Damian Drum (Murray, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am grateful to have the opportunity to speak on this motion on National Police Remembrance Day. Like all other members of parliament, I am sure, I spent a portion of my day on 29 September at a local service commemorating the sacrifice of fallen policemen. I was able to do that at St Pauls Lutheran Church in Shepparton. It was the most amazing service and amongst those there was a range of new Australians from the African council who were able to join in the singing and the celebration of the lives that have been lost.

The concept of Police Remembrance Day takes on a special significance when you go to Shepparton due to a very high profile case, still unsolved—that is, the gutless murder of Damian Eyre and Steven Tynan. Those killings took place in 1988. Being a Shepparton boy, Damian's death was felt very strongly. His dad, Frank, served 45 years in the Victoria Police and Frank's two boys, Damian and Daryl, followed in his footsteps in the force. So it was an absolute tragedy when Damian was murdered.

Out of absolute tragedy some positives can arise. The Blue Ribbon Foundation was formed, in a sense, with these killings very fresh in their minds. The Blue Ribbon Foundation do a huge amount of good work right around Australia and certainly around Victoria. It is a positive that has come out of these senseless killings. Also, some memorial scholarships are now embedded in Victoria Police and the Tynan Eyre emergency unit has been built at Shepparton hospital. All of these memorials and tributes to Damian Eyre and Steven Tynan are very real, but do not take away from the fact that so many of our police men and women on the beat today and everyday are putting their lives in danger.

As the previous speaker—whose husband is a policeman—happened to note, we need to acknowledge the families that accept the risk associated with their loved ones' roles. Certainly, they make an ongoing sacrifice every day by knowingly sending their loved ones out to work on the beat, knowing that they deal with trouble and incredibly difficult issues every day. This is something that we need to occasionally reflect on; that we have high expectations of our police force—our police men and women. We need to be very aware of the dangers.

At the moment the police sector in Victoria has a very significant issue coming out of the former state coalition government. I must acknowledge the former police minister, Peter Ryan, who went to a 2010 election with a pledge to introduce 940 additional police. The then Labor Party opposition said it could not be done. He spent four years proving that it could be done and brought 1,940 additional police into the sector. He also introduced the PSOs—930 additional protective services officers to man every train station from dark through to the last train. Again, this has been a policy that has had a tremendous impact.

So, we just need more police. We need to acknowledge the risk that they put themselves in every day, and the mainstream public need to acknowledge and respect that police are doing this work and protecting the community. (Time expired)

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