Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to highlight the work of a relatively new Sunshine Coast group that goes by the name of Road Trauma Services Queensland. This organisation offers counselling services to victims, family members, friends and witnesses of road accidents. It is quite frightening to think of the massive psychological effect that road trauma has on those who are not prepared for it. It can be truly devastating and debilitating. When a motorist travelling along a highway who witnesses a road crash stops to offer some help to the victims, he or she may be confronted with an unexpectedly gruesome sight. This horrible visual can come back to the person suddenly and when they are completely unprepared. What was to have been an ordinary driving trip can suddenly become an unwanted and unforgettable life-changing event.

Emergency authorities like the police, ambulance and fire department are well aware that witnessing a tragedy can have significant effects on one’s emotions, so these services have counsellors readily available to staff as part of usual operations. Unfortunately, members of the public who suddenly find themselves dealing with a similar shocking and horrific traffic situation do not have ready access to such valuable support services. That is where Road Trauma Services comes in. This organisation has been formed to meet an unmet need. It was recognised by the founders of a similar organisation in Tasmania that people involved in road accidents or people who witness such events often experience emotional and psychological problems, which can often be relieved by sharing, support, information giving or counselling. Road Trauma Services Queensland is meeting the same needs of Queenslanders.

I want to compliment one of the organisers of the Sunshine Coast service—it is intended that this service will go well beyond the Sunshine Coast to other areas of Queensland—my aunt by marriage, my wife’s father’s sister: Mrs Pam Meacle. She was almost killed when she was hit by a car on a pedestrian crossing at Maroochydore some 15 years ago. She was rushed to a Brisbane hospital in the Energex rescue helicopter. The Energex rescue helicopter is a wonderful service. It has saved so many lives in south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales. The whole time she was in the helicopter she was on life support. She was not expected to survive. Pam tells me that it took 12 years of slow recovery, including recovery from a brain injury, before she was right again. Today she is very honest and open about her experience and her predicament. She knows that the motorist who hit her had not intended to do it and that he has also suffered significant psychological trauma as a result of the accident. She is very open minded and a fair person. She feels no animosity towards the man. She actually feels for him and realises that a service like Road Trauma Services Queensland may have been helpful had it been around all those years ago.

I commend the caring individuals who support and push this service, including Queensland police officer Gary Church of the Sunshine Coast Accident Investigation Squad, who has seen these events and effects firsthand. It really is important that the community support this service because this service has the capacity to assist so many people who in the past have simply not had access to the counselling and support services most seriously needed following some road accidents, which seem to happen all too often on our roads not only in south-east Queensland but more generally throughout the nation.

Road Trauma Services Queensland will have a positive impact so it is vital that the expansion of this service to other areas of Queensland be expedited. On behalf of the community I congratulate Mrs Pam Meacle and all those working with her to make sure that Road Trauma Services Queensland is able to perform the valuable role that I know it will perform. In our community we need people like Mrs Pam Meacle who are able to be role models for others, who are able to selflessly give their time, who are able to offer the benefit of their experiences and who are able to make sure that others in similarly traumatic situations receive the assistance that they and people associated with their accident did not receive at the time. I want to commend Road Trauma Services for the wonderful role it plays.

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