Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that Police Week commences on 13 September 2025 with the 16th Wall to Wall Ride for Remembrance, and concludes on National Police Remembrance Day, which will be commemorated on 29 September 2025;

(2) acknowledges the role and service of police officers in communities across Australia, their work in protecting people, communities and property, and the risk and sacrifice that is associated with their service;

(3) honours the lives of those police officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the course of their duty, as well as those police officers who have suffered injuries in the course of their work;

(4) conveys its respects and condolences to the families, loved ones and colleagues of police officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty;

(5) commends the work of Police Legacy, which provides care and comfort to the loved ones of fallen police officers; and

(6) reaffirms its support for police and thanks police officers for their courage and dedicated service to keeping Australian communities safe.

It's a great honour for me, as a former Queensland police officer of 16 years, to move this private member's motion and speak about the wonderful police officers who serve us every day, protecting our communities, and to also highlight and bring to the attention of parliament that on 13 September Police Week starts, and on 29 September we pause to remember those who paid the ultimate price and lost their lives in the line of duty on Police Remembrance Day.

When you swear your oath of service as a police officer, you swear to do the job ethically and professionally, to keep the peace and to preserve property and life. You know that you could be called upon at any time to do that, under very extreme circumstances. I think there are probably not too many events that highlight that more than 13 April last year in Bondi. When Inspector Amy Scott started her shift that day, no doubt she would have put on her accoutrements, she would have loaded her weapon and she would have hoped for the best but prepared for the worst. And the worst is what she ended up having to deal with when she was on foot patrol, alone, that afternoon and she was called to the Bondi Junction Westfield, where a mentally ill man had committed a rampage of death, stabbing six people to death and injuring 12 others. Inspector Scott ran towards that danger with the greatest amount of courage and professionalism. She eliminated that threat in the way that she was trained to do, no doubt saving more lives in doing so. But, once she did that, she rendered help to the person that she had to engage. She should be held up as a role model, and her actions on that day were courageous and showed incredible strength of character.

Unfortunately, there are people out there who wish to cause police harm. In the past year, we've seen three officers lose their lives as a result of people trying to harm them. On 16 June this year, in North Motton, in Tasmania, Constable Keith Smith lost his life when he was shot and killed on duty. And, as we've all recently heard, on 26 August this year, at Porepunkah in Victoria, Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart were shot and killed in the line of duty. My deepest condolences go to their families and their colleagues, who are no doubt devastated by that loss.

There are people in society, and there always have been, who enjoy the freedoms and the protections that are hard fought for in our liberal democracy but who believe they are above the law; they operate outside the law to the detriment of others. They believe the rule of law doesn't apply to them, and they are un-Australian. They are cowards and, unfortunately, I think they are becoming more frequent. Whether they are political extremists on both ends of the spectrum, whether they are organised crime or whether they are so-called sovereign citizens, they are not true Australians; they are cowards. Our police officers will be there to address these threats and they will do it fairly and in accordance with the law. But they will do it on behalf of every good Australian.

This Police Week, and on Police Remembrance Day, I ask that all Australians stop and consider the great job that our police do for us every day they put on that uniform, every day they go out and represent every good citizen in society, and every day they chance themselves being in some of the most dangerous and dire circumstances on behalf of the people that they serve.

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