Ms ELLIS(8.10 p.m.) —In this grievance debate I would like to make reference to the recent Thredbo tragedy, something which was spoken about earlier today in this place. I know that all of us here grieve for those who lost loved ones and also for those who, unfortunately, are going to carry the trauma of this tragedy with them for a long time.

I want specifically to refer to the response from our Canberra community, acknowledging the role of our region as well. Canberra had, in fact, suffered a tragedy of slightly smaller proportions in some ways only very recently before the night of 30 July, where I personally witnessed the response of our emergency services personnel in fairly extraordinary circumstances here in Canberra. There was no delay and no hesitation at all when that first call from Thredbo was received very shortly after that time.

That first request came to our emergency services here at 1 a.m. on the night of the disaster. Within five hours our teams had arrived in Thredbo. That first request included needs for ambulance support, urban search and rescue, which included a number of volunteers, and the Australian Federal Police. Included in the initial ambulance response was a triage team from the Canberra Hospital. Our initial team went to Thredbo within that five-hour period fully equipped and self-contained and ready for whatever they found, although I am sure that until they got there, they did not quite realise what they were going to see.

Eventually our full response from this area included: from the task force management, three at the commander level and seven assistant task force commanders; 45 urban search and rescue team members; two hazardous materials and breathing apparatus personnel; five critical incident stress managers; eight communications personnel; 30 people from ground support; four people from ACT Electricity and Water; 12 people from the Ambulance Service; and 23 officers from the Australian Federal Police. In all, 139 personnel from all of the abovementioned agencies were involved in the rescue operation.

The principal resource required was specialist staff to perform urban search and rescue techniques. The Emergency Services Bureau provided support and resourcing to the operational staff functioning under the New South Wales Fire Brigade's control. The majority of Australian Federal Police personnel were members of the AFP search and rescue team.

As we all know from the constant pictures on our television screens, the rescue site remained in a state of constant instability. As a result of the landslide, there was a pancaking of reinforced concrete slabs at various angles on a very steep slope where a further slippage of the slabs was a definite possibility and, as we know only too well, Mr Deputy Speaker, spoken of frequently in the media coverage.

The urban search and rescue teams provided to the New South Wales Fire Brigade were incorporated into rosters of two, eight-hour shifts and a 10-hour shift. The ACT Fire Brigade provided five members to each team, of which there were three teams, rotating each task force onto this roster. The task force management teams, of which there were four, consisted of an ACT Fire Brigade superintendent and two district officers.

The support functions to the task forces and the incident consisted of welfare, medical, communications, stores/logistics and ground support, which were provided by volunteer personnel. These support functions were provided by the Ambulance Service and volunteers from the ACT emergency service. In addition, personnel from the Canberra Hospital, ACT Electricity and Water and a private surveying company were despatched to support the task force and incident.

However, there was another level of assistance from the Canberra community which I would like to put on record. I understand that as the needs of the rescuers developed and as teams returned to Canberra to be replaced by others, supplies were constantly in demand. Those local businesses involved in some of that supply certainly responded generously in every sense of the word. They were known to open their businesses at any hour of the night, most often at two and three in the morning, I understand, to supply gas for LPG heaters, to supply cutting blades for the cutting machines and to supply the need for cold weather clothing—the specialist clothing that was being used, particularly during the night-time rescue period. All these people needed was to be made aware of the need of the teams at Thredbo, and they responded at times, I understand, at no cost.

When the magnitude of the task became more evident, more offers of help were made. For instance, the ACT Electricity and Water people made optical fibre camera equipment available as soon as they realised the assistance that could possibly offer, and many others offered advice, information and encouragement.

There were other aspects to this as well. As Queanbeyan, our very near neighbour over the border, had also sent teams to Thredbo, our services then offered to help cover their needs in a local sense from here as well—in other words, to backfill their local requirement. At the same time, New South Wales helped cover our firefighting service needs while the numbers we had from this area were at Thredbo. The ACT community also responded through the role of Canberra Hospital.

The heroism displayed in this rescue is almost unbelievable. I have had the opportunity to chat informally with some of the people who were working from our emergency services headquarters in Curtin. From the sorts of stories I have heard it is hard to understand how people can have so much courage. For instance, when rescuers who were digging in tunnels nine to 10 metres in length would suddenly hear the cement slabs above them move, they would say into the small microphones they had that that was the case, they would hold still, they would not retreat, they would pause long enough and then they would just simply keep going—digging with a determination, a courage and a dedication that some of us can only admire.

There is no question as to the magnitude and the horror of what happened at Thredbo. The Canberra community is very proud of and thankful to our emergency services—the personnel and everyone involved in that tragedy. They, like other emergency services around the country, train to this level, hoping of course that they would never need to use that expertise, but when it is needed there is absolutely no hesitation.

We saw a very professional multi-service response from all sectors of our emergency services and also from our community, not connected necessarily in a direct sense but indirectly, who very quickly, warmly and humanely offered to do whatever could be done to assist those people. On behalf of the ACT community, we thank them, we congratulate them and we thank God that we do have them here.

Question resolved in the affirmative.