House debates

Monday, 18 April 2016

Statements by Members

Kingsford Smith Electorate: Rotary Police Awards

1:51 pm

Photo of Matt ThistlethwaiteMatt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | | Hansard source

Last Wednesday I was fortunate to attend the annual Rotary police awards at the Prince Henry Centre in Little Bay in our community. Now in their sixth year, the awards continue to provide a great opportunity to recognise and thank our local police officers from Botany Bay and Eastern Beaches local area commands for their heroism and outstanding commitment to our community. This year's event was again a great success, with approximately 180 police officers, including 36 finalists in various categories, Rotarians and community leaders in attendance.

I would like to extend on behalf of our community congratulations to Sergeant Natalie Howard-Tarn from Eastern Beaches command and Sergeant Nicole Roache from Botany Bay command for being named Police Officer of the Year for their respective commands. It was wonderful to see two women being awarded the top accolades on the evening. That was a great reflection of the number of women who were nominated in various categories and received awards in other areas. I would also like to acknowledge Community Officers of the Year, Constable Andrew Carter from Eastern Beaches and Senior Constable Stephen Lamberth from Botany Bay.

A big thank you to the event sponsors, Randwick City and Botany Bay councils, as well as Royal Randwick Shopping Centre, The Juniors, our community newspaper the Southern Courier and, of course, the tremendous local Rotarians for making this fantastic event possible and for the wonderful work that Rotary do in supporting our community.