Tuesday, 30 July 2024

Ministers statements: Junior Triple Zero Hero Awards

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (13:39): Today I rise to speak about one of my favourite events of the year – it trumps Christmas – the Junior Triple Zero Hero Awards. It is now in its 20th year. The awards recognise young heroes who are nominated by their Triple Zero Victoria (TZV) call takers for their courage and composure in emergencies. I had the honour of presenting 21 young heroes aged between four and 12 with their medals last week. Each of them were cool, calm and clear in a really scary situation; in every instance they were just so brave.

A young man named Ace – he was four when he called 000. His mum was having a severe asthma attack. He was so cute. He had been learning about 000 calls at kindergarten, and his mum had done a great job in reinforcing those messages at home, so he knew what to do. Speaking to his TZV call taker Kate, he told her, ‘Mum’s asthma is sore and her chest is hurting.’ He remained calm, followed instructions, unlocked the front door to allow the paramedics inside to help and watched and stayed with his mum the whole time.

One of last year’s amazing winners – or heroes – that was awarded a medal, Connor, returned to share how receiving the medal had changed his life. He told us that he feels ‘way happier’, but he also took the time to remind the audience ‘You should only be calling 000 when you need really big help.’

It was a privilege to meet so many awesome young people and their extremely proud families. As I said, it is one of the best events of the year. It was attended by the emergency management commissioner, the Chief Commissioner of Police, the Fire Rescue Victoria commissioner, the chief officer of SES and representatives from CFA and Life Saving Victoria. I am not sure that we were as exciting as the chocolate fountain that the young people enjoyed, but it was such a delightful event and a really great opportunity to remind people how amazing our Triple Zero Victoria call takers are and how important their role is to helping all Victorians, including some of our smallest.