Kirsten Livermore (Capricornia, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am delighted to have been advised by the federal Attorney-General that the collaborative effort between the Woorabinda Indigenous community, in my electorate, and the Queensland Ambulance Service to deliver first aid training in that community has been commended in the annual Australian Safer Communities Awards to be presented in Canberra today. The Australian Safer Communities Awards are organised by Emergency Management Australia, which is a division of the Attorney-General’s Department. These awards are conducted in conjunction with the states and recognise best practice and innovation by organisations and individuals that help build safer communities across Australia. The awards cover all aspects of community safety in the context of emergency management, risk assessment, research, education and training, information and knowledge management, prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.

In Canberra today for the award ceremony is Mr Christopher Clarke, the officer in charge of the Queensland Ambulance Service at Woorabinda. Mr Clarke will receive the award from the federal Attorney-General here in Parliament House. The award is presented to Mr Clarke in recognition of the work of his Queensland Ambulance Service team in Woorabinda. The Woorabinda Aboriginal community, of around 1,100 people, has achieved the great record of having one in four adults holding a senior first aid certificate. This achievement is the result of the work of Mr Clarke and his Ambulance Service team. The Woorabinda community is now in a strong position to deal with trauma until Ambulance Service personnel arrive. This is a truly fantastic example to other communities around Australia.

It is worth noting here that the Queensland Ambulance Service is involved in a number of other community projects in Woorabinda, including the very successful baby capsule hiring service, which it operates in conjunction with the Woorabinda childcare service. Anyone in Central Queensland knows that the residents of Woorabinda often have to travel long distances to access services or attend sporting events or visit family in Rockhampton and around the region. It is great to know that they and their little ones can travel in safety.

There is also the ongoing drug and volatile substance misuse program. This program is special because it involves the students from Woorabinda’s Wadja Wadja High School in the program’s production as well as its implementation. Students from the school actually design and produce the messages about the dangers of substance misuse that are distributed to the community as well as the schools in the area.

Mr Clarke and his Queensland ambulance team at Woorabinda deserve the recognition they are receiving today. It is recognition for their efforts in trying to make Woorabinda a safer place to live and for children to grow up. I join with the federal Attorney-General in congratulating this ambulance team.