Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to draw the attention of the House to the fact that Leading Senior Constable Leanne Drewe was declared the 2008 Macarthur Rotary Police Officer of the Year at the presentation night held on 12 March at the West Leagues Club in Leumeah. This is a major award in the Macarthur region. Several hundred people were in attendance at the award ceremony, including the New South Wales Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, and his predecessor Mr Ken Moroney.

Leading Senior Constable Drewe is an outstanding police officer who enjoys the confidence of her command, the respect of her peers and the appreciation of the public she serves. Leanne is a dedicated police officer who, as a general duties officer, has devoted her career to community policing. Leanne joined the New South Wales Police in 1998 and has always been stationed at Campbelltown local area command. In her role as leading senior constable in general duties, Leanne has been at the forefront of providing an effective policing response to her local community. She is well known for her fair and just approach to policing, her empathy with victims of crime, her firmness in the face of violence. Leanne’s briefs of evidence and police work are consistently of the highest order.

In her role as a leader at the forefront of policing in my community, Leanne provides policing response to two critical areas: the reduction of violent crime in our society and the reduction of anti-social behaviour within the community generally. Leanne, by the way, incredibly manages to cope successfully with the demands of combining family responsibilities with the reality of modern day policing with shift work and all the uncertainty that goes with being an operational police officer. Leanne is renowned for her mentoring of young police and trains those who will be at the forefront in the next generation and serving our community in the noble profession of policing.

Leanne represents what is good about the New South Wales Police Force. I would like to join with the Macarthur Rotary Club in congratulating Leanne on her award. I would also congratulate the Macarthur Rotary Club for recognising the work that police do in effectively looking after the interests of our community. These people—that is, the New South Wales police—generally do make a difference.