Mr Pallas (Tarneit) — I am pleased  to rise to speak in support of the matter of public  importance.  In  so  doing I make the observation that a government’s actions speak louder than its  words, and this government’s  inactions created a silence that was both deafening and debilitating for a community that needed and deserved so  much more than it received. The most basic and fundamental role  of any  government  is  to provide for the essential needs of  the  communities  it represents.  This role is no  more profound than when necessity and circumstance demand immediate  action, care and concern.  That is where  this  government has come  up  lacking.  The  belated  and  underwhelming reaction  by  the  Napthine government  and  its  local  representative,  the  member  for  Morwell,  to the Hazelwood  coal fire has  been  disappointing, even  by  this government’s  poor standards — and of course the local residents and businesses  are suffering for it.

This government’s  lack of concern about this issue and  the length  of time  it took to reach the  decision that it might be  worth taking it more seriously has been  spectacular.  The government’s failure  to deal with  issues that directly affect  the  welfare  of  a  needy  section  of  the  community  has  also  been spectacular.   These  people  are  needy  because   the  circumstances  demanded attention.

Nearly two weeks ago, before the visit of the Minister for Community Services, I travelled  to Morwell  to meet with local residents and traders so I  could hear about the impact that  the fire  was having  on their  lives and businesses. The stories they  told  me were quite profound, and the concerns they expressed were real and immediate.  The fires were  hurting local businesses. Morwell residents are concerned. There has been no confidence coming from the government.

The government is showing no leadership, and it appears that it was  effectively not willing or able to provide a competent response when this community required it  most. The defining features of this government are neglect and inaction. The last four  weeks  have  been  a case study in this government’s unwillingness to provide  support to  the  people  who  require  it  and  who  deserve it  — and ultimately  these are the  people whom the government  serves. The residents  of Morwell have suffered for it.

This  government has been too slow  to pick up on the fact  that it needed to do something. The fires started on  9 February, but it took two weeks of a coalmine fire,  with  plenty  of media attention, for the government to open a  community respite and  health centre.  We are talking about a coalmine fire — a situation where fuel was on  fire — and it took two weeks  for  the government to realise that maybe a community and respite centre should be established.

It took the government  another week  to realise  that it  needed to  expand the health centre so it met the  community’s  needs.  Advice  to residents that they should move did not come until 28 February, which was three weeks after the fire had started.

The  Minister for Community  Services was distracted by her preselection issues, and she  did not bother to show  up  in Morwell until 2 March  — nearly a month after the fire began. This is a government that is too distracted by panic  over its internal dysfunction and over how it might cobble together a parliamentary majority on a case-by-case  basis to notice that a  blazing coal fire in an area of regional  Victoria that deserved attention failed to get it.

This is an  area that is already suffering, I might add, due to the economic trauma that has been inflicted  on it  by  this  government as  a  consequence of  this  government’s malaise.  The  increasing unemployment  in  the  area  might  just  require some attention too.

Over  the last  few weeks  the residents of Morwell have been forgotten by their government. Sadly this was not an isolated incident. Those residents have joined the workers in our car industry, the students in our  TAFEs, our  paramedics and the countless others that this government has deemed not worthy of support. This government has failed in its basic obligation to communicate with the community, particularly in circumstances where necessity and circumstance require a clarity of action and purpose.

The government did not  react until it was shamed into doing so, and before that happened other organisations had to step into the role the government had failed to fill. The government created a vacuum. For example, it was representatives of the  local council who started knocking on doors, putting up signs  and  letting people know about what was happening and where they could get help.

When I  met with members of the Morwell community, their frustration and concern was palpable. They believed that they had  been let down by the people upon whom they most relied in  their  hour  of  need. The residents’ uncertainty about the causes,  the  health  impacts and the duration of  the  fire  were  naturally  a significant  part  their concerns and ultimately their decision making. However, bizarrely  the  government  fell  down  spectacularly  in  the  simple  task  of communicating information about the meagre assistance it had on offer.

Morwell  residents told  me that  because no-one had been there to see  them and tell them that masks were available from the government, the local St Vincent De Paul  organisation  and pharmacists  took  it  upon themselves  to  purchase and distribute masks to  the community, wasting precious charitable funds in filling a vacuum created by  the government. The small moving grants that were available from the Department of Human Services were poorly advertised, and many residents simply did not know whether they qualified, how  they might be able to  get them or how to  apply. They could not apply at either of the  government centres that were specifically set up for the fire.

Residents told me that it was  impractical for  information to  be so reliant on people having internet access. A lot of older people in that community have been living  in  fear  in their houses, uncertain of the circumstances and the  risks that they faced, and the government was not there when they needed them.

Of course the business  and employment impacts were and continue to be profound. Local traders I  met told  me they  were seeing their businesses slow down quite noticeably as people either left town or avoided going outside when they did not have to. I  met  with some of the traders  at the local bowls club,  which is in close  proximity  to the coal fire, and it was virtually empty. Estimates  range from there being a 15  to  40 per cent reduction in trade  because  of the fire. Smaller shops and discretionary businesses — services  like hairdressers, cafes and delis — are suffering the most. Some businesses have simply closed.

This area has lost  21 500 jobs since the coalition government came to power. In the same time  it has seen the unemployment  rate increase from 6.6 per  cent to 8.5 per  cent and its participation  rate  fall from 70.8 per  cent  to 58.6 per cent, which is having a quite profound  impact on  the nature  of that community and work availability within it.

This is a  region whose employment situation should be drawing special attention from the Napthine government,  but what  does it  get? No-one should have to beg for  attention. Nobody in such  circumstances should have  to require and demand attention at a time of their greatest need.

The Herald Sun has reported that some  70  local  residents  and  businesses are seeking legal advice on compensation because of lost revenue and smoke damage to their businesses and homes. Small business relief  funds that are being  managed by the Victorian Employers  Chamber of Commerce and  Industry were not announced until 3  March, which  was  nearly a  month after  the fire  started. They  will provide up to $10 000  to small businesses with  fewer than 20 employees —  and that is  clearly  not  enough.  The  ABC reported that business owners have been seeing trade drop by 40 per cent, and one cafe owner interviewed basically  said that $10 000, which is the maximum available  under  the government’s scheme, is what he was losing every week.

People are worried about  the survival of  their  livelihoods. They are  worried about their futures, and more than that, they are worried about the  capacity of this government’s members  to  service  them in their hour of need, to recognise the problem as a profound one, to take action to address that problem and not to spend their time  effectively navel-gazing and  pulling  lint out of  their  own navels  in  circumstances  where  the  community  requires   them  to  act  with compassion, integrity and alacrity.

That  requires a capacity to  recognise there are issues that require attention and to get out and do it. Yes, the member for Morwell may well spend a moment contemplating whether or not his actions were sufficient and whether he should have knocked on doors more loudly, but he is not the only one. There are plenty  of others who really should sit back and look at what role and what level  of responsibility they  took in their obligations  to the community. There is nothing adequate about the Napthine government’s belated and begrudging response to  this  crisis,  which  is  a  crisis  made  all  the  worse  by  the mismanagement and dysfunctionality of  this government, and  for that breach  of trust and responsibility it should stand condemned.