ON THE night of Black Saturday, Kevin Rudd and Jenny Macklin were in constant contact with each other, anxiously monitoring the progress of the deadly infernos consuming Victoria's townships.
"A lot of big decisions had to be made then and there," says Macklin, the federal Minister for Families and Housing, who has described those critical hours in an interview with The Age.
"We knew that thousands of people had lost absolutely everything. We could see it was going to be a daunting task for families and individuals to pick up all the pieces of their lives. Kevin (Rudd), John (Brumby) and I were constantly talking to each other, working out how best to structure the relief fund and co-ordinate resources."
On Sunday, when the Prime Minister, the Premier and Macklin spoke with shocked and bewildered survivors at Kangaroo Ground and Whittlesea, the emergency strategy roughed out by phone the night before had been galvanised into a plan of action. Disaster relief was immediate, comprehensive and on a scale not seen since Christmas Day 1974 after Cyclone Tracy obliterated Darwin.
read more:- www.theage.com.au/national/out-of-the-fire-20090330-9h6k.html
No comments:
Post a Comment