Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support this motion. 'To serve and protect'—that's why National Police Remembrance Day is such a significant day for us. In the Northern Territory, like in other jurisdictions around the country, we stop to remember those members—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 17:18 to 17:28

Following what I was saying, I want to thank my friend, the member for Fowler, Chris Hayes, for bringing this important motion for debate. In Darwin, I'll be attending the ecumenical service at my parish church, St Mary's Star of the Sea Cathedral, on 28 September. I will pay my respects to the men and women of the NT Police Force who were either killed in the execution of their duties or who died while serving. I know that the thoughts of many this year will be with the Noonan family, who had to say goodbye to retired Senior Constable Williams Thomas Barney Noonan, who, sadly, lost a long-running battle with cancer.

It's not easy to be a police officer anywhere, but in the NT, with road fatalities, break-ins and dealing with alcohol related crimes, police see some of the worst that the Territory has to offer. In a normal year, police in the Territory respond to over 100,000 triple 0 requests and close to 25,000 incidents related to domestic violence, and breath test close to 180,000 drivers.

It's important that we recognise the work of the police and the vital role that they play in our community. It's a bit of a personal irritation of mine that the levels of disrespect towards the police have increased in my electorate in Darwin and Palmerston. I'd like to add my support for the action taken by the Northern Territory Labor government and their commitment to restore school based constables, which had been cut by the previous government.

I'd especially like to acknowledge the work done by the rank-and-file men and women who are on the ground, at the coalface, working around the clock to make our communities safe. The work they do is tough. It's not a nine-to-five job, and it's mostly done as shiftwork, which makes it even tougher. By now, we should all be aware of the terrible effect that this prolonged shiftwork has on the body, both physically and emotionally. Shiftwork, coupled with the at times tragic work undertaken by our police men and women is, to be quite frank, a recipe for terrible mental health outcomes. I know from my own experiences in the Defence Force that prolonged experience of trauma destroys families and ruins lives. I can't imagine the compounding effect that trauma would have on a police officer who has served for 30 years and the effect it would have on their family. It must be massive.

I'd like to take a brief moment to commend the great work done by the Police Association in the Northern Territory and by Police Legacy in the NT. As I said, it's not easy being a police officer, let alone being a family member of one. The NT Police Legacy scheme assures police families that there is an organisation prepared to assist them with their emotional, financial, education and welfare needs should anything happen to their loved ones in the line of duty. Last week, I saw off the second contingent of Territory motorcycle riders that left our police memorial in Darwin and started riding to Canberra with the Wall to Wall Ride event, with funds raised going to Police Legacy. It's important work.

The damaging effect of the type of work done by first responders and Defence personnel is why I'm pushing for funding to be put towards the construction of a support centre for these groups in Darwin, because the NT doesn't have such a support centre. Often, when I'm talking to my old Army comrades, they're the first ones to say that the police are on the tools every day—and, by saying they're 'on the tools', I mean they're on the job every day. As I say, there is a compounding effect of that sort of work. My own brother is a fireman in the Northern Territory. When they turn up to scenes of vehicle accidents, it is traumatic.

We need to do more to make sure that first responders like the police have that mental health support and other support around them. As a community, that's what we need to be doing. This support is vital. Support is needed for these people who serve us and protect us. Again, I thank the member for Fowler for reminding us all of the services that our police force provide to our community.

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