Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to 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.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, member for Indi. They were beautiful words eloquently spoken, as were your words the other day prior to question time.

Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart and Queensland constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold are sadly seared into the consciousness of a bereaved nation for they have been the victims of recent tragic events where nutters, sovereign citizens and terrorists—call them what you'd like—took their lives in a burst of bullets. This is not right. This is not the way Australia should be. We live in very volatile times. But, when our police officers leave home to go and serve, they should be able to, at the end of the shift, come back home safe and sound. Police officers, like other emergency service personnel, run to danger when others, most of us, would run in the other direction. They are the bravest of the brave, and Australia is very, very well served by our police officers, by our Australian Defence Force personnel, by those who don a uniform and go and fight the good fight for and on behalf of us, by those who serve, by those who protect and by those who save. We should never forget that. Never, ever should we forget that.

I really take exception when the New South Wales police and, indeed, the New South Wales government make a request that is then ignored by an unelected judge, and I refer to Justice Belinda Rigg. Despite the fact that the brave men and women in blue and the leader thereof, the police commissioner, no less, applied for a prohibition order against an individual by the name of Josh Lees, an organiser from the Palestinian Action Group, a professional stirrer, professional protester, who wanted the Sydney Harbour Bridge used for a protest, Justice Belinda Rigg, a faceless unelected official, for whatever reason, decided that she knew better than police. And what did we see? We saw signs of hatred. We saw actions of hatred. We saw the New South Wales police have to call just about every officer they had on duty and others who should've been enjoying a day off, to monitor that particular protest.

Now what have we got? We've got the floodgates open. Everyone wants to protest on the Sydney Harbour Bridge because it's iconic, because it's internationally famous, because it's renowned. And the police are the poor ones who will have to monitor and protect and save and do what they usually do—and they'll do it without complaint. They'll do it because that's what they do in the line of duty. The likes of Justice Belinda Rigg and Lees—I'm not going to say 'Mr' because he doesn't deserve it—should not be running the show. When Premier Chris Minns and the New South Wales police commissioner, the person acting in that role, ask for a determination, they should be listened to.

The four constables I mentioned before, their lives are no different than the lives of Sergeant Michael Kennedy, Constable Thomas Lonigan, Constable Michael Scanlan, Constable Samuel Nelson, Senior Constable Ed Mostyn Webb-Bowen and Sergeant Edmund Parry. Those names, in one sense, will never be lost to history either. They were killed by bushrangers. In Australia, we sometimes romanticise the outlaws of the 19th century. Ned Kelly and his gang killed three Victorian police officers at Stringybark Creek. Samuel Nelson lost his life at Collector, killed by John Dunn. Senior Constable Webb-Bowen lost his life in the battle at Wantabadgery, where the Moonlite gang was holed up. And Sergeant Edmund Parry was shot dead by Johnny Gilbert near Jugiong way back in 1864. They lost their lives in the long line of duty.

As we've heard from the member for Indi, there is a long line of blue that stretches all the way to the Australian National Police Memorial. We will remember them near the end of this month, 29 September. Not only will we remember the service and sacrifice of those who gave their lives; we will reflect upon the dangers of those who go out each and every day to ensure the safety of society, not helped by judges who turn a blind eye to the requests—the decent requests, the honest requests, the sensible demands of the New South Wales Premier and the person tasked with leading the New South Wales Police. That is a great shame. That is to the detriment of society. I don't understand why—particularly in a society which at the moment is very fractured and volatile.

No-one denies people have the right to protest, but, when they are protesting, they do not—absolutely do not—have the right to take placards and pictures of the person responsible for the deaths of those two police officers at Porepunkah, an alpine town in north-east Victoria which at the moment is mourning. I very much adhere to the words of acting South Australian police commissioner Linda Williams, who told ABC radio Adelaide of the charge against the individual who put himself in it for holding a placard showing the alleged police killer. It will now be tested before the courts.

Here is the challenge for those courts: make good on what you should be doing when you took the oath to serve justice, just like our police officers. This individual who held up that placard at the time of volatility in society should be thrown behind bars. Will that person be? There's the test for the courts. There are a few test for the courts at the moment. There's one more local which I won't refer to. People don't have to do much of a Google search to find it. But these are tests for the courts, and we shouldn't be promoting sovereign citizens. They are terrorists. We shouldn't be promoting Nazism. We shouldn't be promoting people who kill our police, our brave officers. I say that as the father of a brave officer.

I can remember one day when Scott Morrison and I had done something particularly noteworthy during a time of crisis in this country. We were reflecting upon it, and my son on that occasion had talked a very vulnerable person out of doing themselves in. I told the then prime minister, and he said, 'That will be far greater than anything we do today or perhaps ever.' That's what police do all the time. It's in their DNA. As parliamentarians, we should be very proud of our police officers. I commend those parliamentarians now who were serving officers in the past. I know that they are now representing and doing their duty in a different space in a different phase of their lives. I thank each and every one of them. I sit beside one of them, the member for Wide Bay.

Thank you to everybody who pulls on a uniform. We honour you, we pay tribute to you and we will always do our very best to uphold what you do for us, and that is to save lives.

Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and Pacific Island Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too am very saddened by the murders of two police officers who very tragically were taken from us. Detective Senior Constable Neal Thompson served an amazing 40 years with Victoria Police, and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart—they were both doing their job in protecting and upholding right. I know about upholding right, because I served 18 in the Victoria Police force. What's happened for these members and their family is very tragic. This is really hurting the brotherhood and sisterhood of Victoria Police at the moment.

One thing I do know is that Victoria Police will not give up. As the search goes on, they will continue and continue until they get their man. Sadly, we saw in some protests—and I note what the member for Riverina said—people holding up placards trying to somehow honour the alleged police murderer. I'm hoping the courts take tough action against that, especially at a time when Victorian police members and their families are grieving, because it is a very close community.

I joined the Victorian police force and graduated in April 1987. Just 12 months before that, we had the most awful bombing, the Russell Street bombing, in March 1986. That was outside the Russell Street police station. Tragically, Constable Angela Taylor was walking past and was killed in that explosion. Minutes beforehand, they had two groups of schoolchildren walking past, and, miraculously, they were spared. It was amazing work that the detectives did at the time. In actual fact, it was a stolen motor vehicle squad. A member went down to Dawson Street, I believe. He was investigating stolen cars on a racket, and he walked past the car which was actually the remains of the car used for the Russell Street bombing. He noticed the serial number had been drilled out in the same way as in his investigation, and that eventually led the police onto charging those responsible. I don't name them because they don't deserve to be named. But, again, it was just to go after the authority of Victoria Police.

As I said, I graduated from the Victoria police force in 1987. In my sister squad, there was a really nice young man by the name of Steve Tynan. Sadly, and again very tragically, in 1988 on Walsh Street, Steve Tynan was murdered along with Damian Eyre. Steve Tynan was 22 years of age and Damian was 20 years of age. They were ambushed, and their firearms were used against them. Steve was a really nice guy and so was Damian, and it really sent shock waves through all those who had graduated and the wider Victorian police force. I'll just say this actually impacts police members right across the country and across the world because it is a very tight-knit family.

Then, in 1998, we had a series of pizza shops being targeted. At the time I was seconded to Boronia's criminal investigations branch. I think it was the Pizza Havens being targeted. One night, the armed robbery squad arranged for every Pizza Haven restaurant to be surveilled. Surveillance units were there, and police members and detectives were ready in case the pizza shops were hit. So we were there—me, the detectives and Senior Constable Robert Baker—on the Friday night. We waited there all night, and nothing happened. The operation was called off, and the following night that pizza shop was actually hit. It ended up being the same offender who tragically took the lives of Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller again by setting off a restaurant.

The Victoria Police detectives did an incredible job hunting down those involved. I've actually spoken to undercover police officers involved in that operation. One of their targets was on a building site, and, by the end of it, every worker on the building site was an undercover police officer. The police did incredible work to get their man at the end of the day. When it comes to serving, police members uphold the right. As we were told years ago at the academy, criminals don't have to decide what force they need to use and they don't need to think about internal investigations.

Especially in this awful murder recently and these other ones I'm talking about, when police members are ambushed there's pretty much nothing they can do. They're not prepared for that. In the raids I've done in my day in Victoria Police, especially with the organised crime squad, we were always very much armed and ready to go, firearms drawn. Most police members, especially in the regions, aren't like that, because they're not used to dealing with the most violent offenders. That's a good thing but also a bad thing. The good thing is that the public see the police go in there without firearms drawn. The danger is that, if they need to draw them, the offender has the upper hand.

I say to my former Victoria Police colleagues and especially all those new recruits going through that this is a very tough time for the Victorian police family and all police. They'll stand firm, they'll work together and they'll get their man. We just hope the police get a lot more support. I note the comments of the member for Riverina when it comes to the judiciary. We need the Victorian state Labor government to very much stand with Victoria Police and take very strong action against those who take on the police and assault police. Sadly, I've been told in recent times by my friends in Victoria Police that, whereas in my day you'd be in a police pursuit and the person or the group of youths would take off and you'd abandon the pursuit and let them get away, these days they actually turn around and ram the police car. When you've seen some of those riots and you have so many people, including youth gangs, attacking Victoria Police, there need to be very strong penalties. We need to uphold the law. 'Tenez le droit' means 'Uphold the right'. Victoria Police uphold the right, but we need the courts to uphold the law for those who target and attack our police.

Again, may all those fallen members rest in peace. When it comes to Police Remembrance Day and Police Legacy, I've been to Police Legacy events. Don't think that the tragedy and the pain just diminish every year. The partners go along there—the former wives or the former husbands. It's very sad. You see the kids.

I will just make one final point: there have been way too many members taking their own lives. They need all the support. It's what they've seen, especially those in the child exploitation units. They see the most ghastly things. I was very lucky; I never worked in that area in Victoria Police. For the members who have, what they tell me they have seen—I was speaking the other day to a member who contacted me after, believe it or not, he was arrested by Victoria Police for arresting a person committing graffiti in Upwey. The police member was arrested, but not the guy doing the graffiti. It was good the case was eventually withdrawn, but, as that member told me, he went out sick simply because of the awful child abuse material he used to see. Again, may all those former members rest in peace.