Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Any partner of a police officer's worst fears are hearing that their partner, their husband or wife, has been injured or killed on the job. Sonya Leeding's worst fears were realised on Sunday evening when her husband, Senior Constable Damian Leeding, was shot while performing his duties on the Gold Coast. Just in the last 24 hours the family has notified that they are making the very difficult and heart-breaking decision to switch off his life support sometime in the next 24 hours. Mr Leeding's wife, Sonya, is also a police officer and knows better than most the risks associated with the job. Today they are going through a very, very difficult time. Sonya, her son, Hudson, and baby, Grace, are really doing it tough today. This chamber passes on its thoughts. They will be in our hearts. We will be thinking of them today as they face this difficult decision, and also of his colleagues at the Coomera CIB, who I know would also be dealing with this very difficult time in their own way. I will talk in more detail in this House later, but our thoughts are with the family today.