Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

On 2 October, a gunman callously shot down a member of the civilian police workforce, Curtis Cheng, a 17-year veteran of the Police Force, working in the finance department. That day, 2 October, he went to work and he did not go home—lost forever to his wife, Selena, and his children, Alpha and Zilvia, and the many people who knew and loved him over those 17 years. I give my sincere condolences to his family and his friends, to all who knew him and all who will miss him as the years pass.

I also acknowledge the extraordinary bravery of the special constable who ran out from behind cover that day, without body armour, and faced the gunman alone and eventually killed him. Special constables are not actually listed members of the police force; they are a separate group, and they do the security here as well as around the police headquarters in Parramatta. We ask these men and women in the civilian services to see terrible things, and occasionally to do terrible things. This special constable on 2 October did one of those things for us, to make us safe: he actually shot a 15-year-old boy. Nobody goes to work expecting to do that. Our policemen, although they are trained to do it, do not expect to have to do that, and there are consequences, personal consequences, for people who do that on our behalf. I would like this place to recognise the extraordinary contribution that that man made, the sacrifices he made for us that day to keep us safe. Thank you to the special constable.

I would also like to speak briefly about the family of the 15-year-old, Farhad Jabar. We do not know yet the circumstances of Farhad and his family—the police are still investigating—but a family lost their son that day, and if we do not act strongly to counter radicalisation across our communities, other families will, unexpectedly in many cases, lose their sons in the same way. We have quite a responsibility, as a parliament, to ensure that our communities feel connected, that young people who start to wander from the path are supported by friends and family in the first instance and by security and police later on if things go to far. We have an extraordinary responsibility to find ways to support the young people in our community who may find themselves wandering from the path that we want them to walk. This young boy, incredibly sadly, was seduced by false beliefs and did a terrible thing that day and paid the ultimate price himself. Let us hope we do not have more young people following the same path.

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