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

I rise to speak on National Police Remembrance Day, ahead of the 29 September commemoration time. Across Australia, thousands of people don the blue uniform in a commitment to the safety of our communities. They take an oath to protect us, putting the safety of others above themselves. This is a courageous pledge; this is a selfless pledge.

In regional communities such as mine, you'll often find the local police taking an active role in the community, both in uniform and out of uniform. They visit day cares and schools and stop by local sporting and community events to bring visibility to their work and forge long-term relationships with locals. Local police are often footy coaches or netball coaches. They're out and about; they're part of us; they are our friends.

In my former life as a nurse a long time ago, I worked in the emergency department at St Vincent's Hospital, and there I forged many friendships with the police who came in, in the most difficult of circumstances. Those police officers stood by me as a young nurse; they stood by my other nursing colleagues, the junior doctors and all of the support staff in what was a very hectic and difficult situation at St V's in Fitzroy. Then, some years later, I was working in a tiny rural bush nursing hospital. There, the local policeman, who lived in Chilton, where I did, became a firm friend and a valued colleague—someone who was always there at the end of the phone when I needed him. I have to say, unfortunately, I often needed him.

In communities such as mine, local police, as I'm showing you, are very much a part of us. The work of police can be gruelling. It can be complex and, as we know, too often it can be risky. It requires not just the highest level of training, discipline and physical resilience; it takes mental resilience too. It's not just the police officers themselves who need to have this resilience but also their families. Police officers are often the first responders to tragic events. Again, in rural and regional communities such as mine, all too often the events that they're responding to are events that involve people that they may well know. As we learn too often, and as we will commemorate on 29 September, too many times our police officers are the victims of tragedy themselves.

On 29 September, we will remember members of the police force who have passed away over the past 12 months. Their names, tragically, will be added to the memorial roll, and across the nation Australians will stand in solidarity in their honour. Most tragically, and so close to home, two new names will be added to this memorial honour roll. In the coming days, the families, friends and colleagues of Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart will pay their final respects and farewell two fine members of the Victoria Police.

It's been a little over a week since an unspeakable tragedy unfolded in my electorate, in the beautiful, idyllic alpine town of Porepunkah—a town that was forever changed by an unspeakable event that no-one could ever have possibly imagined. The communities across Indi, particularly across Wangaratta and the Alpine Valleys, are in mourning. They're in shock, and they are experiencing deep sadness and disbelief. It's brought into sharp focus, for me personally and for the people I represent, the extraordinary risk our police face every day to keep us safe. Really it's a risk that we take for granted as we go about our lives, but it came into stark relief for us just over a week ago.

Over the past week, we've seen the community respond with love and solidarity for our police officers. Countless people have visited the Wangaratta and Wodonga police stations. They are coming in droves. They're laying flowers in memory of these two members. They're bringing food, their friendship and their solidarity. Even if they did not know these police officers, they know the police.

Emergency services and SES crews, firies and ambos stood the other night in the pouring rain. They stood in silence; they stood in honour of their fallen friends and colleagues. Right across Australia, and indeed all across little towns in my electorate, we've seen buildings lit up in blue. We've seen the water towers of Wodonga and Wangaratta shine brightly in blue, at the same time that 480-plus police officers and emergency services crews comb the mountainous terrain around Mount Buffalo to seek the person allegedly responsible for the heinous crime that happened in Porepunkah.

As the police operation continues, I say to police officers all over Australia and most especially to the police officers in my own patch—on behalf of my community, we stand in solidarity with you, and we will always stand in solidarity with you. We will stand with you on 29 September on National Police Remembrance Day in memory of all the lives lost, and we will stand with you on 29 September, in particular, with Neal and Vadim's names so firmly in our minds.

So to all police officers and their families—and I note the member for Riverina is here, who is a family member of a serving police officer, and I thank him and his family for the way they support their son and for the sacrifice that they make in holding the anxiety that comes with being not only a proud parent of a police officer but one who knows all too well the risks that their son or daughter has taken on behalf of us. I thank you and so many like you. To all police officers: thank you for what you do. Thank you for standing before us, with us and amongst us and thank you for standing in situations that not one of us would ever have to face. I honour you and I respect you. I pledge that my solidarity and support are with you always.

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