GRIMSHAW:
Prime Minister, thanks for being with us.
PRIME MINISTER:
Tracy.
GRIMSHAW:
I know you're probably running out of words to describe what you've seen, but what has made the biggest impact on you?
PRIME MINISTER:
The extent of the devastation in an ordinary suburban area of Australia, and that is what this is. I mean you could visualise this in any part of a suburb of a city in Australia and it's the sheer devastation in such a natural, ordinary Australian environment that has had the biggest impact on me. And that really does mark this out as the most devastating bushfire for its impact on people's own homes and therefore people's own lives.
GRIMSHAW:
How long is it going to take Canberra to recover from this?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh Canberra will recover. The Australian spirit is alive and well in Canberra, as it is all over our country. They will get a lot of help, those that have been left homeless - not only from governments, but also from community organisations and their fellow Australians. But it's not something that will ever disappear I believe from the psyche of Canberra. It's something I guess most people never thought would happen. It has happened. People have responded very well, extremely well, and they'll get out of it. They've got a lot of spirit in this city.
GRIMSHAW:
Do you know what it's going to cost the Federal Government to help?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I don't. We have arrangements whereby we progressively pick up the first 50 per cent and then 75 per cent of the disaster relief assistance with the States and Territories. There might be things over and above that. We've lost tragically that wonderful scientific facility at Stromlo. I mean that is heartbreaking for the nation to have lost some of the most precious telescopes and scientific equipment that this country possesses. Those things can be replaced in a formal sense but they can't in a particular sense ever be replaced.
GRIMSHAW:
Prime Minister, you have spent a lot of today defending the emergency response to these fires but Wilson Tuckey has this afternoon suggested there should be an inquiry into bushfire fighting strategy and into forest management and fuel reduction management in Canberra. What do you think about his comments?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't think there is anything inconsistent with that. I mean I think the firefighters did a magnificent job and I will say that to anybody. Most of them are volunteers. It's very risky work. The police and everybody tried their damnedest to help. I think that goes without saying. But that doesn't mean that when everything settles down, you don't have a look at what happened and you don't ask questions about whether you might do things differently in the future. There is an ongoing debate in the community about hazard reduction - whether it's enough, whether it's too much or whatever. Now I think that's a legitimate sort of thing. I don't see any inconsistency between what Tuckey was saying and what others have said.
GRIMSHAW:
There have been suggestions that perhaps the pine forests that surround these suburbs here ought not be allowed to regenerate after the fire, that there ought be a change in planning. What do you think about that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think they're questions that really should be directed to the New South Wales Government and to the ACT Government. We don't control the forest. We don't have firefighters. I mean the Federal Government doesn't have those responsibilities.
GRIMSHAW:
You don't have a personal view?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I've got a personal view of a lot of things but I'm also Prime Minister and I have views on those things that reflect in some way or impact in some way on the attitude of State Governments. I talk to them about it first. We have to, when we've had a tragedy like this, first and foremost look after the people who have been hurt, get them back on their feet, get the community mobilised to deal with that problem. And then in the fullness of time, by all means ask questions and have a look at whether you might do things differently. But at all times remember that the police and the firefighters put their lives on the line. It's a miracle to me that more people didn't lose their lives and more people weren't seriously injured and more homes weren't destroyed. I mean this, on the scale of Canberra versus Sydney for example, is the equivalent of four to five thousand homes disappearing in Sydney. That gives you some idea of the magnitude of what's involved.
GRIMSHAW:
Prime Minister, thank you for being with us.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]