David Smith (Bean, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise with a sense of sadness and resolution to speak to this motion. I thank the member for Wide Bay for introducing this motion and acknowledge his service as a police officer before coming into this place. I'd also like to acknowledge the work I've undertaken with him and the member for Tangney as the leaders of the Parliamentary Friends of Policing. I also recognise the member for Cowper and thank him for his service. For me, the three years I've spent representing AFP members have been amongst the most memorable and transformative in my career.

Police Week this year commences on 13 September and culminates with National Police Remembrance Day on 29 September. Later this week, we will recognise the Police Bravery Awards. Police Week and the National Police Memorial Day afford us an opportunity to reflect upon and remember the importance of policing and the sacrifices that those we trust to protect us must sometimes make. For reasons that are entirely clear, the weight of this feels almost unbearable this year.

Each year, in connection with National Police Remembrance Day, we gather at the National Police Memorial across Lake Burley Griffin from here. On the simple yet poignant wall of that memorial is inscribed the names of the police officers who made the ultimate sacrifice, who gave their lives in the protection of their communities. Now we will see the addition of two more names to that sacred wall: Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, alongside Constable Keith Smith. These officers were shot in cold blood in the course of doing their duty, serving a warrant on a dangerous offender in regional Victoria. I pay tribute to those fallen officers as well as those injured. I also pay tribute to the bravery of the officers on the scene who acted with such courage and selflessness. I extend that tribute to those officers who, as we speak, are engaged in the dangerous and treacherous mission to bring the violent and ruthless offender to justice. The deep sorrow and shock felt at this terrible crime is felt most deeply by the family and loved ones of the officers in question. They leave grieving families, but also the loss is immense for their colleagues. The entire community they served will feel the impact of this atrocity.

In thinking about this speech and National Police Remembrance Day, I recalled a contribution made by the member for Wide Bay in the House on 15 December 2022 after the murder of Constable Rachel McCrow and Constable Matthew Arnold at Wieambilla in Queensland. The member said, reflecting on his own response as a former police officer to that terrible violence:

You're a part of the community. You keep order. You help people. They rely on you and you rely on them. That's policing in Australia, and I think that is part of why this has struck so deep. Attacks like this, they attack the very fabric of who we are.

That is the crux of this outrage. It's not just simply an attack by a criminal on police; it's an attack on who we are. An attack on those meant to protect us is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on Australia. It is sad and emotional that this Police Week carries enhanced meaning because of this terrible violence and loss of life. I'd like to recognise the member for Richmond, who has just come into the Chamber, and her service to her community.

To the families of Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, I offer my deepest and most sincere condolences. There is nothing I nor anyone else can say that will take away your pain, but I can say with confidence that this House, this parliament and the entire nation stand with you in this time of grief. I say to my colleagues here, as lawmakers and leaders, let us work together to ensure that future National Police Remembrance Days are occasions of reflection and remembrance and not raw grief. Let us work together to ensure that gratuitous violence like this does not occur again.

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