Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I'm very pleased to rise to speak on this motion and I thank the member for Fowler for acknowledging the significance of Police Remembrance Day. On 31 January 1984 a criminal, whose name shall not be preserved in this place, held up three banks in the inner city of Sydney, the last of them being the Commonwealth Bank at Circular Quay. There, he took three staff hostage and discharged his firearm during a siege. The young male offender emerged from the bank completely surrounded by five hostages. Traffic was chaotic, and police told people to abandon their cars and move away. The offender took that opportunity to direct all the hostages into a stolen vehicle.

The car was pursued to the eastern suburbs and back over the Sydney Harbour Bridge down to Manly and back to the Spit Bridge, which had been closed by the police to prevent the car from proceeding. At this time, Detective Constable First Class Stephen Francis Canellis approached the car with a shotgun, which he knew he could not discharge under the circumstances, and attempted to arrest the offender. At that point, the offender shot Detective Canellis directly between the eyes. Detective Canellis's colleagues immediately fired on the offender, killing him. The hostages, though traumatised, were unharmed. Steve was seriously wounded. The bullet hit his skull and deflected through his throat. It missed the jugular vein and carotid artery, and came to rest in his shoulder. Through the work of medical staff, and perhaps divine intervention, Steve survived.

Later that year, Steve received the New South Wales Police Commissioner's commendation. It read in part: 'Detective Constable First Class Canellis placed himself in a face-to-face situation with the man in an attempt to persuade him to surrender. Notwithstanding the detective constable's brave endeavours, he was fired upon by the offender and sustained serious wounds.' The following year, with the approval of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Steve was awarded a commendation for brave conduct. Steve served for another decade; he would not be identified by this one incident. Sadly, on 18 August 2021, he passed away after complications with treatment for cancer. He was 68. I knew Steve. He was a good man, a good family man. He will be missed by his family, his closest friends and the fellowship.

What Steve did on that day was demonstrative of the bravery of tens of thousands of police officers every day in Australia. Steve was one of the lucky ones. Tragically, each year police officers' lives are lost protecting us and our communities. National Police Remembrance Day, observed on 29 September each year, is our opportunity to reflect and to honour the memory of the brave Australian police who have given their lives in the service of the community. Sadly, this year 10 names will be added to the National Police Memorial wall, three of whom lost their life in the past 12 months: Western Australia Police Force Detective Senior Constable Michael James Cursiter, who lost his life when he had a heart attack following the pursuit of an offender in Perth in November; New South Wales Police Force Senior Constable Kelly Foster, who lost her life while attempting to save a member of the public from drowning at Wollangambe Canyon in New South Wales this year; Queensland Police Service Senior Constable David Masters, who lost his life when he was struck by a stolen vehicle on the Bruce Highway at Burpengary in Queensland in June this year; and seven historical additions from Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the family members. I thank all members, sworn and unsworn, of all our police forces around the nation, and I thank you for your service.

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