Mr TED O'BRIEN (Fairfax) (19:29): The Sunshine Coast area of Peregian, which straddles my electorate of Fairfax as well as the electorate of my colleague Llew O'Brien of Wide Bay, was the site of one of the first fires in this extraordinarily traumatic fire season that has just kept getting worse and that possibly still has, forebodingly, weeks or, who knows, maybe months to run. The first of several fires in the Peregian Springs and Peregian Beach area was in September, well ahead of summer and just ahead of the formal start of the fire season—insofar as we can still talk about the fire season in defined parameter ways. Very thankfully, no-one lost their life in any of the Sunshine Coast incidents. While only one home was lost—the home of 89-year-old Pamela Murphy—we can now recognise that we got off relatively lightly, at least relative to many other parts of the country even though at the time the fires threatened much more drastic outcomes. I visited the burnt home of Mrs Murphy, together with the Governor-General, in September and have subsequently met with a number of locals who have been impacted by these fire events. It is evident from our conversations that some are still suffering from shock and ongoing trauma, even several months later, as they get back on their feet and they try to rebuild their lives. For anyone who needs help to move on, I would encourage them to access the free mental health support that is available. The Morrison government has provided access to 10 free counselling sessions either via peoples' GP, without need for a diagnosis or a mental health plan, or by contacting any registered psychiatrist or psychologist. As is the case for scores, if not hundreds, of communities right across the country ever since, we are and we will forever be thankful on the Sunshine Coast for the extraordinary commitment, skill and bravery of the volunteers as well as the professional firefighters and all the other emergency responders, police and medical personnel included, for averting the vastly more negative outcomes that were so closely possible. I'd like to make special mention to groups like the Salvation Army, who provided meals and support to those on the front line, and the wonderful volunteers at Coolum Beach Surf Life Saving Club, who promptly set up an emergency response centre for those who were unable to return to their homes or who were forced to flee the advancing fire. Since the fires really shifted gear, with the massive fires that developed in New South Wales from late October, in South Australia from November, in Victoria's Gippsland from December and now virtually to Canberra's doorstep via Namadgi, the loss of life, property, flora and fauna and livestock has been truly devastating. The numbers continue to change rapidly, but we are currently talking 33 lives lost, including six brave firefighters, almost 3,000 homes destroyed and around 19 million hectares burnt. To give one measure of the sheer scale of the event that we are enduring, that is an area greater than the land mass of Greece. Injuries and damage to homes continue to multiply, and they are certainly in multiples greater than the numbers I've just provided. Livestock losses are currently estimated at close to 100,000, and the loss of wildlife is unimaginable. Just to fathom what some of the experts have predicted, well over one billion creatures have died in these fires. To say that this has been and still is a traumatic experience for the nation is obviously an understatement. The impacts are obviously vast and varied and, sadly, will be enduring. As I mentioned before, the impact on the mental health of the families of victims, of those who lost property and of those who fought and still fight these fires; the cost to the mental health of those whose livelihoods have been threatened or much diminished by fire; and the mental health of people simply traumatised by threats, sometimes lasting for days, weeks and even months, often repetitively, is inestimable. You cannot estimate this impact. At this point the ultimate dollar cost in replacement, lost income, lost opportunity, lost momentum will be measured in many billions, and there will be a long tail to the economic cost for individuals and businesses. Years will pass before we can properly measure it. As we move forward from this extraordinary season, which still has weeks—and God help us if it's months—to run, we will need a collective will to handle the recovery and to determine and take the practical, sensible measures to mitigate a repeat of this catastrophe, because there will of course still be more fires in Australia. History alone tells us that. I commend the Prime Minister's leadership not just in relation to the scale, nature and timing of the response he led on behalf of the Commonwealth but also in terms of the fact that he is already suggesting some ways in which we can be better prepared next time, including a more proactive role to be carved out by the Commonwealth. A key to that is the discussion he has already started around cooperatively establishing new parameters for relationships with the states and of the need to focus on sensible, practical measures to mitigate the fires next time. A great deal of information will be coming forward in the next few months from many sources that will no doubt help on those issues that, properly assessed and acted on, could help us come through the next fire disaster with, subject to luck as well, lower mortality and less damage overall. The Prime Minister has made it clear that there will be a multidisciplinary forensic examination of what has happened, in order for ongoing development of the response and towards development of sensible, practical policy for the future. As a government, we will also be able to draw on various recent as well as already established inquiries and test all the conclusions against what we now learn from the current season and the wider body of work that will be undertaken on it. A House committee that I chair, the Standing Committee of the Environment and Energy, is already examining one important aspect of this preparation: the efficacy of past and current vegetation and land management policy, practice and legislation and their effect on the intensity and frequency of bushfires and subsequent risk to property, life and the environment. The issue was referred to the committee in those terms on 5 December by the Minister for Water Resources, Drought, Rural Finance, Natural Disaster and Emergency Management, the Hon. David Littleproud. At that time our hope was that we had already been through the worst of the bushfire season, but, in light of the voracity of these fires and in recognition of the fact that it is ongoing, the committee resolved last month, only a few weeks ago, to extend the deadline of submissions for that inquiry to 31 March. This is so we will not be calling on individuals or agencies still working on the frontline nor diverting resources from more urgent activity. This is one of the more important sets of issues that need to be properly examined by the nation. We need to understand there's no doubt that as the climate gets hotter, longer and drier the environment for bushfires worsens. But we need to understand that improving the way we manage our landscape is key, public and private. We need to come up with commonsense, practical actions to reduce the hazards. We need to take safe, controlled action. I recently met with an Indigenous leader on the Sunshine Coast. His name was Tais Muckan. He is part of the Kabi Kabi tribe. He spoke to me about how our Indigenous peoples have done cycle burns. There is so much more we can learn, not just from our fireys, from those who have been on frontline this season, but also from our first peoples. I can remember learning as a child about the fire triangle and the idea that you need to have fuel, you need to have ignition and you need to have the right weather in order to divert a fire, or for a fire to be created. Indeed, as we look at this bushfire season we need to look at all those factors. We need to look at factors relating to the weather. We need to look at factors in that relating to the climate. We need to look at fuel. We need to look at the issues of ignition, including the issues of arson. I will lastly say that, as chair of the House committee, we would welcome submissions, especially from those people who have hands-on experience. It is important that we hear from them and from those who have been impacted. I close by, again, thanking everybody who has done their bit, as we come together as a nation to work collectively to try to mitigate this catastrophe from happening again.