One of Australia's darkest days: Gillard

(AAP) - Political hostilities were set aside on Monday as politicians came together to mourn victims of the devastating Victorian bushfires.

Parliament's giant rooftop flag was lowered to half-mast and question time was
called off as members of the lower house and the Senate expressed their condolences
and grief at the national tragedy.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull separately toured
fire-ravaged areas before Mr Turnbull returned to Canberra.
The government announced it would dispatch more than 450 government officers to
Victoria over the next few days, including Centrelink workers who arrived at 19
relief centres around the state on Monday.
More than 200 Defence personnel were assembled to provide specialist and emergency
support, including road clearing, searching houses and erecting tents.
Some MPs wiped away tears as they praised the courage of the firefighters, many of
them volunteers, and spoke of the need for renewal of communities razed to the
ground on Saturday.
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard was not alone as she struggled to maintain her
composure as she moved a condolence motion during a sombre two-hour sitting of
parliament.
"The 7th of February, 2009, will now be remembered as one of the darkest days in
Australia's peacetime history," Ms Gillard said.
"A tragedy beyond belief, beyond precedent, and really beyond words."
The Victorian fires were worse than Black Friday in 1939 and Ash Wednesday in 1983,
she said, warning Australians to prepare themselves for more bad news from the
bushfire disaster.
"The grisly reality is that the record number of lives lost will continue to rise,"
she said.
Ms Gillard said the prime minister, cabinet and the whole government would do what
was required to help all those affected by the tragedy.
Mr Turnbull said the government needed to do "whatever it takes" to rebuild
communities razed by the "holocaust" of fire and wind, as he evoked Dorothea
Mackellar's famous poem about Australia's beauty and her terror.
"Never before have we witnessed fury such as this, such havoc and such devastation
inflicted on any of our communities," Mr Turnbull said.
"Never before has there been a tragedy of a scale so great."
A Senate inquiry into the $42 billion economic stimulus package announced last week
by the government was suspended until late on Monday, while a number of Victorian
federal MPs stayed in their electorates for the day.
In Canberra to give evidence to the inquiry, business and union leaders called on
their members to dig deep and donate money to bushfire appeals.
An emotional Peter Anderson, chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (ACCI), told reporters he did not expect it to be business as usual on
Monday in the wake of the terrible loss of life.
"Today is a day where we need to understand what's happening in our workplaces,
where so many of our fellow Australians are coming to terms with the magnitude of
this natural disaster," Mr Anderson said.
ACTU president Sharan Burrow said unions had pledged $250,000 to the Red Cross appeal.
"We are shocked at the immense human loss and level of devastation inflicted by
these bushfires," she said.
"The thoughts of the entire union movement goes out to the victims at this time."
Governor-General Quentin Bryce will tour bushfire-ravaged areas of Victoria and
Queensland regions hit by floods from Thursday until Sunday.
Parliament is due to return to normal on Tuesday.