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

I rise now with a heavy heart as my community of Groom is still mourning the loss of one of its own. This year's National Police Remembrance Day on 29 September will be a sad day for the people of our community. It honours the lives and memories of those police officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. This year, the hurt in my community is still raw. As other members have reflected already, on 29 May Senior Constable Brett Forte was shot and killed in the line of duty just east of our city of Toowoomba. News bulletins were my initial source of information about that incident. I then contacted members of the police force in my community to gain a better understanding of what had happened that afternoon. Here in Canberra the Prime Minister passed on this parliament's condolences to Brett's family. The Premier of Queensland did the same, as did Mayor Paul Antonio. It's an incident our community will never forget.

Brett's funeral was one of the largest ever seen in my community. Thousands attended the service. It was a sea of blue outside the Clive Berghofer Recreation Centre at the University of Southern Queensland. His wife, Susan, also a serving police officer, was supported by her police family and the wider community. This support will continue, as the upcoming National Police Remembrance Day will be a testing day for her and her family. Brett's daughter, Emma, said at the funeral, 'To the world you were one person but to our family you were the world.' To me, that was extremely poignant. And that's just it. Brett Forte was a husband, father, son, brother, colleague and friend. He could be any one of us.

When you strip away the uniform, when officers are in their civvies among the community, they serve in the local P&C, they play in the local footy clubs and you see them pushing their shopping carts alongside the rest of us. They are just ordinary women and men like the rest of us. Yet they are called upon in their profession as police officers when it's not just a job. Each day, these men and women willingly place themselves in potential danger to make our community a safer place. Enforcing the law is their primary contact with the community, but I think it's part of a greater effort of ensuring our daily lives run smoothly. They protect our rights as individuals and, in many cases, they work with various community members to resolve and contain incidents or social problems before they spread or impact on those around us. They do this through their training, their compassion and their understanding of the communities they serve.

know my community appreciates them. We live in a wonderful, caring, peaceful community due in part to the wonderful work our police officers do each and every day. It's a community that will stand beside Brett Forte's family, first and foremost, but also his colleagues, especially those who rendered him assistance on that tragic day, because they need our support as we approach this coming remembrance day. Therefore, today I again take the opportunity to thank each and every member of the Queensland Police Service, and police services around Australia, for their commitment and courage. Stand firm and know that we all support you.

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