Wednesday, 27 August 2025

 Tim McCURDY (Ovens Valley) (09:47): Today I rise with a heavy heart and offer my condolences to the families and the friends of the officers that were killed and injured in that incident yesterday in Porepunkah. Those police officers went to work yesterday expecting to come home last night, and two of them did not. They do a sensational job for us. Two of them were from Wangaratta themselves and one from Melbourne. Every day they go out and they keep us safe. I want to offer to the people of Ovens Valley: you have our support. The police resources that are out there now are exceptional, and they are doing the best they can to track down this guy. To the people of Porepunkah, particularly around Porepunkah: stay indoors, stay safe. We have certainly got your back as well. It is a tragedy, a senseless act that words cannot describe, and until this person is caught I encourage everybody in the north-east just to stay vigilant and keep an eye out. The people of Porepunkah did not deserve to have this reputation. They are already saying, ‘We don’t want to be known as the town of the double murder of police.’ Well, it is already too late. There will be a time for healing for the community, but at the moment, today, it is about the families and friends of those officers that we lost yesterday and certainly the one who is in hospital. I just want to let the people of Porepunkah and the Ovens Valley know that we are all thinking of them.