Mallacoota almost two years on ...

So Mallacoota is surrounded by Croajingolong National Park, which is about 87,000 hectares. And it encompasses a range of vegetation communities and heaps of really unique flora and fauna species. Leading up to the fires, we had a lot of drought, some moisture measurements were taken by [inaudible 00:00:17] before the fires came through, and the moisture content was about the same as in the Maui.

That year was really bad for bushfires. It was incredibly dry. We'd had drought for a few years. And of course, because of the dryness and the drought, we hadn't been able to do a lot of fuel management. So the bush was ready to explode. One of the things that impressed me straight after the fires, was the way the community embraced the idea of setting up MADRA, which is the community based organisation.

And one of the things that made us feel that we could go with that idea was the fact that the Bendigo Bank came behind us immediately and offered its support, offered its financial advice. That was a huge relief to us, the money that would come from donations and there have been a lot, would be in safe hands.

It's really important to support local communities in crisis because we are there for the local community. We're part of it and it's part of our DNA. So we are there, both after the immediate crisis, and through the long term to help and support the community grow out. We've donated $4.3 million into the local community and the solar farm that is yet to be built.

Prior to the bushfires, Mallacoota was powered by a single line, over 240 kilometres long. We have had many issues with outages. Our power went out over 24 hours prior to the fire actually arriving. The solar farm is being built on East Gibson waste water treatment plant, to provide sustainable energy to this community.

So the solar farm will directly contribute to the length of time that our micro grid will sustain itself. Without the contribution of the Mallacoota community bank, so many organisations in this town would be unable to do what they are doing. And without their support, our lives here would not be what they are.

So nearly two years on after those catastrophic Black Summer bushfires, the bush is regenerating really nicely. You just go for a stroll anywhere around town or the national park, and you're seeing amazing regrowth, the wild flowers are absolutely incredible now. And it's really awesome to see those species that we were a little bit worried about, that may not recover after fire, starting to recover.

We have people here who've retired. We have people here who are trying to set up businesses. We've people here who just want to go fishing. Mallacoota is a really unusual place. It's a very beautiful place. That's one of the reasons why people are here. That hasn't changed. People want to be here. People love to be here.

I'm very optimistic about the future. We want to stay living in a healthy, thriving, safe community for the rest of all of our lives. And we are working to make that happen.

There's a couple of really positive things that have come out of the community as a result of the bushfires. One is a real resilience. There's a growing optimism about how we reshape from here, given what's happened to us. A tremendously positive community spirit has arisen, even though we've been through tragedy.