Gary Hughes is an Australian journalist. [1]
In 2009, Hughes was awarded the Gold Walkley [2] and named Australian Journalist of the Year [3] for his coverage of Victoria's Black Saturday bushfires, of which he was a victim, for The Australian . [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
During the disaster Hughes and his wife almost died as their home burned around them. His first hand account gained global attention. Hughes later wrote an open letter to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, detailing the distress Centrelink staff were causing to bushfire victims by telling them they needed identification to access emergency financial assistance despite their homes being completely destroyed by fire. [9] [10] This prompted Federal Government ministers Joe Ludwig and Jenny Macklin to advise Centrelink to treat bushfire victims more leniently. [11]
Hughes has spoken publicly of his experiences during the Black Saturday fires a number of times. [12] [13] [14] During one interview, Hughes admitted that when fellow bushfire victims were abusing and spitting at him and other members of the media as they passed them at a police roadblock while fleeing the bushfire ravaged area, he began to feel conflicted about the role journalists perform in relation to how they treat victims of trauma. [13]
As an investigative journalist, Hughes has won numerous awards, [15] including three previous Walkley Awards and two Melbourne Press Club Quills. [16]
The Australian, with its Saturday edition The Weekend Australian, is a daily newspaper in broadsheet format published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership as of September 2019 of both print and online editions was 2,394,000. Its editorial line has been self-described over time as centre-right.
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Marysville is a town in the Shire of Murrindindi in Victoria, Australia, about 34 kilometres north-east of Healesville and 41 kilometres south of Alexandra. The town, which previously had a population of over 500 people, was devastated by the Murrindindi Mill bushfire on 7 February 2009. On 19 February 2009 the official death toll was 45. Around 90% of the town's buildings were destroyed. Prior to the Black Saturday fire the population in 2006 was 519. At the 2011 Census, the population had reduced to 226, by the 2016 census it had risen to 394.
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The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that either ignited or were already burning across the Australian state of Victoria on and around Saturday, 7 February 2009, and were one of Australia's all-time worst bushfire disasters. The fires occurred during extreme bushfire weather conditions and resulted in Australia's highest-ever loss of human life from a bushfire, with 173 fatalities. Many people were left homeless and family-less as a result.
The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of fires that ignited across the Australian state of Victoria during extreme weather conditions on 7 February 2009. Burning around 450,000 ha for over a month, the fires destroyed over 2,100 homes, destroyed several regional towns and were fought by over 5,000 firefighting personnel. The Fires devastated many.
The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission is a Victorian Royal Commission that concluded on 31 July 2010 that investigated the circumstances surrounding the Black Saturday bushfires on Saturday 7 February 2009 which caused 173 fatalities.
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The 2015 Pinery bushfire was a bushfire that burned from 25 November to 2 December 2015, and primarily affected the Lower Mid North and west Barossa Valley regions immediately north of Gawler in the Australian state of South Australia. At least 86,000 hectares of scrub and farmland in the council areas of Light, Wakefield, Clare and Gilbert Valleys, and Mallala were burned during its duration.
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