Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Last year, to mark Police Remembrance Day, I spoke at a ceremony held by Benalla Police Service Area at the St Peter's World War I memorial church in Kinglake. It was a privilege to speak beside Reverend Eden Nicholls, police chaplain from Benalla police, and Sergeant Matthew Wheeler, from the Kinglake police. The church was rebuilt after the 2009 fires, and the backdrop to the altar was a wall of glass, giving view to the most magnificent mountain and valley scenery. No stained glass could replicate the beauty, nor could it act as a starker reminder of the force of nature that had swept upon that town.

This year, like so many things, Police Remembrance Day will be marked differently. There will likely be no public gatherings in towns across Victoria, only quiet moments of reflection as we contemplate and mark our gratitude for the service and for the sacrifice of the people who keep our communities safe. And yet, sadly, this year we have much to remember. Fresh in our minds in Victoria is the immense tragedy of the incident on the Eastern Freeway on 22 April, where four officers died in the course of undertaking their duty. The Eastern Freeway tragedy took the lives of Senior Constable Kevin King, Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Constable Joshua Prestney and Constable Glen Humphris. I'd like to add my voice and the voice of the people of Indi to those before me in expressing my sadness and condolences to their families, colleagues and friends.

Motor vehicle incidents have claimed the lives of Indi police officers too, including Senior Constable Rennie Page in 2005 and Senior Constable Anne Brimblecombe in 2006. To their families, friends, colleagues and the communities that they protected: we remember. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank some of the wonderful police officers in Indi, who do so much to keep our community safe. Country policing is hard business. Our men and women in blue are often called to car crashes, scenes of domestic violence and other traumas. They're there for us in bushfires and in floods. And in a small community, when tragedy strikes, there's a fair chance that the country police officer knows the people involved.

There are people like Bruce Colval from Alexandra, who retired on 1 July, after a 43-year career as a police officer. Bruce joined the force at 17 and spent 30 years working in the Alexandra, Eildon, Marysville, Taggerty and Yarck areas. When he retired, Bruce told the The Alexandra Standard that a good police officer shows empathy, listens and treats everyone fairly and evenly. According to his colleagues, these are the values that Bruce demonstrated throughout his long career.

And there's Laurie Bould, a former senior sergeant of Chiltern. He arrived in the town in 1975 and raised his four kids with his wife, Anne, who nursed at the bush nursing hospital. When Laurie retired a few years ago, he kept serving his community. He got stuck right in to leading an array of community groups, including the community emergency response team, the cemetery trust and the Chiltern fishing club. Laurie's a talented pianist and can be regularly found smashing out the tunes with flute player Mary-Anne O'Connor in a duo that Laurie aptly named The Bold and the Beautiful.

When young, William Callaghan got lost on Mount Disappointment, near Mansfield, for two freezing nights in June, it was the police who stepped up and led the search to find him. When a V/Line passenger train crashed into a derailed freight train at Barnawartha in January, it was the police who arrived on the scene to manage the crisis and keep the freeway moving. And since the New South Wales Premier made the extraordinary decision to shut the border with Victoria as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, our police have been on the job, day and night, keeping the border operating as best they can under tough conditions.

We are safer because of the work you do. On this Police Remembrance Day, I pay tribute to all our serving and retired police officers and their families. I commemorate you, I honour you and I especially honour those whom we have lost. And I thank Police Legacy for the work that they do in supporting our police and their families.

Debate adjourned.

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