Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

In January 2011, devastating floods moved right across my state of Queensland. In my home town of Toowoomba we saw devastation which is unsurpassed in our recent history—although Toowoomba does have a history of floods. For many of us, the face of that disaster was a young man called Jordan Rice, who, with his mum, was swept away in the midst of that horror. The reason I am talking about Jordan Rice tonight is that there has been a petition raised, with over 260,000 signatures in a very short time, to ensure that Jordan's bravery is acknowledged through the bravery awards that we have in our nation.

During that awful period in 2011, both the then Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the then Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott talked about special bravery and the way that Jordan's sacrifice could be used to make us all better people and inspire us. I remember that Julia actually broke down in tears when she remembered the story she heard about Jordan, and Mr Abbott referred specifically to Jordan in a speech that he made in the chamber. I do not often quote Tony Abbott's speeches, but I am prepared to put on record tonight a very beautiful statement that he made at the time:

… of all the acts of heroism, there was none more emblematic of the Australian spirit than that of Jordan Rice, who I think should be to this generation what Simpson and his donkey were to earlier generations: a reminder of the height of selflessness to which individuals can rise. Obviously, it is for others to decide on an appropriate honour to confer upon this young man, but I hope that the Honours Secretariat will at least consider the possibility of a posthumous Cross of Valour for this person who rose so magnificently to a terrible crisis.

John Rice, Jordan's father, had to cope with the loss of his son and his wife; and his younger son Blake was the beneficiary of Jordan's bravery. With that speech from Mr Abbott, hopes were raised that perhaps something could occur to find an award for Jordan's bravery. John Rice has on two occasions put applications through the process to have an award given to Jordan. But on neither occasion has he been able to have the honour conferred, nor has there been any correspondence to indicate why an honour has not been provided. I think that is an issue we should talk about in terms of the whole process of awards. Not to be deterred, Mr Rice, who must be an extraordinary human being to cope with what he has been through, has taken this petition out into the community. There is so much local support in the region, and so many people have now responded and said that we should have a way to acknowledge this young man's bravery. This has been picked up by local media and by national media as well.

Jordan was an ordinary kid, a quiet boy who went to Wilsonton State School in Toowoomba. He faced the most amazing fear. He and his mum were trapped on the top of a car, with raging waters coming down the street, when two men, who themselves showed great bravery, were able to move forward and seek to help the family. This young man, Jordan, actually said to the guys who were there, 'Take my brother first.' By making that decision in that split moment, young Blake was rescued and Jordan and his mum were swept away.

Now that story is truly inspirational. I have now read about all of the honours that are available for bravery—and I have got the paper which talks about the star, the cross of valour and the bravery medal—about extraordinary bravery in the face of difficulty. There is a committee that looks at the nominations and then provides advice to the Governor-General, who has within his delegation the ability to give the award.

We hear all the time about amazing acts of valour and people receiving awards. You read the newspaper and you see what people can do in moments of horror and how they can rise above anything that we can imagine to make decisions which will help and inspire others. I know that it is very difficult and that there are guidelines for what constitutes the award recipients, but this young man—so young at 13—took an act for himself which not only saved the life of his brother, but has also, by that story, become so well known not just in Toowoomba and Queensland, but across Australia. I would think that it would be something that we could celebrate and support, amidst all the other claims for honours and decorations 'recognising acts of bravery by members of the community that unselfishly put themselves in jeopardy to protect the lives or property of others', it would be hard to find why Jordan Rice's act would not be able to be acknowledged in such a way.

The community of Toowoomba have put a memorial in the heart of the city, in a place where the floodwaters rushed through so terrifyingly in January 2011, which acknowledges that we did lose Jordan and his mum that day. Mr Rice himself acknowledges that, but he also thinks that this would be a way—through the acknowledgement of Jordan's act with the award—to commemorate forever the actions of his son, and it would provide part of a legend for all of us. We actually do create our own legends that stand before us to give us hope and inspiration, and I think, particularly for young people, the fact that a young boy was the person who was so brave, who made such a sacrifice and was able to demonstrate 'selflessly putting himself in jeopardy to protect the lives and properties of others' is important.

I believe that Jordan Rice actually does give us that inspiration. I think it is important that we see that, within that local community, so many people have said they agree that it would be an important thing to do. As Mr Rice has said, 'My son's last words were, 'Take my brother first.'' No-one could heal the pain of the Rice family in losing their son and their mother, but what we can do is acknowledge that act—which stood alone, I think—to give us a glint of light in the darkness, particularly as it was raised at the time in our parliament while talking about this particular award, and give hope to the family that this could be something that could occur. We, as parliamentarians, by not intruding in the process at all, could join together and say, 'We think this is something that is important.'

I think that we can acknowledge the bravery of Jordan. We can acknowledge the fact that Blake—the boy that now has his life because of the sacrifice of his brother—would be able to make the statement that he thinks his big brother was the bravest man that he has ever known. On behalf of so many people, I want to put on record that I think that Jordan Rice is a very brave boy, and I think that if there is any way that we can—as a group or individually—make contact to say that we support his being able to have one of the bravery awards just to make this national statement, then it is something that we could do together.

I would think that it is something we could move on. I have written to the Governor-General—and it is not something I have done before—to say that we believe that this is a very brave man and we think that this award would have a very worthy recipient in Jordan Rice from Toowoomba.