Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to acknowledge the dangerous and difficult role of police officers in society. I particularly wish to acknowledge it this month because National Police Remembrance Day is held every year on 29 September to remember all police officers who have died on active service in the line of duty. It is quite a poignant reminder that on Monday this week in my home state of Tasmania a police officer was stabbed whilst attending a disturbance. He was taken to ICU, where he is recovering from his wounds. Acting Sergeant Scott Brierley, the police officer concerned, said that he was ‘lucky to be alive’ and that his ‘injuries could have been a lot worse’. Being stabbed in the back and having two punctured lungs is a serious injury indeed.

I think it is fitting for us as legislators to consider the role and plight of police officers around the country. We should also make sure that the penalties we legislate are absolutely spot on when it comes to deterring violence against police officers in the line of duty, who are actively protecting us and our society. There should be no room for leniency when members of the public commit deliberate acts of violence against police officers.

We should also consider—and I know police jurisdictions do—arming and equipping our police officers with the best and most modern equipment and tools available to pursue their jobs and undertake their duties. I know there is some debate in a number of communities about the use of taser weapons and the like; all I would say is that all jurisdictions should look at the best equipment—to be used in the most appropriate manner—to assist police officers going about their duties. If that means that some equipment inflicts injury on members of the public who want to attack police officers, I think that is a fitting response as a great deterrent measure.

I urge all Australians to spare a thought during this month, and especially on National Police Remembrance Day on 29 September, for those police officers throughout this country and the world who have given their lives protecting their communities and their societies. Having a police remembrance day is a very fitting thing—I believe it is the 11th anniversary this year—and I hope it continues into the future and that it is well supported by the public.