Dr CHALMERS (Rankin) (19:00): Thanks very much for the opportunity to comment on the fires, to speak on behalf of my community and to convey our admiration and appreciation for all of the Australians who have been impacted during this horrific fire season, and also our admiration and appreciation for all of the fireys and first responders and other service providers who have done so much to try and make sure that people and property and livelihoods are protected. There have been so many outstanding contributions to this debate today, and I think in particular of the member for Macquarie. The member for Macquarie talked about having lost a home herself in an earlier fire season. The member for Macquarie talked about the relentlessness of this fire season, and I think that does perfectly capture what so many communities in our country have been dealing with. How else to explain a fire season which came much earlier than what we have been accustomed to or that, months after those first fires, all the way back in September or August last year, there are fires still raging? Fires have consumed huge swathes of Australia, whether it be in the Adelaide Hills, where my mother-in-law lives, whether it be East Gippsland, whether it be the South Coast of New South Wales or, as the member for Capricornia just reminded us, whether it be the fires that affected Central Queensland at the very beginning of this fire season. Indeed, they came close to my place around the Scenic Rim in the south-east corner of Queensland as well. Having spent time with some of the fireys who are operating out of the Boonah control centre servicing South-East Queensland around those Mount Barney fires and some of the other ones, it really is a remarkable thing to consider just how many communities have been impacted by this fire season. I think the member for Macquarie's words about the relentless nature of this fire season have captured it just so well. How else to describe the horrifying waves of wind and heat and embers and choking smoke? Now this motion today, as I said at the outset, is an opportunity to convey that admiration and appreciation that I know everybody in this parliament wants to convey to communities and to first responders and fireys. And I do want to acknowledge the Prime Minister picking up the suggestion made by the opposition leader that we do dedicate the first day of parliament to recognising those contributions, paying tribute to them, but also, of course, acknowledging that we have lost 33 human souls, thousands of properties and more than a billion animals—and that's before we get to some of the other impacts on mental health and the like. This motion is also an opportunity to hear so many of the stories from around Australia, and I think members on both sides have done a terrific job conveying those stories, telling those stories of real people impacted by this horrific fire season. The motion itself talks about learning the lessons of this devastating summer of fire—and there are many lessons. Yes, there are lessons about hazard reduction. Yes, there are lessons about what we can learn from tens of thousands of years of Aboriginal management of the land. Yes, we can learn about the resilience of our telecommunications network, about the proper resourcing of our national broadcaster being literally a matter, in some cases, of life and death, and about how even in the hyperpartisan nature of our politics in this environment here in Canberra there is the capacity to work across party lines from time to time. We have heard from the member for Eden-Monaro and other members about that, and I wanted to acknowledge that. We've also learnt about how, in times like these, real leaders step forward, not back. I want to acknowledge the leadership of the member for Grayndler, of course, but also—looking up earlier in the gallery and seeing Shane Fitzsimmons—the extraordinary capacity for leadership that so many of our people in our fire services and elsewhere in our community have exhibited at times like these. And, yes, of course, there are lessons to be learnt about the impacts of climate change as well. I think when big disasters hit, big events like this, whether it be wars, depressions, financial crises or natural disasters like the big fires we're seeing now, you learn something more profound about this country. You learn something deeper. When this country is tested, as it has been this summer, you learn something more fundamental. This summer I think we've learnt something about the most important part, I'd argue, about our national character—that is what I think of as a kind of a reflexive Australian instinct for selflessness. In Australia, we have an instinct for selflessness which explains, in many ways, the success of our country. We see it in the stories that we've heard of the fireys, in particular, who put a higher premium on the safety and security of others than they put on their own safety and security, doing shift after shift after shift under the most extraordinary pressure that most of us could not even imagine. I want to say, as difficult as it is—and the member for Blaxland did this earlier; the Prime Minister did this earlier—whose heart doesn't hurt at the thought of those kids, those little kids in particular, growing up without their dads? Who doesn't wonder what that phone call to wives and partners was like? Who doesn't wonder how much those little kids in particular understand about what happened to their dad? And if they don't understand it now, at what point will they understand? And who will tell them of their dad and what he was doing when they lost him? These are things that make all of our hearts hurt. We learnt in this disaster that Australians are capable of the most remarkable compassion and empathy. What makes that even more incredible, I think, is that we've shown, with the waves of donations and all of the things that people are prepared to do, that people are capable of this empathy and compassion even for people that they have never met and probably never will meet, in places they've probably never gone to and may never go to in their lives. That's an amazing thing. Empathy and compassion is amazing in all of its forms. It is easier to be compassionate towards somebody you know, somebody you come across or somebody you have an experience with, but Australians have reached into their pockets for people they'll never meet in places they may never go to, and that is an amazing thing. Many of us will never know what it's like to stand in the backyard and see the pace of a fire coming up a ridge towards your property, but I think most people can imagine what it's like to need a hand or to feel helpless or to not know where to begin. That empathy and that capacity to walk a mile in somebody else's shoes has defined and described what has happened since the fires first hit. I want to acknowledge my own community. My community doesn't have a lot of spare cash rolling around in it—that's the truth of it. We've got our own share of challenges. We haven't had any of the fires within the boundaries of my electorate, but it's been extraordinary—a bit like the member for Watson said about his community, as they're very similar communities in Sydney, and in my case in Logan City in the southern suburbs of Brisbane—to watch people who don't have a lot reach into their pockets for somebody else. That's amazing. We had a fundraiser at our craft beer brewery and everybody came and bought a beer for a firey. Our local gyms got together and did Logan's Biggest Bootcamp. People made donations and sent them to the RFSs. Our Buddhist temples in Rochedale South, Marsden and Waterford held fundraisers. They raised thousands and thousands of dollars. One temple raised $35,000 and sent it to the RFS. So many of our community groups have been helping out. Another community group paid for all the water out of the command centre at Boonah that I mentioned before. People were emailing me about holding movie nights. They were asking where they could send the money they raised at barbecues in their backyards. Kids were out the front of our shopping centres selling lemonade and cakes they had made, and donating that money to the Red Cross and the Salvos. It really was an incredible thing. My community is remarkable but this was common in lots of communities around Australia. There were other things too. One of the things that stuck in my mind was the thoughtful people who worked out that, even if people's houses had burned to the ground, they would like to return to their property. So they started arranging caravans for those people so that they could park on their property and have some kind of connection. I thought that was really amazing as well. The member for Gippsland said something that stuck with me when he was making his characteristically kind contribution a bit earlier today. He said, 'Don't forget about our community when the cameras are gone.' I think that's a really important thing that we need to remember. The fires are still raging now but, because they've been going for so long, it is tempting to think that they are under control. They are not. The member for Macquarie, in her contribution, said she hopes the spirit of cooperation will continue. If you think about that sentiment, it is really important that we take this instinct for selflessness and try and apply it to the other areas in our national life—our other big challenges that we need to meet together. There is nothing more Australian than looking out for each other and looking after each other. It is true in wars. It is true in depressions, financial crises and natural disasters. If there is only one good thing to come out of what the Prime Minister described as 'the black summer', it is that it has been a summer of selflessness as well.