Tuesday, 8 September 2026

 Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (13:05): I rise today to pay tribute to the volunteers who support our communities each and every day of the year, whether they are helping out at the local charity op shop, at Vinnies, the Salvation Army, Red Cross or any other social charity, or the CWA, Apex, Lions, Rotary or other service clubs, at the local footy and netball club, soccer, cricket, basketball or hockey club, as parents at gymnastics or doing important environmental work like our Field & Game volunteers. But particularly I want to thank emergency services volunteers, including CFA, SES, Australian Volunteer Coast Guard, ambulance community emergency response team members and others. These volunteers put in countless hours training, planning, preparing and responding to emergencies in our communities. It is time away from their families, their workplaces and their farms spent backing their communities, keeping us safe and literally saving lives and properties. Our CFA volunteers in particular play such a large part in virtually every community across Gippsland South – indeed right across the whole state.