Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to say that there is one very lucky young man in Beechworth: Ben Dean. Recently Ben went missing and was lost in the forests around Beechworth. As the local paper said, it was a cold, dark rainy night. The family quickly called the police who immediately established a command centre and headquarters in the family kitchen. Communications were severely hampered by the lack of mobile service in the area, so the centre was then transferred to the police station in Beechworth, six kilometres away. But it was all good news. Over 300 of the Beechworth community gathered together. The SES, the police and over 1,000 vehicles went out searching for Ben, and he was found safe and well.

To John McLennan and Ben Hill, thank you very, very much for being the people on the spot. Thank you to all the community who gathered around so well to show that the values of community, connectedness and responsibility are alive and well in Indi. To Ben's mum and dad, Nadia and Charles, and to his sister Elena, what a fantastic welcome to our community. We are so grateful that you were able to put on a thank you barbeque, invite the community and we had such good news.

To all those people who are newcomers to our communities who move from the cities, we give you a huge welcome to our community. You have to pay a little bit of attention. The bush can be very, very dangerous. It is very, very easy to get lost. We are so glad that Ben was found.