up sleeping cots in their dining room for evacuated Salvation Army volunteers; and the many, many emotional stories of animal rescue and recovery that have touched all our hearts.

I particularly note the work of the local member of Kangaroo Island, Leon Bignell, who kept us posted about how we could help and what was needed. Leon, alongside his son Conor, were on the ground listening to how we could help. Many of you here would have heard the story about the radios, that he put out the call and his call was answered. He has followed that up with other ways that people needed help. I have to say that I admire his dedication, and he was not alone, because we heard regular updates from the Mayor of Kangaroo Island and the Kangaroo Island mayoral fund was also established. I want to thank Leon for keeping us involved and making sure we understood about the devastation and what the people of Kangaroo Island needed and continue to need.

In my home of Salisbury, the Salisbury CFS, comprising approximately 35 volunteers, was on active duty during the Yorketown, Cudlee Creek and Kersbrook fires, and they sent four volunteers to Kangaroo Island to assist. They joined some 300 other firefighters and volunteers, only to be ably joined by more than 650 Army reservists, who remain helping with recovery efforts.

I would now like to talk about those recovery efforts. As the then minister for communities, I was involved firsthand in the recovery efforts of the Sampson Flat and Pinery fires. The one message I would share with people is that recovery is not a short-term prospect. Rebuilding homes, businesses and community infrastructure is essential, but it is only one piece of a complex pathway for a community to truly rebuild and heal.

People are still in survival mode. They are doing what needs to be done, managing the inevitable paperwork, navigating the relief funding, returning children to school and, in some cases, starting the process of rebuilding their homes and businesses. This is complicated by the fact that the resources needed to clear away debris and rebuild fencing, as well as for animal feed and veterinary supplies, are in high demand and people have to wait.

Once months have passed and the physical rebuild is well underway, that is only when we will see the emotional healing begin. I say to the government: we have had, unfortunately, experience in this area. After both the Sampson Flat and the Pinery bushfires, recovery centres were opened for some time because six months down the track we had new people come to us, reaching out. Many of these people do not have a high interaction with government services. They are very resilient, but sometimes when you reach out to them is when they will open up to you.

We encourage those involved in the recovery to continue to make sure that they are there, that they reach out to people and that they are there for them to talk, for them to know that they have someone who is willing to listen and to support them on this journey of recovery. Recovery involves more than bricks and mortar. Recovery is more than just financial support because along with rebuilding people's livelihoods comes rebuilding their resilience and their confidence.

The Adelaide Hills and Kangaroo Island are both jewels in the South Australian tourism industry crown. The fires hit during the peak season. Along with the South Australian Tourism Commission, the government launched the #BookThemOut campaign, encouraging locals and visitors alike to support these fire-affected regions. The opposition has recognised that this has been a very important campaign. It was important that we got the message out that, although impacted, these regions were still open for business. It was on this focus that our Labor leader made the decision that we would go and have a shadow cabinet meeting in January.

Travelling to Kangaroo Island only a couple of weeks ago, we went and spent time with local business operators. I particularly spent time with local tourism operators, from Emu Bay Lavender Farm, a commercial operation that harvests about 8,000 bunches of lavender each year, to Fleur and Fred Peters, who run the fine art gallery in Kingscote, where they had on display the most beautiful handcrafted jewellery. Probably my favourite was KI Spirits. It is Australia's oldest dedicated gin distillery, which, apart from using KI produce and generating a very, very easy to drink gin or two, supports other KI producers, including the local sea salt, skincare products, relishes and condiments, local figs and olives.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the island because we know there is so much to experience and enjoy. That is why I went back again for the KI Cup. There were many thousands of people at the KI Cup, and I have to say that people made sure they came along in their droves because they wanted to support Kangaroo Island. The weather was absolutely perfect, and while I have to say that my two out of seven races were successful that really was not the point of being there. The point was to show the people of Kangaroo Island that we were backing them in and that we were supporting them.

What we know is that tourism equals jobs. Tourism is a supergrowth industry and, despite the challenges of bushfires and now the headwinds of coronavirus, it remains one of this government’s key levers to stimulate our economy. I have seen in the past week the Labor state government in Queensland put out its plan. The Victorian government first of all had a $2 million plan short term and then announced a $5 million plan.

I am waiting for the next tourism recovery plan. #BookThemOut has been a great sugar hit, and the people impacted by bushfires have more than been supported by this campaign, but we need more. We need leadership in this area because we know that people are cancelling bookings one, two and three years in advance. We know that winter is a time that we need to stimulate people to go to KI and up to the Adelaide Hills. We have proposed in opposition what we could do.

I have called out to the Premier to follow on from SeaLink's subsidy and continue to subsidise trips on the ferry to go to KI for the next six months because we want to say to South Australians, ‘Holiday in your backyard.’ We want to say to South Australians, 'When was the last time you went to KI? Put the kids in the car, drive down to Cape Jervis, take the ferry and enjoy KI,' but if the government does not subsidise this ferry what is the stimulus to make people make this decision? So I call upon the government to subsidise the ferry to KI for the next six months.

I also call upon the government to support cooperative marketing because we need to know that these areas are open for business, not just the Adelaide Hills and KI but the whole of South Australia, because while it was fantastic to have international attention on South Australia they also thought the whole of Australia was on fire. This, combined with the headwinds of coronavirus, means that we have fewer international tourists coming here.

What we need to do is support these businesses that are hurting so badly. We should support them with cooperative marketing and enable them to advertise, but support them to do so. Most importantly, I call upon this government to reverse the cut to tourism—$11 million in the first year and a $12 million cut in the second year. This $23 million cut was the deepest we have had. This $23 million cut was biting, even before bushfires, even before coronavirus, and for the people of KI and Adelaide Hills tourism is incredibly important—important for employment, important for businesses.

So I call upon the Premier as the tourism minister, as the leader of this state, to reverse the cuts to tourism. The bushfires were devastating. We have a long way to go for recovery, but one way to do it is to support the tourism industry and the 39,000 South Australians employed within it.

Ms LUETHEN (King) (17:09): In our 2020 opening of parliament, the Governor of South Australia said, 'We think particularly of those who have lost their lives, including those who came from overseas to help us.' I also extend my heartfelt thanks to all those who have been supporting the rescue, recovery and relief efforts.

So many people, clubs and families have been involved. To all constituents in King, I take this opportunity to thank you for supporting the various bushfire activities and appeals. I have observed so many people volunteering their time to fight fires, to organise fundraising events and to give money. I know that cost of living was a key concern leading up to the 2018 election and cost of living continues to be a key pressure on families living in King, which is why I am so supportive of our Marshall Liberal government's real plan for change.

Since our bushfires, it has been incredible to see so many people giving what they can to help. It is heartwarming, it is generous and I say the biggest thank you. Giving financial donations will help disaster-affected communities recover, help people buy exactly what they need and result in spending locally. Every contribution, no matter how big or small, makes a difference to those most affected by this tragedy and every dollar donated directly to the SA Bushfire Appeal goes to those affected by the fires, with the South Australian government absorbing all administrative costs.

My mother, Maria Hannam, volunteers with the Red Cross and she has been telling me about her recent experiences both in the evacuation centres and during the outreach visits. She has described how the bushfire impacts each family differently. Because of this, what each family needs might be different, so money becomes really useful for them to be able to buy what they need most for their family. For those who have lost their homes, it is much more than that: it is the irreplaceable contents that make the house the family home—photographs of children and grandchildren and other memories of a family's life destroyed.

For our farmers, many have had to not only fight fires on their properties but immediately afterwards shoot and burn their stock. We are doing whatever it takes to support recovery and rebuilding work so that people and their communities can get back on their feet and recover their lives. Local recovery coordinators have been appointed. Mick Cerns, a friend of mine who lives in King and who is a forensic mental health specialist, told me about how he is taking part in the outreach as well and making sure people have every type of support they need.

I have been told stories of some people impacted who were just about due to have a baby, some people who have had their house and everything else burnt down and are battling cancer, some people who just need to get their kids back in school for something normal and have needed help with the uniforms they have lost, and some people who work in corporate roles and have lost all their work clothes. Each person's immediate and long-term goals differ and, therefore, so does the opportunity to support them in the way they need it now. That is one reason why this financial support has been so important.

I am heartened by the number of people who have looked into and taken action to support our local businesses in South Australia. We can all help by spending time and money in the fire-affected areas in South Australia. This directly supports those families, employees and small businesses in these regions, which is why our government has been promoting the #BookThemOut campaign. It was fantastic to see this up on the bridges at the Superloop recently for the whole world to see. It can take just a drive to Yorke Peninsula, a coffee in the Adelaide Hills or a short trip to Kangaroo Island, if people can afford it.

I have already spoken to a few local constituents in King who are off to KI in the next school holidays. I thank them, as this will mean a great deal to our local bushfire-impacted economies and families and businesses on KI. I, too, was on KI recently. So much of the island is untouched and so many of the attractions are new—new wineries, new gin distilleries. The same wonderful parks are untouched and they are supported by services provided by small family businesses. They need us to support them now.

I want to mention and commend the employees from BCF, who I also met on the KI ferry. They had joined together to take donations of tents and camping gear to people on KI and to have a close-up look for themselves at what else they could do and how they could help. What a great gesture from their business. I thank all people and businesses in King and across South Australia for reaching out to those affected by this summer's bushfires. We have a wonderful sense of community in South Australia, especially at times like this. I would also like to commend the many community local groups that have rallied together and volunteered their time to raise money for the bushfires.

Locally, and most recently, I wish to commend the One Tree Hill Soccer Club and the Tea Tree Gully City Soccer Club for planning and kicking off an annual soccer tournament of five games, which began between One Tree Hill Soccer Club and Tea Tree Gully Soccer Club on Saturday morning. Well done to both clubs for their collaboration to raise a huge amount of funds for our amazing CFS. A special callout to Phil Rough, Damien Kuypers, Jake Milka and Matt Else for your planning and leadership of this event. I know you were exhausted on Saturday night, but I am sure you think it was well worth it. Thanks to the hundreds of local community members for coming down to buy a sausage from the Modbury Lions. Thank you to the Modbury Lions for donating your time. Thanks to everyone who bought a raffle ticket and watched some really great games.

Thank you to the Premier for making time in his very busy schedule to attend the event and conduct the coin toss or 'toin coss' as some people have heard me say. It was wonderful to watch the young captains, Sierra and Teagan, represent their teams and make their call with the Premier. Sierra called heads and it was tails, so Tea Tree Gully chose their end.

The number of businesses and individuals who offered prizes, money, goods and services to the day was just amazing. Some of those who donated prizes include Programmed, Gas Works Modbury, Heating and Air Conditioning Specialist, The Grove, the City of Tea Tree Gully, Tea Tree Gully Golf Club, SportsPower Salisbury, me on behalf of the people in the electorate of King, The Crown and Sceptre, The Fox and Firkin, Adelaide Building and Pest Inspections (BPI), the South Australian Amateur Soccer League and Tenafeate Creek Wines, another King local.

All games were extremely competitive and I would like to thank both soccer clubs for coming down with so many supporters to the Tilley Reserve in great numbers to support the players and our local CFS stations. A cheque presentation will be held at both the One Tree Hill and the Tea Tree Gully CFS stations in the coming weeks, so stay tuned to hear the grand total of moneys raised. I cannot wait to see both clubs defend this shield next year in 2021 at One Tree Hill.

In addition, other clubs and businesses with local fundraisers who have let me know of their activities are to be commended, and some of these include United Sikhs of South Australia, Salisbury CFS, the One Tree Hill CFS and Hilltop Fresh Flowers. Thank you to our local CFS members from Salisbury, Tea Tree Gully and One Tree Hill for their sacrifice and service over this bushfire period. The devastation of the fires that swept through parts of Kangaroo Island and the Adelaide Hills is well known and it is important to recognise that this bushfire season has been a very long one.

From the beginning of November, there have also been major fires at Port Lincoln, on Lower Yorke Peninsula and at Keilira in the South-East. Even earlier than that, in September late last year our Country Fire Service personnel began a series of deployments to other states to assist their firefighting efforts, while the first of this season's fire bans in South Australia was issued four months ago on 4 October.

Today, our parliament offers its deepest sympathies to the families and friends who lost their lives in fires, to those who have been injured in all this season's fires and to those who have lost their homes, other property and in some cases their livelihoods. Our thoughts are with all victims of the fire so far this summer. We share their shock and their anguish, and we will listen very closely to what they tell us about their experiences.

We will listen to what went right, what went wrong and what we need to do better now for the next time there is an emergency because there will be a next time. I will strongly advocate for practical steps that we can take that will help us prepare better and manage better our changing climate and our environment.

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (17:20): On behalf of the people of Florey, I want to add my support of the Premier's motion on the South Australian bushfires. In doing so, I acknowledge the tragic loss of life and extend condolences to the families and friends of those who have died in the recent fires. I would also like to extend get well wishes to those injured in the fires and to all who have suffered in the Hills, Kangaroo Island and the South-East at Keilira, especially those who have lost everything, those who have lost their livelihoods and those who are part of communities at the centre of the emergencies of the past months. We are thinking of you as you begin recovery from the trauma you have endured because of the fires.

We are thinking of all who have responded—the thousands who have worked so hard to curb the fury of extreme nature in those long weeks of the fire fronts. I want to acknowledge everyone who played a part, big or small, particularly all those who have been on the front line. Thanks to all our local responders: the volunteers of the Salisbury CFS and SES; the Tea Tree Gully CFS and SES, who are the brigades in my part of the north-eastern suburbs; and all involved in those services throughout the state, as well as all the MFS firefighters, paid members of the SES and CFS, and the heroic airborne firefighters, who are now so much an important part of firefighting.

Thanks, too, to SAPOL and our amazing health, paramedic and ambulance staff for their work. Thanks to all the NGOs and people at the centres that sprang up to assist people in shock and in need of immediate help or just a place to catch their breath. This was another front line. Thanks to those now stepping up: the BlazeAiders, animal carers and farmers. Farmers, some of them grappling with drought, have sent fodder. Thanks also to the Defence Force and members of the wider international responder communities. We have been so grateful for your help and stand ready to help you again as we have in the past.

Thanks as well to all who have led and taken part in fundraising activities. So often, despite immense loss and tragedy, natural disasters, such as these catastrophic fires, see our community come together united, selfless and imbued with solidarity and a shared sense of purpose because, while most of us were nowhere near the fire zone and cannot really imagine the terror of seeing a wall of fire coming towards us, or watch incredulously as a wind change either destroys or saves, we all want to be able to do something to help restore normality to lives and communities.

Members of my community in Florey have approached me, as they did after the Sampson Flat and Pinery fires, and asked what they could do, apart from making donations to one of the many appeals. I must say that there seem to be almost too many different appeals and that maybe it would be best to streamline this aspect, along with models of service delivery for the help available, sometime in the future whenever the reviews are taking place.

One thing that our community area hopes to promote when the time comes is to be part of Trees For Life's seed raising programs, perhaps as community volunteers or even by encouraging programs in schools so children can play their part in the recovery. While the best time for raising the many thousands of seedlings that will be necessary to regenerate our land and native habitat is a way off yet, we can get ready and learn what we need to do to successfully care for seedling vegetation in the months and years ahead.

In the aftermath of disaster, communities which have been devastated will need all the support we can offer them as they recover, rebuild and find in themselves new reserves of resilience. I want to dwell on that word: resilience. When I entered this place more than two decades ago, I ran under the slogan or banner 'Community counts' because individual resilience in everyday life in the face of a crisis or setback relies on the sense of shared endeavour that comes from being part of a community.

The people of the Adelaide Hills, Kangaroo Island and Keilira will need us all to be there as they pick up the threads of their lives and look towards the eventual end of this extraordinary fire season and truly begin recovery. Throughout this state, there are communities who want to support them in that recovery. While we have not suffered the physical damage or interruptions to our lives, we share in our own way the mental impact of the new normal in which we all find ourselves: a climate that is changing in ways that alarm and confuse.

Of course, it is important for us to recognise this fire season has been extraordinary. Nothing about the bushfires that have devastated the state could be described as usual. Much of our nation has suffered because of fires which have started earlier, spread faster, burned longer and wider than ever before, and our thoughts are with those communities, too. As of 13 February, nationally we have lost more than 18.7 million hectares to fire and most tragically of all there have been 34 fatalities. Now, due to extensive and in some places flooding rains there are finally almost no fires burning across the country.

Over a billion animals are estimated to have perished, with some endangered species potentially wiped out as we see others, like the iconic koalas, being pushed to the brink. We have seen over 6,500 buildings destroyed and smoke haze in major cities to levels never before experienced, with Sydney blanketed for weeks on end with dangerous levels of air quality, equivalent to smoking 37 cigarettes a day. Even our Kiwi cousins were affected by our drifting smoke staining glaciers a dirty brown and turning the sky over Auckland a burnt orange while smoke drifted as far as Chile on the far side of the Pacific.

NASA analysis in January suggested over 306 million tonnes of carbon dioxide have been released into the atmosphere, close to 60 per cent of the total carbon dioxide emitted from Australia in 2018. This is a disaster with local impacts, national impacts and global impacts, and of course devastating human impacts for those families who have lost loved ones and property and suffered in other ways. Many, sadly, may never be the same again.

We can never be ready for every possibility but perhaps we can be better prepared and, in striving to reach that point, we can show we are capable of change and adaptation when circumstances demand it. We have lost lives in this fire and we can only hope and pray that the dreadful loss of life experienced in great fires of the past, like the Ash Wednesday fires that devastated South Australia and Victoria in 1983 and, more recently, Victoria's Black Saturday in 2009, will never be repeated.

For statistics like those to remain in the past, we must do more. We must improve emergency planning and response even further and I hope that in the review to come, there will be an honest appraisal and adoption of recommendations, and a clear analysis of what has changed since the recent Pinery and Sampson Flat fires and their reviews. We surely now know this nation cannot continue to doubt the impact of climate change on our land. We must at last have a plan that helps us to reduce our emissions and adapt to the changing weather patterns that will result from this warming climate.

We must also listen to, learn and adapt the wisdom and lessons of traditional Aboriginal practices. We ignore them at our peril. We owe it to those who have lost their lives and to those who have survived to give them all the support they need. There is so much to be done as the miracle of land, flora and fauna rejuvenation begins to take place. Those signs are now evident after recent, much welcome rain.

For now, at the very least, let's buy local as much as we can. For instance, can we use South Australian recycled products to meet the demand in fence posts? Could we source local mints for sale in this place as souvenirs? If we can, let's all travel to the untouched or now safe parts of the state and spend time and dollars there and get behind the #BookThemOut campaign, even if it is not time for us to have a break. I commend the motion to the house.

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (17:27): Late 2019 and the start of this year has been and continues to be a challenging time for many South Australians who are now working hard in recovery mode after the bushfires. The impacts have been felt by individuals, families, communities, livestock, the landscape, and our native flora and fauna across our state. I would like to add my condolences and sympathies to the families and loved ones of those who have lost their lives as a result of these bushfires. My thoughts are with you all at this difficult time. These personal losses that have resulted from these fires are both heartbreaking and substantial. My thoughts are with all of those who have experienced these fires and sustained personal and business losses and personal injury.

The Kangaroo Island and Cudlee Creek fires have been devastating for those communities and have directly impacted and touched so many South Australians. It is my sincere hope that those impacted can draw comfort and support from the efforts to assist made by their communities to help them emerge from what may seem like their darkest hour. I would like to acknowledge that the summer period has not spared other parts of our state from the impacts of fire.

From Yorke Peninsula to the West Coast and the Mid North, from Angle Vale to Angaston and from the Mid North to the Limestone Coast, there have been far too many people impacted. The common theme of all these fires across the state is the way communities have continued to react with kindness by taking action to help others, by going beyond the call of duty and by being generous with their time and their money. In this period, we have seen both the worst nature can throw at us and the best of human nature.

We can all do our bit to help these communities by visiting and spending time in any of the fire-affected communities and their fantastic landscapes. It will help boost their local economies and help their recovery. This summer, my electorate of MacKillop was not spared the impact of fire. There were numerous fires across the electorate that started in both December 2019 and January this year. Coonalpyn, Bunbury, Nangwarry, Keilira, Keith and Robe, just to name a few, are areas that required substantial efforts to bring fires under control.

These fires were responded to by farm firefighting units and CFS volunteers. They were underpinned by support from Country Fire Service, the Department for Environment fire crews and staff from across the region, many of whom had already been deployed since December to firefighting efforts in New South Wales and the Cudlee Creek and Kangaroo Island files. The largest of these fires in MacKillop, which ultimately burnt more than 25,000 hectares, was at Keilira.

The Keilira fire started as a result of a lightning strike on 30 December. This was a fire fanned on that day by high winds and a wind change that turned a small fire front into a massive front that engulfed large areas of country. The difficult firefighting conditions grew the fire from an area of around 150 hectares to 15,000 hectares in a matter of hours. The responders to the Keilira fire included CFS volunteers and staff, farm fire units, DEW staff, the critically important aerial firefighting team, machinery operators who worked on the firebreaks and other emergency and logistical support services, as well as community groups and individuals.

These people all worked together to contain the fire, and they worked in a range of roles to provide coordination and support on that day and the days that followed. I have nothing but admiration for the courage of our firefighters, who I know went beyond the call of duty to work in the face of the fire head to protect assets. Neighbours helped neighbours. As a community, we are thankful that there was no loss of life on that day. The response was substantial, necessary and effective. I thank them all for their efforts.

The firefighting effort was appropriately acknowledged at the January community meeting held in Kingston for the Keilira fire, when it was noted by our regional CFS commander, John Probert, that the combined efforts on that crucial first day of the fire resulted in many properties and, no doubt, lives being saved. This included the rescue of three people who were trapped by the fire on Pigeon Flat Road. Our whole community is grateful for these efforts. This fire ultimately impacted more than 20 properties over a 25,000-hectare area, causing damage and loss of valuable fodder, fences, livestock, native wildlife and vegetation, farming infrastructure, outbuildings, several uninhabited houses and, sadly, the Bin Bin homestead.

I thank the community and PIRSA, who assisted in addressing the terrible task of euthanising injured animals. This is an agonising and difficult task for anyone, and I thank everyone for their efforts in supporting those impacted. This is the second largest fire in the last three years and the third in seven years to impact the community, and their attitude to rebuilding and getting back on their feet is a testament to their strength and resilience.

As I have said before in this place, one of the key issues highlighted by the Keilira fire is the need for better mobile coverage. Keilira has long been identified as a mobile blackspot area. I will continue to advocate to address this issue, to support both the business operations and the safety of this and other rural communities across my electorate. We are now in recovery mode from these fires, a time when people and businesses are seeking to get on with the task of fencing, rebuilding and business planning and to get on with their daily lives again.

The three levels of government and their agencies are stepping up to the challenge before us. Funding support, including rebates and concessions for impacted people, delivered by our state and federal governments has been appreciated and welcomed on the ground by impacted individuals. I would like to extend my thanks to the federal member for Barker, Tony Pasin, for his advocacy during this period and to our state Minister for Human Services, Michelle Lensink MLC, for her response to the call for support for fire impacted areas across the state.

In our fire, we lost only one house that was inhabited at the time. It was a family home. I had a phone call from the minister one or two days after the fire to make sure that everything was alright and that everything was rolling out. I was not sure where the family who had lost their home on Bin Bin Station was. I was given contact numbers by the minister so that the family who had lost their house could call the minister's department to make sure that they had everything covered. It was appreciated: they did appreciate and acknowledge that the minister was there to back them up in their hour of most need.

I know that they are rebuilding, I know that they have a house to rebuild and I know that right now they are living in a vacant house on a neighbouring farm where another family used to live. There is nothing worse than when individuals lose everything, all their worldly possessions, their business is on its knees and they do not have even a bed or a house or home to stay in. No doubt, this was seen, observed and felt by many other individuals and families.

Houses were lost in other fires, and I know that it is important to respond swiftly and quickly to resolve issues and get people back on their feet in some shape or fashion so that they can move forward immediately after the event and in the following weeks and months. I am grateful to the Kingston District Council for taking a leading role in the bushfire recovery coordination for the Keilira fire. I know that this effort comes on top of a busy work program for this relatively small regional council, so I thank them, their staff and Mayor Rasheed for the leadership they have shown at this time.

I would also like to acknowledge the support of the City of Charles Sturt, which helped the Kingston District Council with clearing the affected trees along the roads and in the reserves in the days that followed the fire. I know that this support was gratefully accepted and appreciated. The area had been completely burnt out by fire. The trees on the verges that hang over the road had all been burnt, and no-one really knew the state of those trees and whether they were a danger to passing traffic.

The expertise came from the City of Charles Sturt, and they went along with spray paint and more heavy gear, such as chainsaws, and dropped the trees down so that anyone passing through the area would not be affected by falling trees and the roads would stay clear. It was a time-consuming job; I know that they spent more than a week marking all those roads. Having that expertise on board was very much appreciated by the council.

A coordinated effort between a range of agencies is now being sustained to ensure that affected people are well supported. Industry organisations and local businesses are also providing support to ensure that advice on livestock health and containment and other advice are on hand to minimise damage to the fragile fire-affected landscape. There is of course also the generous ongoing support of the local and regional community, be it through fundraising, volunteering, time spent cooking for BlazeAid or donating fodder. It is all helping the recovery effort.

A great day was 11 February, when all our agencies held a successful drop-in session at Keilira for the affected landowners. This session provided an opportunity for landowners to come along and ask questions and ensure they were across the funding and concessions on offer. It was well attended and offered information and support to affected landowners.

One of the outcomes was that the Drainage Board was there as part of the recovery because there are a lot of drains through that area and the Drainage Board owns the fences. The fences can be either internal fences or boundary fences, and they are also part of the solution of re-fencing Keilira. With the drains that go through these areas, the fences need to be rebuilt. It is good to see all these agencies coming on board and making sure that landowners know what is available to them, which fences need to be erected, who is paying for what, who is clearing away the old fences and who is to do the work. The more information that comes forward, the faster people move ahead on this.

People from DEW were also there to talk about how much native vegetation can be cleared away from fence lines and what seems to be fair and what is not. All I can say is that the more information that was fed to the landowners of Keilira, the more comfortable they felt about moving ahead and doing the right thing.

Most drains down our way are fenced on both sides of the drain, and one of the ideas that came forward for these drains was to have only one fence on one side of the drain. This is only for when there is an internal drain, not a drain on a boundary fence. The fence on the other side can be left out completely so that the stock can access the side of the drain. This also manages the vegetation around the drain so that it is actually grazed.

A lot of these drainage areas are fenced off and they cannot be grazed as well, so they actually add to the fuel load. One idea is to only have one fence where stock can graze and maybe even to cross to the other side to graze both sides with a ford type of thing or a couple of culverts. Another idea was to build a slope on the drains so that if stock do get into the drain and the water, they can get out, because these drains are very steep but only two metres deep.

Other support delivered included a successful soils management workshop held in early February, which was run to provide advice and support to help landowners with their recovery efforts. There are also important connections that regional communities have. The weekly summer catch-up at the Keilira Tennis Club has become an important time for many affected landowners to get together over a beer or a chop and debrief, socialise and support each other. BlazeAid is doing great work across the state, and their work at Keilira is no exception. I had the pleasure of spending a day with BlazeAid volunteers earlier this month on working to replace a boundary fence on one of the impacted properties.

I would also like to take time to highlight a significant fundraising effort initiated through the Naracoorte community. A local business, MiniJumbuk, in coordination with the Lions and local schools, is again running its Dollars 4 Doonas campaign. For every $50 raised, a family who has lost their home in the South Australian bushfires will receive a quality wool bedding package. Our local migrant community has helped kickstart this fundraising effort with a huge $15,000 donation to this program. It is wonderful to see our community come together to help those in need.

What is really interesting about Dollars 4 Doonas is that the community has to come up with $50 to help MiniJumbuk give a family a $500 bedding package. There are two points about that: (1) some people have never experienced the quality of what MiniJumbuk have to offer, which is high-quality bedding; and (2) this comes along two, three or four months down the track when everyone thinks they have been forgotten and suddenly they get this beautiful bedding package. They can receive more than one per household. The family gets these packages. It really does go a long way. Everyone sees the early initiatives of all the fundraising and support, but weeks and months down the track, when you still have not got a house to live in and you might be living in some other accommodation, when these sorts of packages come along later it really is heartfelt and appreciated.

When it rolled out through Victoria, MiniJumbuk had people come back to Naracoorte for months and years to say, 'Thank you very much for that donation,' which they received when they were burnt out. They then sometimes bought some things and paid their dues to say, 'Thank you very much for supporting us in our hour of need all those months after.'

I belong to a business that has been burnt out three times, one of those times being in the Woolumbool-Keilira area. I make the really strong point that they lost significant stock. Right across the state, PIRSA has gone along to do that tedious, arduous and quite horrific job of euthanasing livestock that have been burnt. However, it was known through our employee base and those who suffered this that it actually takes months to recover from the loss of your livestock. I am talking about significant numbers of stock, and it is probably due time. Our manager said that he still felt the loss of his stock that he lost 12 months ago, and he had lost two or three thousand sheep. They were some of his best breeding stock. They were stud sheep. I know it takes considerable time.

I say out loud in this parliament and out there in the local community that, just because we might be one or two months down the track, it does not mean that we are not still needed to support, encourage and make sure that we are moving on. I also want to note that the Keilira fire is considered the forgotten fire because it has not been in the media and maybe has not had the attention of the other fires, like Kangaroo Island and the Adelaide Hills.

There are a couple of reasons I think this has happened. One is that we did not lose the number of family homes that both those fires did. It also did not affect the number of individuals. I think we only had about 20 to 25 individual families and businesses affected at Keilira, but we know there were hundreds of family homes that were lost and businesses that were affected by the Kangaroo Island and the Adelaide Hills fires.

That is appreciated, but this is what I say to everyone out there: it is wonderful to have the community support, it is wonderful to see the donations, it is wonderful to see tourists getting out there to see what Kangaroo Island and the Adelaide Hills have to offer, but there is nothing better than them getting back on their feet, back into business and back living like they were before the fires. The faster they can do that, the faster we all recover as a state, as a community and as individuals and families as we move forward.

One of the things that I keep telling my Keilira people is that, although they feel that they may be missing out, I am going to make sure that they are first on their feet, first back into action, and that I get their fences up and the infrastructure back on. The winter rains will come, we will be growing grass again and these businesses will return to what they do best, and that is agricultural businesses around Keilira.

I know the recovery efforts in Keilira and in the other areas of the state will take the community some time. It is my sincere wish that these people take advantage of the assistance on offer and look after themselves and their neighbours as they get back on their feet. I commend the motion.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (17:45): I would just like to make a small contribution to this debate in support of the motion. I will not be speaking for long, as I do not want to repeat what other honourable members have already said. It has been covered quite extensively in some other speeches. In particular, I would like to acknowledge the contribution made by the member for Mawson in this parliament in terms of his firsthand knowledge of the fires on Kangaroo Island and also what other members have said in terms of fires in their own local electorates.

One thing I would say in supporting this motion is that in paragraph (a) my personal preference would be to replace the word 'regret' with 'sadness'. I think the word 'regret' does not actually express the right emotion we are trying to convey in this matter. That is a minor issue, but I would prefer to use the word 'sadness' than the word 'regret'.

While this motion deals with South Australia, I would also like to acknowledge the loss experienced by people in other states in other fires. Without trying to prioritise one or give one fire more importance than another, it would be fair to say that some of the fires experienced in New South Wales have had a greater impact than in our state. Irrespective of whether the fire is large or small—and I think this is the point the member for MacKillop was trying to make—for every person who is affected by the fire, it has an impact on them and it is very deeply felt.

In some ways, when we stand here and offer our condolences and sympathy to those people who have lost property, possession and also life, sometimes words are inadequate to fully convey the crisis in this matter. It is not only the loss of life and loss of property but, for many who have survived it, it is the loss of memories. When you lose all your personal possessions, it is not just those material things but all those memories. When you reflect upon it, we are but our memories in most cases. Our memories make us who we are today. Some people have lost photographs and other things that actually bring back those memories, so it will be very hard for those people to recover from these fires. Sometimes some people just do not recover.

I also add my praise for the firefighters and other emergency service workers not only across the state but from interstate. There are people from interstate who came and fought fires here. Equally, there were firefighters and other volunteers and emergency service workers who went interstate. I am aware, for example, that a number of firefighters and emergency service workers in my electorate travelled to both Kangaroo Island and New South Wales. Some are doing a couple of tours of those fronts to help out there.

I would also like to acknowledge the contribution made by the Local Government Association in coordinating the Local Government Functional Support Group. This group of individuals within the Local Government Association helped to coordinate the local government response across the state, across the fires, not only helping to organise equipment such as graders, bulldozers and other equipment but also helping to organise relevant staff to assist on the ground as required. I know the Local Government Association and local government across the state made a very big effort and contributed to fighting these fires and supporting their local communities.

One of the things I heard on the ground when I visited not only Kangaroo Island but other areas of the state is that one of the biggest issues apart from physical injury is the mental health and wellbeing of people. Certainly, I heard a number of times that the mental health and wellbeing of people will be an issue that those communities and individuals will have to tackle for some time. It is important that we as a community, and particularly the government, ensure that there are resources on the ground to support those communities in their recovery.

I would also like to acknowledge the generosity of the community at large not only in terms of their donations to various funds and in terms of goods but also their generosity in supporting these communities. In some way, the #BookThemOut campaign is a sign of support for those communities affected by the fires in the sense that people are putting their dollars where they are needed in those communities to help rebuild those economies.

While we may think people's personal circumstances in terms of their physical wellbeing and mental wellbeing are most important, if you have lost a business and there is no income, it would have a major effect on your mental wellbeing and that of your family, not only directly but indirectly. There is obviously a huge impact on people who lost their farms or lost their vineyards, but all those businesses in those localities who rely on those businesses and people in a secondary way are also affected by these fires. With those few comments, I support the motion and recommend it to other members.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. S.K. Knoll.

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