Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Kevin Rudd today promised to rebuild the communities shattered by the Victorian bushfires "brick by brick" as he declared the nation must, with great urgency, tackle the evil problem of arson.
In a speech to Federal Parliament, the Prime Minister also said many world leaders had called him, including the United States President Barack Obama who sent his prayers.
Mr Rudd also said it was time to launch an attack on the arsonists that caused the death and destruction.
"We are left speechless at the thought and the possibility that some of these fires may have been deliberately lit," he said. "Something which the nation must now attend to as a matter of grave urgency is the problem of arson. Where it happens, why it happens, what more can be done about it. There is no excuse for this, none at all. This, as I said yesterday, is simply murder on a grand scale. Let us attend to this unfinished business of the nation and come to grips with this evil thing."
Mr Rudd said the telephone call from Mr Obama was among several from world leaders who had sent their condolences, including the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon.
"President Obama said that we should know in Australia that the prayers of himself, his wife Michelle, their family and of the American people are with the people of Victoria, the people of Australia, today," he said.
