THE FEDERAL parliament in Australia held its first sitting in a make-or-break year for prime minister Julia Gillard yesterday, but political hostilities were temporarily put on hold as politicians paid tribute to those who died over a summer of natural disasters.
Ms Gillard and other MPs wept as they paid tribute to the thousands of people whose lives have been rocked by natural disasters in the past number of months.
Ms Gillard struggled to hold back tears while speaking of the 35 killed in last month’s floods in Queensland.
Powerful Cyclone Yasi compounded the misery of Queenslanders when the storm battered the coast. Wildfires are still burning in western Australia.
She said Australia “watched in horror as day after day a new chapter in natural disaster history was written”.
Ms Gillard said the past few months would be “remembered for the force and scale of the natural disasters the nation has endured”.
She wept as she presented a flag to parliament given to her by rescue workers in Queensland, who had found it at the scene of deadly flash floods described as “an inland tsunami”.
“It spoke to them of courage; the courage it takes to keep filling sandbags even when your back is breaking, the courage it takes to hold your nerve in the dark as a cyclone races around you,” she said.
As she recounted the story of Jordan Rice (13), who urged rescuers to save his younger brother first as he was swept to his death, many MPs were reduced to tears.
“We will always remember the days of despair and the days of courage we’ve lived through together this summer.”
Ms Gillard has declared 2011 the year of policy delivery after her ruling Labor Party limped back into power with support of one Green and three independents after last August’s dead-heat election.
Across Queensland, 35 people have been reported dead in flood-related incidents since December. Several people remain missing in the Lockyer Valley.
About 26,000 Brisbane homes have been hit by either major or partial flooding. In nearby Ipswich, 3,000 homes were flooded.
Nearly a week after Cyclone Yasi battered Queensland coastal communities, the army is cutting its way through mountains of debris to reach townships and farms that remain isolated.
In suburbs of Western Australia’s state capital Perth, a bushfire has been contained and brought under control after destroying homes, closing roads and cutting power.
The fire, near the city of Armadale about 30km southeast of Perth, still poses a threat to lives and homes because of changing weather conditions and strong easterly winds, the Western Australia’s fire and emergency services said on its website. – (Reuters; additional reporting from Bloomberg)