Motions
Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (12:34): I rise on behalf of the Nationals and indeed all people from around regional Victoria to pay our respects and extend our condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart. We know that police are critical parts of our communities, and no more so than in regional areas, where they are often the thinnest of thin blue lines, members of our community, members of our social society and absolutely critical parts of particularly smaller communities.
The Leader of the Opposition outlined some of the sporting exploits of Neal Thompson. The Premier has outlined both officers’ contributions, and thank you to the Minister for Police for reading in the specifics of their service, which is important to be on the record and to be remembered. We know that every day these officers have been out there serving us, just as every one of their colleagues has. It is easy sometimes to hear stories on the news and move on, but a story such as this from two weeks ago I think touched us all. What really got me this morning was opening the Age and seeing the photo of Sergeant Lisa Thompson grieving at the service yesterday for her partner, really bringing home that impact on families. As a police officer herself, clearly she is also putting herself at risk every day.
We know that there are children, wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters every day who do not know whether their loved one is going to come home from the job they do, and this tragedy has brought that home for all of us and for everyone connected to the force in Victoria. I say ‘tragedy’, and it is a tragedy, but also I think that word has connotations of an accident, and this was not an accident. This was a heinous act that we all condemn. Again, I endorse the comments that the Premier made in respect to the ideology and the thoughts that are behind this tragic event.
I extend my thoughts and condolences on behalf of the Nationals to those officers who are still there in the bush today searching. I think regularly in the last couple of weeks we have all thought, ‘This is not a search for a missing bushwalker; this is not a search for a child that has wandered off or someone who wants to be found, who will rejoice in being found. This is dangerous work.’ It could never be more obvious how dangerous this work will be for those officers who are there in the High Country at the moment trying to find the protagonist of this horrible event. We extend our thoughts to them and our best wishes, and we hope that they can bring this sad saga to a safe end and that no more officers will be threatened in the line of work that they are doing. On that, I extend our thoughts also to the third officer who was injured in this horrible event – we wish him a speedy recovery – and to his family and friends as well.
I extend our thoughts to the Police Association Victoria and to Wayne Gatt and his team, who I know mobilised very quickly to support their colleagues in the north-east, and also to the Chief Commissioner of Police Mike Bush. As the Minister for Police indicated, he has only been in the job 10 weeks. No chief commissioner wants to deal with this sort of news, but they all know that it is a possibility in their role. To be dealing with it so early is very difficult for him, and we extend our thoughts to him as well.
I have a family member who has been in the force; in fact he would have graduated from the academy at about the same time as Neal Thompson. He had the privilege last week of representing Victoria Police at a New Zealand graduation ceremony. As the Minister for Police indicated, this is not just an issue that affects Victoria Police. My family member sent a video to us of the graduates from the New Zealand Police force performing a haka, and as they did so they held photos of Neal and Vadim. We thank the New Zealand force for that measure of solidarity. It was touching and incredibly moving in fact to see that wonderful haka on behalf of the New Zealand force sending love across the Tasman to us here.
I would like to also acknowledge the people of Porepunkah and the wider Ovens Valley. This has been a very difficult time for them, and it continues to be a difficult time for those communities. We stand with you and understand that this is difficult, that it is tense and that this is going to potentially go on for a period of time, and again we hope that it is brought to a conclusion quickly. I pay tribute also to the member for Ovens Valley, who has been supporting his community through this and standing, as a good local member does, with them.
This is a reminder not just of the sacrifice of Neal and Vadim but of the sacrifice that every officer undertakes for us every day in upholding the right. We say vale to Detective Leading Senior Constable Thompson and Senior Constable de Waart-Hottart. We thank them for their service. We grieve with their family, their friends and their colleagues. We thank every police officer every day for what they do for us.