Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Sunday, along with my wife, Carolyn, and our daughters, Alex and Jacqui, I attended Ipswich Region Community Church’s day of honour. It is the 10th anniversary of the day of honour, which grew out of senior pastor Mark Edwards’ feelings that Australia had a tendency to overlook the contributions of members of the community. This came about because Mark is the son of a former Deputy Premier and Liberal leader in Queensland, Sir Llew Edwards. Mark felt that our infamous tall poppy syndrome meant that we hesitate to honour those who work in the background and who give their time freely to the community and we hesitate to honour politicians of all parties as well.

People from all walks of life attended—emergency services workers, community volunteers and politicians from three levels of government. When he was asked recently if there was a catch or an agenda to the day of honour, Mark said, ‘No. We honour you. We want to do this on behalf of the community and thank the political leaders and the volunteers for their contribution to the local community.’ Scottish satirical writer, essayist and historian Thomas Carlyle said:

Show me the man you honour, and I will know what kind of man you are …

On that day we particularly honoured a great local community champion in Ipswich, John Bowles. John started the Ripley Valley Rural Fire Brigade with his good mate Jim Runham, who is also a very good friend of mine. The fire brigade was formed in February 1995 in response to the November 1994 fires which occurred in South-East Queensland. John was born and raised in Ipswich and moved to the Ripley area after he married his long-suffering wife, Julianne, and they have raised four children in that area. I want to thank particularly Jan Runham, the wife of Jim, and Julianne, the wife of John, who have put up with their husbands and stood beside them in their work to prevent fires and protect the safety of land holders in the Ripley Valley.

Ipswich Region Community Church thanked John, particularly for his 15 years of service. There are 35 active members in the Ripley Valley Rural Fire Brigade and 15 others who, on a causal basis, give assistance. You can see them all on Anzac Day, Ipswich Festival, the Ipswich Show, the Ipswich children’s hospital day. They are always there helping our local community and standing up for them. They meet regularly to do monthly training sessions and conduct control burn-offs. These burn-offs are done for local landowners in the Ripley Valley for the purpose of hazard reduction. I recently attended the AGM of the Ripley Valley Rural Fire Brigade.

John’s wonderful long-term commitment to the Ipswich community has seen him volunteer for 15 years. His employer deserves credit as well. NQX Freight Systems have given him time off to undertake this work. I want to commend all the employers in Australia who support volunteering within their workforce, and I particularly thank NQX Freight for allowing John Bowles to make this contribution to our community. John stepped down as the First Officer of the Ripley Valley Rural Fire Brigade this year and was honoured and recognised at the AGM as well as at the Ipswich Region Community Church at the Day of Honour for the work he has done. I know that I speak for all the constituents of Blair when I express my deep gratitude and appreciation for John’s considerable contribution to our community over the past 15 years. I offer my congratulations to him, Jim and all the other members of the Ripley Valley Rural Fire Brigade for all the worthwhile and welcome work that they continue to undertake in the Ripley Valley and in the wider Ipswich community.