Tuesday, 24 May 2022

State Emergency Service Chelsea unit

Mr RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (19:17): (6373) My adjournment this evening is to the Minister for Emergency Services, and the action I seek is for the minister to update my community on the expected completion of the redevelopment of Chelsea SES unit in Chelsea Heights. Our SES unit do an incredible job of servicing our local community, with dozens of volunteers each and every year servicing our communities in times of flood or accident, and there are a range of other emergency services they support as well. They are an incredible bunch.

Recently we got to celebrate Chelsea SES and all of our SES volunteers as part of Wear Orange Wednesday (WOW). It was a particularly special occasion this year because a very special person in our local community, Kimba Wall, was the ambassador. Kimba has been a wonderful representative in our community for many years. Kimba has been the heart and soul of Chelsea SES along with those volunteers. But this time she became a serving turnout member and is the first serving turnout member that we know of with Down syndrome. She is an inspiration to so many in our community, and if anyone saw those press conferences on Sunday night, she dominated. She was absolutely outstanding; she was beaming. The emergency management commissioner, Andrew Crisp, also was just so proud, but the most proud people were Phil and Maryann Wall, Kimba’s parents, who were as proud as punch to see their daughter become a turnout member of the SES. Of course she has been a supportive member for a long time, but to do turnout and be part of that training was really special. So she was ambassador of Wear Orange Wednesday. You could not turn on a TV channel during the news programs and not see Kimba dominating and in action, and we are so very proud of her. It is one snapshot of a story of many volunteers in our community who give so much.

We are so proud to be part of the $7 million redevelopment of their new premises, which will support them in Chelsea Heights, there on Ashley Park Drive. It was a long journey to get to that point. We made the commitment some years ago, and we have finally got to the point of construction being underway. Lloyd construction are doing that work on the edge of the Mordialloc Freeway. It is a great position there, and it will set them up for the future. It could also be a regional headquarters in times of need when we have any sort of regionalised event—flooding or emergency events. So I place on record my deep appreciation for the Chelsea SES unit and all the work that they do—the hundreds of calls that they respond to and the support and work that they do with our other emergency services partners and agencies. It was a great chance and opportunity to celebrate them recently. I give a massive shout-out to Kimba Wall—you are an absolute superstar. We love your work, and as ambassador for WOW Day this year we thank you for leading that charge, and we wish everyone at the SES all the very best.