Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've thanked many people from my south-west for what they've done to help keep the community safe during the COVID crisis. Today I want to mention the St John Ambulance people and our fire and emergency services—all the volunteer organisations as well as the professional organisations—that were still on the front line throughout this process. The St John Ambulance people still had to go out and attend people and save lives and help our communities face to face when a lot of us were at home because we were being told to isolate and stay away from other people. They were still on the front line, having to do the job to look after us all. So I want to thank our St John Ambulance people, our fire and emergency services as well, and those in the rescue space. We cannot function, particularly in rural and regional communities, without these amazing volunteers. To see them out there in spite of the shutdown and the lockdown, still doing their job, still providing those very core emergency services, was extraordinary. Today I also want to make a special mention of our local police. I've been seriously disturbed by some of the images that I've seen of attacks on our police. Irrespective of what people's views are about so much, I can say that our local police are critical to our local communities. I know personally what they have to deal with. They have to be very special people to do the job that we ask them to do day in and day out. They put their lives at risk every single day, and they do it just to make sure that we stay out of harm's way. Irrespective of what your problem is, especially when you live in small regional and rural communities, it's your local police that you know are there to watch your back. That's the first phone call you make. I cannot thank them enough—my south-west police, every police officer that's out there, and even our AFP officers—for the work that they do. I've said to them how much I value and respect the work they do for us every day.

These are the people who stand between us and those who would do us harm in our community. It can come in many different ways. I know personally, from my conversations with them and seeing some of the injuries that they've sustained over time, what they have to deal with and what this does to them and their families. So in this place I want to make sure that those police officers know that they have our support and that we understand and respect and value what they do every single day and how they stand between us and whatever harm is sought to be done to us every single day. We can rely on them to help to keep each and every community safe. So thank you to every police officer.