In an emotional and intense first sitting day of the Victorian Parliament in 2026, Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland gave a heartfelt speech on the Longwood bushfires, drawing on her own family's experience. In a ten-minute condolence speech for Terip Terip farmer Max Hobson who died in the fire, Ms Cleeland said her heart went out to Mr Hobson’s wife Julie as well as his family and friends during what was an ‘unimaginable, difficult time’. “He's known as a great person, far and wide,” Ms Cleeland said. “With significant impact in the Hereford industry.” Pausing frequently to hold back her emotion, Ms Cleeland spoke of her own family's experience with the fire front as it passed through their sheep property, sparing only the family home. "I received a call from our neighbour - his wife is my best friend and we're raising children together," she said. "And he screamed in the phone 'I'm alive, I'm alive. Tell her, I'm alive'." Ms Cleeland then spoke of the fire taking away the community's sense of safety. "It shook something deeper - it's (now) the fear of driving down a road you've known your whole life, and suddenly checking the tree line. "It's the fear of hot wind, the fear of a text message, a siren, or that relentless bloody beep-beep-beep of the VicEmergency app. "Your heart rate will never stop rising when you hear it. "It's packing the car in a hurry and telling your children, grab what you love most. "And then trying to explain why the bike can't come because it can't fit, or why the chickens and the cubby house have to stay. "Why the dream you spent your life building with your partner can't be packed in the back seat. "And why Dad has decided to stay and defend. "And you drive away praying that there will be something to come home to." Ms Cleeland honoured the more than 400 local CFA volunteers who risked their own homes by fighting the fire elsewhere and named in parliament all brigade captains in the shire, saying they had stepped up 'without hesitation'. “I spoke to George Noy, the Ruffy captain, on Thursday night, in the midst of it all. “Thirty hours he had been on the truck, homes had been lost in Ruffy; the town was lost within hours. "And he felt like he didn't do enough; he called me with a shock in his heart - but I want to say he did do enough." She also praised the army of volunteers who supported the firefighters during the blaze and afterwards as the community stepped into recovery mode. "When the flames passed, they (helped) their neighbours organise fodder, water, feed, and supplies. "Because that is what our community does. "We don't wait, we just get on with it."
