Uma fábrica de queijos nas colinas de Adelaide, a Udder Delights, que teve o seu estoque arruinado pelo incêndio de Cudlee Creek, está confiante de que poderá reconstruir o seu negócio e manter todos os seus funcionários.
A empresa fabrica queijos artesanais para o mercado nacional mas a falta de luz por longo período e danos causados pela fumaça dos incêndios forçaram a empresa a colocar no lixo 40.000 quilos de queijo, avaliados em um milhão de dólares.
A chefe-executiva da Udder Delights, Sheree Sullivan, disse que a empresa emprega 50 funcionários e que foi garantido a eles que ninguém vai perder o seu emprego:
"When we had a meeting with them we sort of said, 'you know, this is not going to affect your job, if anything you have to work a bit harder now' you know, that was tough, we'd all had a huge, massive lead up to Christmas.
I guess for our wrapping and packing staff and our warehouse staff, they are going to get a little bit of a break because they need to wait for the cheese to make its way through the factory but the cheesemakers themselves will be working really hard."
E tanto o primeiro-ministro como o líder da oposição fizeram as suas mensagens de Natal deste ano agradecendo os bombeiros voluntários da Austrália.
O primeiro-ministro Scott Morrison agradeceu a todos que prestam serviços ao país:
"I want to thank all of those who serve our nation. Serving as volunteers, fighting those fires as we speak, patrolling our beaches. Those who are serving overseas in our defence forces and are a long way from home and serving our nation there. To those who'll be serving on Xmas Day, whether it's the homeless or the many charitable acts they've been engaged in, we say thank you to you too because we know it's not just on Christmas Day but this is a passion of yours and something you do each and every day over the course of the year."
O líder da oposição, Anthony Albanese, também agradeceu às pessoas envolvidas no combate aos fogos:
"In 2019, we think particulary of those people in the community who've been fighting bushfires. We think of those empty seats at tables where people have lost loved ones."
