John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is an honour to rise in support of this motion. Our electorate of Groom, like many other regional communities across this country, deals with challenges that, if unchecked, can affect the wellbeing and safety of our entire community. In our case, our city of Toowoomba sits at the intersection of three major highways—the Warrego, Gore and New England—which link us to the north, south, east and west. Whilst this infrastructure provides exciting opportunities for the Darling Downs community, it does present issues with, for example, the scourge of drugs, which are either transported or traded in our region. It is our Queensland Police Service that investigates, curtails and stamps out this despicable trade where possible—more often than not, placing themselves in danger in doing so.

Similarly, such infrastructure presents road safety challenges, and we should never forget it is our fine serving women and men of the Queensland Police Service who are often the first respondents to tragedies on our roads, who manage accident investigation sites, and of course, at times deliver sad news to the loved ones of those involved.

We must always prioritise the necessary support for serving and retired police officers, who provide such service to all of us. Whether it is tragedy, major crime, natural disaster or petty theft, it is our police service that is always there on the front line to serve and protect us all. Certainly, my community of Groom, in and around Toowoomba, has seen its fair share of all of those issues.

It was my great pleasure, and in particular my great honour, on 28 and 29 December to join with Deputy Commissioner Steven Gollschewski, Assistant Commissioner Tony Wright, District Superintendent Mark Kelly and many other serving and retired members of the Queensland Police Service in our southern Queensland police region to remember those fine officers we have lost over the decades. It was moving to hear my good mate, Inspector Michael Curtin, recite the names of those officers we have lost, from Constable Matthew Connelly in 1861, right through to Constable Damien Gerard Acutt in 2005.

As our police chaplain, the Reverend Jeff Baills, quite rightly said: 'We remember the lives of these police officers and we honour their sacrifice. We regard the lives of these police officers as we value their commitment and efforts in protecting our community. We respond to the lives of these police officers for the greatest gratitude of a community is to recognise the price that has been paid to uphold its freedom.'

The Reverend Jeff Baills went on to say: 'We gather not only to raise awareness of those police officers who have gone before us; we also stand alongside our current sworn officers, where on the badge they wear every day is written the statement "With honour we serve". As a community, we come together to honour your commitment and to stand with you as we honour those who have gone before you.'

These are the words with which he concluded, and no truer words could be said about those fine men and women of the Queensland Police Service as examples of similar officers right across the country who do protect and serve all of us.

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