Annette Ellis (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is fitting that I make these comments following the member for McEwen. I had the absolute honour of attending this morning the funeral service for ACT fireman David Balfour. David was a member of my community and lived in my constituency. The service this morning was held at the Holy Family Church in Gowrie. David was given full fire service honours, and hundreds of people from the community gathered to pay their respects to David and his family. David leaves behind his wife, Celia, and his three children, Alison, 14, Daniel, 13, and Frances, 10. In her comments at the service, Celia said—fittingly, bravely and courageously, I think—‘David always wanted to be the first at everything.’ Sadly, he is the first fireperson from the ACT to die in service, and that was an added piece of sadness for us today.

David joined the fire brigade in October 1997. Throughout his career he attained the specialist qualifications of stage 3 urban search and rescue and level 2 rescue. He qualified for the rank of senior firefighter in October 2002. The main reason that he put his hand up to go to Victoria was that he felt very strongly about repaying Canberra’s debt from 2003 of the enormous support that came from Victoria and elsewhere when we saw terrible fire destruction in my electorate. David felt very strongly that he had an opportunity to repay that debt and that is why his hand went up so quickly to go to the Victorian region. Sadly and tragically, David died when a tree fell on him as he was attempting to connect a hose to the back of a fire truck. This was devastating, obviously, for his family but also for the fire service personnel here in Canberra and the people who were serving with him at the time in Victoria.

The ACT Fire Brigade, the ACT Rural Fire Service, the ACT Ambulance Service and the ACT State Emergency Service all paid very high regard to David Balfour for the contribution he made in his short life of 46 years to our community and recognised the contribution that he made and that other colleagues and peers of his from Canberra continue to make in Victoria as we speak today. The service at the Holy Family Church was followed by a flyover from our emergency helicopter service as the cortege left for Woden Cemetery. I am sure the House joins me in sending our sincere sympathies, condolences and best wishes to David Balfour’s family.