If there were ever a lesson in what is wrong with this chaotic and dysfunctional government, it's the fact that today's motion is about natural disasters and recognising those people who have served and helped and not once through the offensive and audacious speech that we just had from the climate-change-denying kook on that side of the chamber did he acknowledge the volunteers. I'm glad he brought up the 2010-11 floods. As someone who lived through that and represented that community, I can tell you that when I go back to the people of Oxley and Darra and go around and say, 'The members in this parliament say that it's just a natural occurrence and you should suck it up'—
Government members interjecting—
Mr DICK: That's exactly what he just said. As someone who cleaned people's houses and saw people's lives torn apart, for this member of parliament to come into this place today and say, 'Too bad; suck it up'—
Mr Craig Kelly interjecting—
Mr DICK: Today, I don't come in here to practice that Trump rubbish that we're hearing time and time again from those opposite. It's little wonder the people of his own electorate want to knock him off and that Kent Johns want to come in here and the member had to be saved with a shonky deal. I'll tell you something: I'll use my time to recognise the volunteers, the SES, the ADF and all of those people who went door to door and house to house to help people put their lives back together.
Mr Craig Kelly: They were making sure they had the resources that they needed.
Mr DICK: And the member for Hughes is still on the climate change denying ramp—not interested in putting people's lives back together in north Queensland, not interested in the 5,000 homes that have been destroyed in Townsville, not interested in finding a way to flood-proof and make these communities resilient; only dripping with Trumpism and the trickle-down rubbish that we hear from members of the government.
I want to congratulate the member for Berowra for putting this motion on the Notice Paper today. He is a person of great character who knows what these disasters mean for communities—just like the member for Macquarie, whose own house burnt down, whose own life was ripped apart as a result of that.
Mr Craig Kelly interjecting—
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Hughes has had his go.
Mr DICK: I'm not going to stand in this parliament and read from Year 10 text books about the climate change nonsense that is so-called apparently threatening our way of life. I want this parliament to come together to work as one, as a government and as a nation, and put priorities in place for those disasters that are befalling our nation, whether it be the bushfires in Tasmania or the floods in North Queensland, and that those communities know that this parliament is working as one, firstly, to put their lives back together. The extreme trauma—I have spoken to some of the SES volunteers, around 175 of them, who came from interstate, from New Zealand, to help the Tasmanian communities, where we saw people from across Australia fly into Townsville to help those people, whether it be the SES, state government officials, the Townsville City Council led by Mayor Jenny Hill. Today I want to thank them for their swift and decisive actions to help those who have felt the impacts of these natural disasters, and our hearts go out to all of those families whose lives have been destroyed. There has been the tragic loss of three lives in north Queensland. Time and time again we are seeing the ravages of our natural environment destroying people's lives.
As a parliament, we saw the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister come together to pledge the full resources of this government—that's what this parliament should be doing. There is the wonderful contribution from the business community from right across Australia of millions and millions of dollars. In my own community the weekend before last, the magnificent Vietnamese community were at Inala Plaza collecting money for those people affected by the flood disaster.
Today, I say thank you to the member for Berowra for tabling this motion in the Chamber. Every single member of this parliament should be rising to their feet to congratulate and thank those wonderful volunteers and supporters that are still working today, as we speak. I congratulate and salute them all.
