PRIME MINISTER:
Well ladies and gentlemen, can I just say that I have come here today just to do two things; firstly to say to all of the people whose livelihoods and properties and future have been under threat, and continue under threat, that the rest of the nation is feeling for you at this very difficult time. You are not alone. And also to express my personal admiration to the men and women of the Country Fire Authority and also the men and women of other rural fire services and volunteer organisations; the Victoria Police, the local ambulance and everybody else who comes together at a time like this in such a spontaneous way.
I have been in touch with Mr Bracks and the Commonwealth will make any further assistance that is reasonably required by Victoria available. I am very proud of the work that the Army is doing in providing bulldozers and diesel capacity for the CFA. This is one of these occasions when people just come together and work until they drop.
It's going to be a long, hot summer, to use an old clich‚. These fires have started very early, and that has been confirmed at the briefing that I have been given. And I hope to go a little along the track and see a bit more of it and then after visiting here, I am going on to Tasmania, to the east coast of Tasmania to visit some of the communities that have been very badly affected.
But I am just in awe of what the men and women of the CFA have done. It's been going on for a long time and predictions are that it will go along for a while yet. And the remarkable thing is that the whole episode has been free of serious injury or loss of life and it is amazing how few properties have been damaged and lost. And that is a tribute to the, I suppose, the bush (inaudible) of the average Australian, but also an enormous tribute to the men and women of the Country Fire Authority. Sophie Mirabella, your local member, has kept my office regularly informed over the past few weeks of what has happened, so I have been very much abreast of it and I just want to say to the local community there are 20 million Australians who are thinking of you and we hope you get through it okay.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, you had to drive through a lot of smoke to get here...
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah.
JOURNALIST:
You couldn't land where you wanted to...
PRIME MINISTER:
No.
JOURNALIST:
What were your impressions of the scale of this?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it's difficult, and I mean what is concerning about this, it started very early and because everything is so dry and there's so little moisture that the potential for it to go on and to spread is very real. Now I am in the hands of experts and I will be going up closer to have a look at it and I listened to what they say and just again, they're fantastic people and we're very lucky to have them. Their blood is more than worth bottling.
JOURNALIST:
Eric Abetz has said that Tasmania's bushfire crisis might not have been so severe had state forests been logged. Do you agree with that and is that something Victoria needs to consider?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look, I'll talk to Tasmania when I get to Tasmania.
JOURNALIST:
What do you (inaudible) sense of the mood here today?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look the mood is one of incredible optimism and everybody is working together. I mean you walk in, and you've got the local police, you've got the local citizenry, you've got somebody who came up to me and said his vineyard was saved by the efforts of everybody, you've got all the volunteers. I mean this is Australia at its very best and it really makes you feel very humble to be part of it. Thank you.
[ends]