Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I had the privilege of attending the presentation of annual awards for the State Emergency Services of the Blue Mountains last week. The SES works closely with the local police, as well as with the Rural Fire Service—another amazing volunteer organisation.

The SES awards recognise not only outstanding service, but also the training that volunteers go through to ensure their skills are up to scratch. And I want to mention John Hughes, the local controller, for his stewardship of the group. Together they spent more than 9000 hours in the last year, responding to 876 storm incidents and took part in 17 searches.

I was proud to present Gay Thornton with her 25-year national clasp and to see John Emdin receive his 15-year national medal and to see Richard Jackson-Hope presented with his 10-year New South Wales SES long-service medal by my colleague, the state member for the Blue Mountains Trish Doyle.

The SES is an organisation of 100 active volunteers with a busy load—with storms, assisting with bushfires and with the inevitable accidents that occur in our World Heritage area. And it might be a surprise to know that our Blue Mountains SES also plans for responding to floods, because even in our mountains we have dams and lakes that could put people at risk in certain circumstances. I think we would have to agree that, with the crazy weather we face these days, we need to be ready for anything—and the Blue Mountains SES is.