COX:
The Prime Minister has joined me here at our OB site in St Helens. Prime Minister good to see you, welcome.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you it's good to be here, sorry about the circumstances. It's quite an idyllic spot in a normal situation, but certainly not at the present time and it's been quite an experience to meet the people. I have talked at length to a number of the people who have lost their homes, they are obviously very upset, but they are resilient and they are hopeful and they are very appreciative of the community response and of course we are all in awe of the job that the men and women of the volunteer fire services and all of the professionals do. And I have just been to the Community Centre and everybody is chipping in. A lot of volunteers, the Red Cross, Centrelink, the State Government agencies; this is Australia at its best, people all get together, they all work, differences dissolve and people are just keen to help their fellow Australians. And the reason that I have come here today and also why I went to Victoria was to tell the communities affected that the rest of the country is thinking of them and is aware of what has happened and wants to help and also to express my unbounded admiration for the people who fight the fires and regrettably we haven't seen the end of it, I don't think.
COX:
Not by a long shot.
PRIME MINISTER:
This wind is awful and with the temperature dropping, it's not a good sign.
COX:
Alright, we are looking at a different situation tomorrow with the wind swinging around to the north west, but we have already lost 18 houses here at Scamander and I understand that you have seen as much of it as it is safe to see...
PRIME MINISTER:
I have, I have seen...
COX:
Can you describe for us what you've witnessed?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the devastation was perhaps greater than I expected. You don't normally associate a seaside resort with the devastation of bushfires. I know bushfires have affected this area in the past, not as severely as this. It put me in mind of the aftermath of the bad Canberra fire a few years ago. Different situation, but that came very suddenly, did involve the loss of a lot of homes.
COX:
The nature of that destruction there is so random as well and what we have learned.....
PRIME MINISTER:
That is always one of the bizarre things about fires though, it will wipe out a house and the place next door will be completely untouched; it's quite amazing really.
COX:
What we have learnt is that for those people that have lost everything; I was talking just a couple of minutes ago here in the caf‚ courtyard to a couple that have lost everything, but are very philosophical about it. They got their pets out, they got themselves out and are completely and fully insured. Another couple who have a young girl, I have spoken to on the radio a couple of times were not insured. They lost everything and...
PRIME MINISTER:
I had a similar experience with people I spoke to.
COX:
I guess the question for me to ask you in front of all these good people here is what can be extended to them, short term and long term, to help them rebuild their lives?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there is quite a bit of short term assistance. The Centrelink people are there and the State Government people are there, under the Disaster Relief Arrangements people can be given some short term assistance and this afternoon I have announced some extensions of that Disaster Relief Arrangement, not specifically to this area, but more generally; and as to the longer term situation of people who are uninsured, I will have to talk with the Tasmanian Government about that. I am conscious of the problem and I am also conscious that some people insure and some people don't and we have to maintain a situation where people are encouraged to insure. But I am also very sympathetic to people who lost everything. Let me simply say at the moment I will just take that on board and I will talk to the Tasmanian Government about it.
COX:
Okay, they're extraordinary stories you are telling. You went to the community hall here before, the Memorial Hall. I can vouch for the fact that in the very early hours of Monday morning when we arrived here, it was empty except for some bedding and a couple of tables where there were sandwiches and what have you. That...as I said on air earlier, it looks as though a clothing store has exploded in there. There is so much clothing, so much bedding, so much food...
PRIME MINISTER:
Amazing. One of the ladies said when she arrived there was just a small amount and then it all just came, so much so that last night they said no more clothing, just food and cash. And that's an earnest; it's an illustration of the generosity of the community. And one of the ladies I spoke to who'd lost her home and who was obviously still very, very upset, which you can understand, she was just so appreciative of the warmth and generosity of the people, and spontaneity of strangers simply because she needed something. And she was very touched by that and it was very clear to me that through all the grief and upset she feels she was greatly sustained and encouraged by the fact that total strangers would feel so generous towards her and that is Australia at its best.
COX:
I am talking to the Prime Minister on ABC local radio. I am pretty sure I heard you express your personal concern earlier in the week about fires as devastating as these, obviously not just in Tasmania, the enormous fire in Victoria as well, occurring so early in the season, so early in summer.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that, this is something that the fire-fighters have said to me today in both places, that it's what, the first half of December. I mean not always, but normally these sorts of things are January occurrences and they're starting so early. And the great worry is that if we don't have a significant weather break, and there's no real sign of that, you could have a continuation of these conditions for several months. And that is a worry that was expressed to me in Victoria earlier today and the country has to understand, the entire country has to understand, what a big threat this incredibly dry summer is because what is aiding and abetting the spread obviously is the tinderbox dry character of the undergrowth. Everything is so brown, everything is so brittle and everything is so easily combustible and that is a tremendous worry.
COX:
Do you think, just in closing, that we are going to need as an Australian community to start to reconsider our level of fire preparedness, perhaps the manner in which we prepare...look at what the CSIRO says about fire seasons trending to be earlier and...
PRIME MINISTER:
I think we have to look always in the aftermath of these things, we have to look again as to whether fire trails in national parks are sufficiently accessible. This is a comment that was made to me not here in Tasmania but in Victoria by one of the local farmers. He said when the fire hit there; they couldn't get in to the national park. The fire tracks had, in effect, been locked up and he said that's not right. Now I don't claim to be an expert on these things but whenever you have fires, you've always got to look again at those sorts of practices and it has to be possible to have good fire defence practices and also have national parks. I mean the two aren't incompatible and it's just a question of striking a commonsense balance between preserving the advantages of national parks while making certain that if a fire does threaten a national park, you can pretty quickly get into the trails and you can pretty quickly...and apparently according to some of the people I spoke to, that was a concern they had. There is a lot of praise for the work of, well of generally, of the fire-fighters, tremendous praise for the effectiveness of the helicopters in different parts of the country. They really do make an enormous difference.
COX:
Okay, Prime Minister, I know you have a meeting to get to and as always I appreciate your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks very much.
[ends]