Some in this place will recall me speaking in February 2020, at the end of the Black Summer fires, when communities like mine were reeling. At the time, there were urgent needs we called on the government to support. In addition, many of us recognised that longer-term investment was required not only to give hope to communities as they started the very long journey to recover but to make our vulnerable places better equipped to deal with the inevitable next bushfire.

When I stood in parliament calling for this sort of funding, never could I have imagined how the Mount Wilson Rural Fire Service brigade members could have made their joint federal-state grant of just under $700,000 go so far.

Nor could I have imagined that the people who had fought fire for so many months, struggled with the devastation that the Gospers Fire caused, would have had the energy to not only fill in grant proposals, but make sure that this was the best possible outcome for the communities of Mt Wilson, Mt Irvine and surrounds.

Thanks to the additional fundraising efforts of the Brigade, the shed we officially opened on Sunday can serve as an operations centre with improved communications with wherever the HQ is, during a fire emergency.

Out of something horrific, a practical, purpose-built extension to what started out as a humble double garage with roller-doors in the 50s has been created.

President, Joe Montano, Captain Beth Raines, and the committee that has worked alongside them deserve the community’s praise, and it was very fitting that long-standing Deputy Captain Barry Freeman got to do the honours of officially declaring the shed open.