Jo Lindgren (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about National Police Remembrance Day, which is held on 29 September every year. Police Remembrance Day is a day in which police services throughout the Australia-Pacific region commemorate fallen officers during Remembrance Day services. It is a significant day for police throughout Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and the Solomon Islands.

The 29th of September is significant because it falls on the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels. Saint Michael is considered their patron because Saint Michael knows what it means to face the threat of evil and imminent danger. Police are in one of a few occupations that face danger on a daily basis. This danger is all the more worse due to the unpredictable nature of some people and situations.

National Police Remembrance Day is a time for us to pause and honour those officers whose lives have been cut short whilst performing their duty. It is also an important time to remember the police officers who have lost their lives through illness or other circumstances.

On the 26 August 1803, Constable Joseph Luker of the Colony of New South Wales was the first police officer recorded in Australian history to have died whilst on duty. He was in fact brutally murdered whilst patrolling Back Row East Sydney Town endeavouring to bring to justice a number of burglars. Since then, a further 756 officers have died on duty or as a result of injuries received on duty. Regrettably, Constable Casey Blain of the Queensland Police Service was the latest name to be added to that list after his death in 2013.

Criminal activity knows no boundaries with officers being killed in their own driveway, as was the case of Assistant Commissioner Colin Winchester of the Australia Federal Police. There are many tragic stories of police dying whilst doing their job, but one in particular was a tragic first. This tragedy occurred on the 27 March 1986, when Australia's first female officer was killed in the line of duty as a result of the Russell Street bombing.

Not all police officers have died as a result of criminal action, but some have died whilst performing their sworn duty. Causes of death include: perished 'for want of water' in remote locations; drowned crossing flooded waterways; mine cave-ins; Industrial accidents; traffic incidents; air crashes; and killed while on peacekeeping operations overseas. Unfortunately, our police officers have died in places from lonely tracks in remote Australia to foreign countries.

The various Australian police services have banded together and created a National Police Memorial, which is located here in Canberra, and is under the stewardship of the Australian Federal Police. I understand that the National Police Memorial and the Honour Roll contain the names of 757 police officers who have been killed on duty or died as a result of their duties.

On 29 September there will be services in many places throughout Australia. In Queensland, there will be services from the Gold Coast to Thursday Island and inland to places such as Charleville, Roma, Cloncurry and Mount Isa. Some will be simple, due to the location and numbers, and others will be a much larger, but all will have the same sentiment.

Police camaraderie is strong even when one leaves the service. An example of this camaraderie was shown recently when the annual Wall to Wall Ride occurred. This is a national annual event that occurs in September. It is an event where officers and friends from all states gather at and depart from their respective service memorials and ride motorcycles to Canberra to gather together to pay their respects to fallen officers. It happens just prior to the National Police Remembrance Day, and this year there were some 1,600 bikes involved. It is a day not only for police and their families; it is a day for all of us, and anybody is welcome to attend those services.

As well as acknowledging those whose names are recorded on the National Police Memorial and other state memorials, I wish to acknowledge those whose names have not been included. They are the Indigenous men of the various pre-Federation police forces who served as native troopers. I hope that their names will be added one day.

I am the wife of a serving police officer, and every time he leaves for work there is a chance that he may not come home. Being a senator does not insulate me from a fate that others have had to endure. I thankfully have not had to answer a late-night knock on the door. Police build strong bonds, and I recall the sombre mood when we heard on the 29 May 2011 of the shooting of Detective Senior Constable Damian Leeding, who passed away a couple of days later from his injuries. His death hit close to home as my husband had worked with him on the Gold Coast a few years before.

I have the greatest respect for all those who have served in the police service and, in particular, those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice on the thin blue line. There are only a few occupations where you run towards danger as others are running away from it. They do a job many of us would be unwilling to do. They see the worst of humanity at times. They put their wellbeing on the line every day when they start a shift. I take this opportunity to place this on the public record. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the men and women on the thin blue line for their dedication and service to their country.