Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that National Police Remembrance Day is observed on 29 September;

(2) acknowledges the significant role police make to our local communities and the high degree of risk and personal sacrifice that comes with their duty;

(3) honours the courage and commitment of the men and women who serve in our state and territory police forces together with the Australian Federal Police, and who dedicate their careers to protecting and serving our community;

(4) remembers the ultimate sacrifice that has been made by police officers who have been killed in the course of their duty, and honours their lives;

(5) commends the good work of Police Legacy, who look after the loved ones of police who have died as a result of their duties; and

(6) reaffirms our support for the nation's 56,000 police officers, and honours their efforts to make a difference, defend our way of life and safeguard the peace and security of our communities.

Each year, 29 September is a significant date for Australian police. It is the feast day of Saint Michael, the Patron Saint of Police Peacekeepers, and the day nationally adopted to commemorate police remembrance. Next year will mark the 30th year of National Police Remembrance Day services being commemorated.

This year it takes on particular significance for police, as they celebrate the 10th anniversary of the National Police Memorial here in Canberra. There was a large turnout at Kings Park and the service was preceded by police from every jurisdiction marching from the Australian Federal Police headquarters across Kings Avenue Bridge to the memorial in Kings Park. The ceremony at the National Police Memorial was attended by the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bill Shorten, and Justice Minister Michael Keenan.

There were seven new names added to the memorial this year, five of them of an historical nature. That brings the total number of names on the wall to 764—from the first death that was recorded, being Constable Joseph Luker in Sydney Town on 26 August 1803, to the most recent death of Sergeant Geoffrey Richardson who died in a police motor vehicle accident while en route to assist colleagues in a police pursuit on 5 March 2016 at Allandale in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales.

For the first time, the memorial now holds the name of a non-service, unsworn employee of New South Wales Police, Curtis Cheng, who was killed on 2 October 2015 in a terrorist incident outside the New South Wales Police headquarters in Parramatta.

Another very important event occurred at the National Police Memorial on 17 September this year. This was the seventh Wall to Wall Ride for Remembrance. I was pleased to ride from Sydney with New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, together with Western Australian Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan, Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart and Northern Territory Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw. This was my seventh ride in this event.

This year saw 2,080 police officers and their supporters riding motorcycles en masse from EPIC on the northern entrance to Canberra, down to Northbourne Avenue, across Commonwealth Avenue Bridge, up to Parliament House, down Kings Avenue and, finally, finishing at the National Police Memorial.

In the first six years of this ride, the PFA, who organise the event each year, has donated $50,000 to Police Legacy, an organisation that does such a wonderful job in looking after the dependants of deceased police officers across the country.

In a very moving speech at the memorial by PFA president Mark Carroll, he summed up the feeling when he said:

Australian police have been sacrificing their lives in the line of duty for more than two centuries. And we've all seen and felt for ourselves just how heartrending those losses are, to shattered families, to grieving friends, to stunned colleagues, even sometimes to strangers.

Of course, when violence and hate and cowardice are behind the loss of our mates, the grief is made all the worse.

Acts of barbarism add so many layers of pain and anger and infuriation.

Ultimately, it becomes such an important task to keep every fallen member in the consciousness and the hearts of the living.

I know that through the wall-to-wall ride for remembrance you as a collective are determined to do that.

The Western Australian police commissioner, Karl O'Callaghan, who also took part in the ride, said this at the service:

This place has become the spiritual home of police in Australia. It is here that we are all reminded of the magnitude and gravity of what we are called to do on a day to day basis. This place means so much to those who have been called to the vocation of policing. We are here because we know it could happen to any one of us.

I say of all those police who have given their lives in the course of their duties: may they rest in peace. We are forever grateful for their service.

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