Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week was Rural Fire Service Week, and it was a great opportunity to say thank you to about 26,000 Australians who give their time as RFS volunteers. Over the weekend, brigades from South-East Queensland and northern New South Wales gathered on the Gold Coast, where they trained, competed and, quite frankly, showed us how good they actually are. The event on Saturday culminated in an award for the Regional Young Volunteer of the Year for South-East Queensland and for the State Volunteer of the Year. The recipient of both of those awards was a man by the name of Ben Naday, who has been the First Officer of Tallebudgera Valley Rural Fire Brigade for a number of years.

Ben actually joined the Rural Fire Service back in 2009 when he was still at school, so he's spent well over a decade serving his community through the Tallebudgera brigade. I've known Ben for a number of years, and he volunteers not only with the Rural Fire Service but also with Volunteering Gold Coast. Like many volunteers, he contributes a lot. Many of our volunteers in our community contribute to more than one organisation. For the service that our volunteers give to our community and the fact that we don't thank them often enough and that we could not do without them, I'd like to publicly say today: thank you for your service.