Thursday, 2 November 2023

 Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (09:49): On Saturday Reverend Sandy Solomon and the St Luke’s church in Cockatoo held a first responders thanksgiving service. I was honoured to join my federal colleague Jason Wood and the Cardinia council mayor Cr Tammy Radford to join together to give thanks and honour our first responders and their families. Our local CFA and SES volunteers along with paramedics and police are generally the first to respond in our time of need. They give their energy and their time, they face terrible situations, they provide support to people who are traumatised and distraught and they do it all as volunteers. Ben Owen, controller from the Emerald SES, and Marcus Harris, captain of the Cockatoo CFA, were both interviewed. They shared how they managed work, family and volunteering all together. They shared the highs and the lows and what we can do to support them. It would not be an emergency services thanksgiving service if they did not have a call-out halfway through, which they did. Midway through address the beepers went off. There was a tree that had fallen, so half the place cleared out. These people are real-life heroes. We are so thankful for them, and I just hope that their incredible work never goes unnoticed.