Tuesday, 3 February 2026

 Mathew HILAKARI (Point Cook) (19:41): It is a privilege to rise and acknowledge our CFA members in the Point Cook community and their efforts in combating the serious fires across the state over the summer so far. I would like to acknowledge Chris Anderson, second lieutenant; Seamus Arch; Glenn Bowden; Bill Garner, the brigade training coordinator; Connor Hogarth-Clarke; Peter Howlett; Taylor Isaacs; Rik King; Doris Lang, third lieutenant; Hoikee ‘Ricky’ Li; Benjamin Loveridge; Angelo Magro, first lieutenant; Ryan O’Leary; Brett Pender; Graeme Prentice; Japinder Sandhu, comms officer; Brett Sausse – I hope I pronounced that correctly, Brett, I apologise otherwise; Renu Sindhu; Andre Smith; James Sun; Garry Sykes, who is on probation – congratulations and thank you for coming out, Garry; Peter Tester, captain; Karthick Thanigaimani, fourth lieutenant; and Emily Watson. They have done such an amazing job heading from the community in Point Cook out to those fire sites. I want to acknowledge your families as well and thank them as well because they assist you and make sure you can actually turn out to these fires, and without them you could not do the job of protecting Victorians. I want to acknowledge all our emergency services: the SES, FRV, Ambulance Victoria, police and all those volunteer communities who have assisted on the fires over this summer. Thank you, thank you, thank you.