Simon Kennedy (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to congratulate the members of the police who received awards at the Sutherland Shire Police Area Command medals and awards ceremony. The following officers received the National Police Service Medal for 15 years of police service: Sergeant Trisha Laughlin, Sergeant Peter Wilkes, Leading Senior Constable Casey Beldon and Leading Senior Constable Mark Johnstone. The following officers received the National Medal for 15 years of service by members of recognised government and voluntary organisations that risk their lives to protect the community: Sergeant Trisha Laughlin, Sergeant Peter Wilkes, Leading Senior Constable Casey Beldon and Leading Senior Constable Mark Johnstone. The following officers received the first clasp to the National Medal: Detective Sergeant Jane Scrivens, Sergeant Matthew Hecimovic and Sergeant Richard Hill. The following individuals received the New South Wales Police Medallion for 10 years awarded to civilian employees for service: Jessica Clifford and Sharon Hamling. Thank you for your service to our community, state and country.

I'd also like to recognise the Wanda SLSC Tradies One Club Carnival. The Wanda Surf Life Saving Club held their ninth annual Tradies One Club Carnival on Saturday 26 October. There were 1,250 competitors from 25 surf clubs and hundreds of family members in attendance. I'd like to thank the 150 local volunteers of the Cook community who helped out on that day. I would also like to recognise and thank the following members of the Wanda carnival committee, who put in many hours managing and delivering this event in challenging surf and seas: Fiona Sutton, president of the Wanda Surf Life Saving Club; Greg Allum AM, the chair of the organising committee; Mark Sargeant, club patron; Greg Pierce, director of surf sports; Dean Slater, director of the junior activities group; and Dave McGrath, surf boat coordinator. The overall carnival honours went to the hosts, Wanda SLSC. Congratulations to you. They won the tradie's trophy with the highest point score of 665 points. They were followed by Cronulla Surf Lifesaving Club who came second, then North Cronulla came fifth and Elouera came sixth. That was a great performance from the four Bate Bay clubs of Cook.

Finally, I'd like to recognise Taylor Harding. Taylor is a year 11 student at Kirrawee High School who won first place in the national My First Speech competition. Her speech was on reducing the exploitation experienced by children, with a focus on reducing harm created by the online exploitation of children. It was great to speak with Taylor and her mum, Justine, yesterday. I look forward to her career. Maybe one day we'll see her serving the community of Cook in politics. To Taylor and to Kirrawee High School: well done.