Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the weekend, in Lindsay, we celebrated and honoured the service and bravery of our local rural fire service volunteers who protect our community and our country. I thank every volunteer firefighter for your courage in fighting for our homes and also for our lives when we faced devastating bushfires, particularly in 2019 and 2020.

I would like to acknowledge the members who, having served our community for many years, received medals. Councillor Kevin Crameri, OAM, has been a volunteer firefighter for an extraordinary 61 years. He is with the Llandilo brigade. Stephen Weyman helped form the Orchard Hills brigade in 1970. Stephen Gregory joined the Regentville brigade in 1971. This is an extraordinary number of years serving our community. I also want to note Ricky Burns of Llandilo, Stephen Brown of Orchard Hills, and Pamela Smith and Joshua Smith of Mulgoa brigade. I want to give a shout-out to the Cumberland zone RFS brigades at Berkshire Park, Castlereagh, Llandilo, Londonderry, Luddenham, Mulgoa, Orchard Hills and Regentville.

To all our RFS, I also want to say thank you deeply from my family for saving my sister-in-law and daughter in 2013. Our greatest thanks for everything you do over Christmases, for missing family outings and, in particular, for the hot and dry summer ahead. You have our greatest appreciation.