Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to acknowledge and thank the men and women of New South Wales State Emergency Service. These people are volunteers. They have to go through significant training, and it's particularly relevant that I am speaking about them at a time when we are unfortunately heading again into the bushfire season and storm season. Our SES volunteers are often the first on the spot to assist our firies with bushfires, they rescue people in storms, they are out there in all of the elements, and they are volunteers.

I want to speak particularly about three of the great local SES units I have in my electorate of Hughes. First of all, there is the SES unit at Heathcote. Recently, on 12 October, I attended their women-helping-women workshop day where it was all the women SES volunteers. It was also attended by Debbie Platz, who was then the Acting Deputy Commissioner of Operations for the New South Wales SES. On this day, they were showing local women how to build their resilience to properly prepare their homes and respond to storms and severe weather. Often, we leave it in the hands of our men to go up and clean out the gutters and various things. I know that I certainly do in my household. This was very helpful, particularly for women who might be on their own or whose partner may not be able to climb up ladders and things like that. So it was a very helpful day, and it was nice to see the sisterhood there supporting each other. Inspector Gunnar Hardy, the Unit Commander of Liverpool SES, very kindly came out to my EO on 15 November, just recently, with Chris Hack, the Senior Coordinator for Planning and Community, and showed my staff exactly what the unit is doing to get ready for the bushfire season and the upcoming storm season so that we can best help constituents if they do contact us.

Last, but certainly not least, I went out to one of Campbelltown SES Unit's training and muster meetings on 22 October 2024 and met with Inspector Nathan McClelland, who's a unit commander, and Michael van Vree, the deputy unit commander, and about 80 very dedicated SES volunteers who are undergoing their training sessions. So I just want to thank all of the men and women in our SES services across our state.