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

Today, I seek to remind the House that National Police Remembrance Day is coming up on 29 September. Police remembrance is observed annually on St Michael's Day—St Michael being the patron saint of law enforcement. It is one of the most significant days in the national police calendar. It is a day that we join with our police throughout the country in remembering and honouring those whose lives were tragically cut short in the line of duty. This year, sadly, we remember Senior Constable David James Rixon, who was tragically shot and killed in Tamworth on 2 March this year while conducting a routine traffic stop. Senior Constable Rixon was the only officer killed on duty this year, but his death is one too many. Today, I am wearing a blue and white tie that was struck in honour of Senior Constable Rixon by the Oxley Highway Patrol and the Tamworth Local Area Command. Senior Constable Rixon joined the New South Wales Police at aged 19. During his course of service, he was awarded the Police Medal, the National Medal and the first and second clasps. Only days after his tragic death, Commissioner Scipione presented his wife, Fiona Rixon, with three posthumous awards: the Commissioner's Valour Award for conspicuous merit and exceptional bravery while under fire, the Commissioner's Sesquicentenary Citation and the National Police Service Medal.

The bravery of our police men and women and their dedication to serving and protecting our community should never be taken for granted. We are forever in their debt. We also remember the loved ones left behind, those whose lives have been affected forever with the passing of a partner, a father, mother, brother or sister. We owe it to the fallen to look after their families and, in that respect, I pay particular regard to the efforts and commitment of Police Legacy.

Senior Constable Rixon left behind a loving wife, Fiona, and six children, Ranae, Jemma, Scott, Matthew, Hayley and Patrick, and his mother, on that tragic day, lost her only son. We cannot forget these families. Last weekend, I participated in the Wall to Wall Motorcycle Ride in honour of fallen officers. The ride also raises funds for the important work of Police Legacy. The theme of the ride was 'Remembering our mates'. This year, over 1,200 police officers, their friends and supporters from all over Australia, took part in the ride, which culminated in an assembly in King's Park at the National Police Memorial in Canberra. This year, apart from Senior Constable Rixon, three other names were added to the police memorial in honour of officers killed but who were previously omitted. As my father was a New South Wales police officer, and having grown up in a police family—like the Member for Cook—I have always greatly valued the difficult and all-too-often dangerous work that police can be called upon to undertake. Their selfless commitment to protecting the community was again clearly on display during the inexplicable violence of last weekend.

The Wall to Wall ride left the Domain in Sydney at 8.30 in the morning on a very pleasant Saturday morning; who could have predicted the violence that erupted later that day and in which a number of police officers were seriously injured? This demonstrates the unpredictability of police work but also emphasises that police must always be prepared to do what is necessary to protect our community, and that often includes putting themselves in harm's way. By its very nature, policing comes with a degree of risk that most of us, thankfully, will never have to face. We, as a community and as a nation, must stand behind our police. We must support the brave men and women who risk their lives on a daily basis in order to protect and serve our community. On behalf of a grateful community and nation, I would like to express my deep appreciation for the commitment and the dedication of those men and women who have the courage to wear the police uniform.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in favour of the motion moved by the member for Fowler, and I commend the member for Fowler who is, as he mentioned, also the son of a police officer who has dedicated his entire working life to serving our community in New South Wales. So I support the motion and I thank the member for Fowler for bringing this motion into this place. In doing so, I acknowledge the many other members in this place who have a connection not only to our police force, as it is now gladly known in New South Wales, but also to those who have an association with police forces around the country, including the member for Solomon, whose husband is a serving member of the Northern Territory Police Force. Of course, the member for Macarthur was a serving member of the New South Wales Police Force before coming to this place. He continues to serve his community in this place in the same way.

I was privileged to have the honour earlier this year to speak in this place on the 150th anniversary of the New South Wales Police Force. On 1 March a sea of blue marched from the Marine Area Command up George Street to Town Hall in Sydney to pay tribute to the longstanding service and commitment of our police force. Our police do vital work that often goes unnoticed, but not unappreciated, in our communities. It is one of those jobs where it is a good day if you have not been called upon by them.

Sadly, as the member for Fowler mentioned in his words today, what we saw in Sydney on the weekend was a bad day. It was a day when New South Wales police had to go and do a very important job, and that was to enforce the law. Laws were broken on the weekend. There is one rule, there is one law, for all Australians in this country, and all Australians, regardless of our heritage, must respect those laws. Where those rules and laws are broken, the good men and women of the New South Wales Police Force and forces in other places will be called upon by us to go and enforce those laws, as they did on the weekend—at great risk of injury to themselves. I am sure I speak for all members of this place in condemning what we saw on the weekend—not just the violence, not just the nature of the protest, but the tone of that protest and the unspeakable things that children were holding up as signs. It is our police who we ask to go and stand up for us on these occasions, as they have in so many difficult situations in the past.

Policing is a distinguished job, and I know well the pride felt by those who wear the uniform, men and women who daily risk their own safety to protect our communities. In this place I particularly recognise the work of our local officers in the shire, Superintendent Julian Griffiths of the Sutherland Local Area Command, and Superintendent Greg Antonjuk of the Miranda Local Area Command who lead a sterling team. The Sutherland LAC numbers 143 officers, and 126 officers work out of the Miranda LAC.

As the member for Fowler has mentioned, I also pay my respects and give honour to those who have lost their lives in the service of our community in New South Wales. Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, I think the finest commissioner to ever wear the hat, said at the weekend that in New South Wales alone we have lost 251 officers over the last 150 years.

Senior Constable Rixon was the last to have been tragically lost to us, in that incident in Tamworth in March this year when he was shot by an offender who had a weapon that they had been able to purchase. It had found its way into their hand and, on that fateful day, was fired into Senior Constable Rixon, whose family must live with the consequences of that fateful day for the rest of their lives. As a member of a police family, my heart goes out to them and the too many officers who have fallen in the line of duty on our behalf over all of these years. The families are protected by those who served in uniform. They try to keep their stories away from their families, as I know in my own case, but we respect them. We love them and thank them for what they do, and the honour they give to the names of our own families when they go and do this: not just in the name of the New South Wales Police Force but also as our fathers, our brothers, our sisters, our uncles, our aunts, our nephews, our nieces, our sons and our daughters. They do an extraordinary job on behalf of all of us.

I really do thank the member for Fowler for once again, as he has done on so many occasions, bringing motions such as this one into this place to ensure that we recognise them in the way that we do. We will have to call on them many, many more times in the future, as we all know. I am just very thankful that there are men and women in our community who are still, despite the risk, prepared to stand up and serve our community as police officers in New South Wales.

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

It is an honour to stand and support this motion about the National Police Remembrance Day. I also thank the member for Fowler for the motions he brings before this House, but importantly the work he continues to do advocating on behalf of our men and women who serve as police officers across this country. We all need to remember the sacrifice that these men and women make and the risks that they take. It was only last week that my 12-year-old daughter said to me, 'Mummy, do you ever worry about dad not coming home?' He is a police officer. It is the first time she has ever asked this question. I responded: 'No, because I know he is well trained and daddy knows what he is doing. He is also supported by his fellow police men and women who work with him, and he is doing a very, very important job for our community.'

I just want to acknowledge, as we lead up to the National Police Remembrance Day on 29 September, all those men and women who serve. I know personally, whether it is simply pulling over a car on the highway or whether it is knocking on someone's door, the police are well aware of the risks that they face on what might seem like a pretty simple task to the broader community. What we saw on the weekend was that our police service is there to serve in so many ways, including where protests get out of hand and are violent.

The violent riots and protests that we saw on the weekend are just inexcusable in a free democratic society like ours. Of course we should have free speech. Of course we should have the right to protest. But that should be done in a respectful way and never, ever should we condone violence. Eight police officers were injured on the weekend because of those protests and that should never be condoned by any community, any religion. I know that the broader Islamic community do not support that action either.

In the short time I have today, I want to acknowledge the most recent tragic losses of life: Senior Constable David James Rixon from Tamworth in March this year and Senior Constable Damian Leeding, who we lost just over a year ago in Queensland. I know it has been over a year since his passing, but I want to assure his family, his wife and his children, that they remain in our thoughts always. I thank Police Legacy for the work they do in supporting families when there is a tragic loss. I know they do a lot of work to support those families. On 28 September this year, the National Police Remembrance Day will be recognised at the Canberra National Police Memorial. On that day there will be 754 names on that memorial. We need to stop and remember our fallen colleagues on that day.

I want to thank the 1,200 police officers who participated in the wall-to-wall ride last weekend. It is fantastic that so many people went out and supported them. I know it was not just police officers; the member for Fowler has commented that he participated. That is fantastic that so many people came out to recognise not just our fallen police officers but, of course, the great work that our serving police officers do every single day in our community.

On 29 September the Queensland Police Service will be holding services. There will be a Brisbane National Police Remembrance Day candlelight vigil. This will be held at the Police Memorial in George Street, Brisbane, on Thursday, 27 September, commencing at 7 pm and also the Brisbane National Police Remembrance Day Memorial Service will be held at Albert Street Uniting Church in Anne Street, Brisbane, on Friday, 28 September, commencing at 10 am. The church service will be preceded by a march from police headquarters to Albert Street Uniting Church at 9.15 am and I encourage Queenslanders to go out and support that march and that service and to recognise the great service of the men and women.

On behalf of all the families—I know it is not just the serving police officers; it is their wives, their husbands, their family members and their children—we do recognise the great work they do. Our broader community recognises the great work they do. We need to recognise that they are our protectors, they are our heroes in our local communities and they do an amazing job. On 29 September we should all stop and remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in protecting our communities.

Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak to the motion proposed by the member for Fowler on National Police Remembrance Day. We are a tolerant society and we are an understanding society. We are that way due to, in no small part, the work done in our communities by each state and territory police service. We saw, only over the weekend, how police officers were attacked by a bunch of thugs reacting to something which happened overseas and flouting the laws of this land in protest. That our police were there and held the line and did not retaliate in the way many people in this country may have wished speaks volumes about the integrity of the men and women who form our police services. It is a very dangerous job and one where the people, in taking on the career, were made very aware of the dangers. But they are fine with that, because they have the training and the equipment and the partners to deal with each moment. It is the families of police officers who are left to worry. It is the children of police officers, as we have just heard from the member for Petrie, and it is the children of our ADF personnel, who have, on too many occasions, been forced to go without a loving dad or mum.

In Townsville we have the North Queensland Police Academy, and I am pleased to hear that the LNP government of Queensland is producing more cops for the beats in Queensland. The Queensland Police Service takes the safety of its members very seriously and works towards the day when there will be no lives lost at all. That is the goal. My city has a very good relationship with the Queensland Police Service. In fact, the Townsville Bulletin awards a special copper every year with its Townsville Bulletin North Queensland Police Officer of the Year Award. This year it was won by Detective Sergeant Mark Hogenelst from Charters Towers. I only met him briefly to congratulate him, but he must be a super bloke and a great copper. He beat Senior Sergeant John Tantalo from Halifax Police Station and Brad Gough from Deeragun and Rollingstone police stations. I know Brad mainly by reputation. If he is not having his head shaved for a cure, he is running raffles at the Rollingstone pub, raising money for some community and, in particular, the Rollingstone and Mutarnee state schools. All this is done on his days off. He, like so many of our police men and women, has been in the service for a long time. Brad has over 30 years of service. The previous winner of this award was from Palm Island. So being a policeman is not just a big city job; it is a regional and rural job as well and they take their job all over the place.

We want our police to hold the values of our society at their core. We want our police to hold the attributes of integrity, fairness, equity, professionalism and confidence as a mirror to how we want our own communities to be viewed. Too often we hear of police officers being spat on and worse. To meet with the men and women of our police service is to meet mums and dads from our schools and our sporting and community clubs. But they have to go into places where we never have to venture. They have to deal with people who take, without thought of consequences.

I am an auctioneer by trade and I always say that auctions are you meet the best of people and the worst of people. In the police service you could probably say the same. They are the first in when there is any sort of trouble and we expect them to hold a higher account of themselves than others would. To retiring Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson I say thank you for a job well done. To his successor, Ian Stewart, I wish you well and I know that the welfare of your officers is at your call. So whether it is standing on the side of the road making sure that we are not killing each other on the highways, whether it is patrolling up and down Flinders Street East in the middle of the night making sure two drunks do not kill themselves as they go around punching walls, our police are out there to help us—and that should be remembered.

I pay tribute to the hardworking men and women of Queensland and Australia's police services. I look forward to 29 September when we can show our respects, in two weeks. I pay great respect to those people who have lost their lives while carrying out their duty. I extend my heartfelt condolences to the families who have lost someone in the line of duty.

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this very important motion which observes and acknowledges National Police Remembrance Day. Each year across Australia National Police Remembrance Day is observed at services held on 29 September. It is on this day that we gather to remember those sacrifices made by so many police officers over the years. It is a very significant day of commemoration when people can reflect on each individual police force and remember those officers who have been killed very tragically whilst on duty.

As a former police officer, I was very pleased to be able to speak on this motion to acknowledge the outstanding work of our police forces right across the country and the challenges faced by a police. Whilst we often hear people talk about policing and that when working in the police you often see the worst of people, that often is true. I was in general duties where you are often in situations where you do see the worst of people. I think it is important to remember you also see the very best of people at times—individual members of our communities as well as your mates and other police officers—because you are relying on someone 100 per cent. It is fair to say you do see the worst and the best of people when you are in police work.

On National Police Remembrance Day we pause to ponder the lives and memories of those fine men and women who in serving and protecting our community had their lives tragically cut short. Whilst the day is a very significant day for police and police families, it is also a very important time for the community to gather and to reflect upon the invaluable service rendered by all of our police members. The community also feels the massive devastation and loss when a police officer's life is taken, so it is an important occasion for them to express their condolences and their thanks to our police services. We must not forget the everyday sacrifices these men and women make to ensure that our families and our lives are kept safe day after day. That is why we are indebted to them and why the National Police Remembrance Day is so very important for our communities.

It is also important that on that day we acknowledge the pivotal role that police play in our community. It is not only the great sacrifice and risk that comes with the job but what an integral part of the community police are. That is true of police right across the country. I would like to reflect on the very special role police play in rural and regional areas where they are a very integrated part of their communities and have family linkages with so many groups, as do their families. Indeed, their families become a part of the wider community wherever they are stationed.

It is important to reflect on the history of the day. National Police Remembrance Day was instigated in April 1989, during the Conference of Commissioners of Police of Australasia and the South West Pacific Region. It was unanimously agreed that the service would be held on 29 September which is the day of Saint Michael, the patron saint of police. The National Police Memorial was opened in 2006 with the names of fallen officers inscribed in brass touchstones, including the respective officer's rank, name, jurisdiction and place and date of death. Of course, these names date back to the 1803 death of Constable Joseph Luker in Sydney. Last year, on the 29 September 2011, two names were added. Those two names are Sergeant Daniel Stiller and Detective Senior Constable Damian Leeding, both from Queensland. As a former Queensland police officer, I again express my condolences. Being located very close to the Gold Coast and as a former Gold Coast police officer, we share in our thoughts and prayers all of Damian Leeding's family and the great tragedy that occurred.

This year we take the time to remember Senior Constable David James Rixon who was shot and tragically killed in Tamworth on 2 March this year. David Rixon was a highway patrol officer who joined the New South Wales Police Force in 1990. He is survived by his wife, Fiona, and their six children. It is important to note that he spent more than half his life protecting the community. On this day our thoughts are also with those family members who have lost their loved ones and we certainly have them in our thoughts as well. We also acknowledge and thank the great work of Police Legacy, which many people have spoken about today. I note the member for Fowler spoke about the wall-to-wall motor cycle ride to raise valuable funds for Legacy. It was wonderful to have 1,200 people involved in such an outstanding community event, and we must always remember the great work that Legacy does.

In closing I would like to thank all of those wonderful police officers in my electorate of Richmond on the North Coast of New South Wales. They do an incredible job, often under very difficult circumstances, just by the very nature of our community and the large number of holiday-makers there. It is a very busy time for them most of the year, but they do a great job and I would certainly like to pass on my congratulations to them. I also look forward to meeting up with them on National Police Remembrance Day. I will join with them in remembering the dedication of all of our police officers when we have a joint commemoration service between Queensland and New South Wales.

Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise also to support this motion which supports National Police Remembrance Day, which in Victoria we commemorate as Blue Ribbon Day. This day was instigated in 1989 and is held on 29 September which is the feast day of Saint Michael, who is the patron saint of police. The Christian tradition recognises Saint Michael as a representative of many virtues and a spiritual warrior in conflict with evil. This motion and the day it observes provides an opportunity for us to honour all police who live their lives in service of our community and especially those who have given their lives serving the Australian and south-west Pacific communities.

Across Australia over 56,000 men and women daily put their lives in jeopardy, in the course of duty, to create a safe and peaceful nation where we can live our lives, raise our children, conduct our businesses and seek peace and justice in a well-ordered society. On National Police Remembrance Day, or Blue Ribbon Day, we particularly remember the 750 Australia police officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty—157 of whom were from Victoria. We pay tribute to them and their loved ones. Each member killed in the line of duty has meant that someone has lost a father, or a mother, or a husband, or a wife, or a son, or a daughter, or a brother, or a sister or a friend. We stop and we reflect and we remember each one of those people and we offer our condolences to those family members and friends who are left behind and who will still be grieving for their lost loved one.

Tragically three more police officers have been killed in the line of duty since 29 September last year: Senior Constable David James Rixon from Tamworth and Queensland police officers, Sergeant Daniel Stiller and Detective Senior Constable Damian Leeding. We pay particular tribute for the service of those three police officers and acknowledge the families of those police officers also. Could I also during this motion pay a particular tribute to Senior Constable Tony Clarke, who was from my electorate and tragically died in 2005. He was a member of the Knox Regional Traffic Task Unit that was on patrol on the Warburton Highway. It is alleged that he intercepted a vehicle and was about to administer a breath test when at some point the driver of the vehicle managed to take possession of his weapon and shot Constable Clarke in the process. That occurred back on 24 April 2005 and, being the representative for that area, I would like to pay tribute to his family on this day.

As well as remembering those fallen police officers through this motion, and on 29 September, we give thanks to all of the police men and women from across this country, all 56,000 of them—and 12,500 from Victoria. I particularly give thanks to police officers in my electorate, and I acknowledge the work of the Knox Police Station officers, which are ably led by Senior Sergeant John Hess and Senior Sergeant Phil Edmunds. I also acknowledge the work of the Rowville Police Station and the Boronia Police Station, led by Senior Sergeant Peter Trichias and Senior Sergeant Cliff Sunderland respectively. I give my personal thanks to the work of those men and women in those police stations. I have got to know many of them personally. I see them around the community regularly. They act with great professionalism and with great dignity, and they have a very visible presence in my electorate of Aston. I would like to pay tribute to them as well through this motion.

In conclusion, I refer back to the Blue Ribbon Foundation and note what they say on their website, which I would like to conclude with. They say:

157 … Police Officers have paid the ultimate sacrifice for their community.

We can do nothing to bring them back but as a grateful community we can take steps to honour their memory and ensure their sacrifice is acknowledged …

I hope that this motion of the federal parliament contributes to this aim.

Debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 13 : 31 to 16 : 00