Wear Orange Wednesday

The Hon. T.T. NGO (14:49): My question is to the Minister for Emergency Services. Can the minister update the chamber about the importance of Wear Orange Wednesday?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:50): I thank the Hon. Mr Ngo for his question and acknowledge his commitment and concern for the people who work within our emergency services sector. The Hon. Mr Ngo represented me at a function recently due to a clash, but I know he has a genuine commitment to making sure that those people who serve on our front line get the respect they deserve from the government and from the community generally.

The Hon. Mr Ngo is right to refer to the fact that today is Wear Orange Wednesday. It is a day in which we say thank you to our extraordinary State Emergency Service volunteers for the outstanding work they do each and every day. The message is simple: we participate in this important day by wearing something orange and spreading the word through social media. I note the Hon. Mr Parnell has taken up that cause with gusto.

The Hon. R.I. Lucas: What about Tung Ngo?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: I don't want to look. If you search the hashtags 'Thank you SES' and 'WOW Day' you will see workplaces across the country celebrating WOW Day in their own way, whether it be by holding an orange-themed morning tea, as my ministerial office did this morning, or simply donning an orange tie. The value of Wear Orange Wednesday cannot be understated as it gives the opportunity for the broader community to show its recognition and appreciation of some of our most hardworking and selfless emergency services volunteers.

I have spoken on a number of occasions about the rather extraordinary year that was calendar 2016 for our State Emergency Service. We had an incredibly wet and wild year weatherwise and that resulted in 16,341 incidents being responded to by roughly 1,500 SES volunteers and, of course, they were ably assisted by CFS volunteers. The number of 16,000 sounds like an extraordinary number in its own right but I think, to give it some context, we need to appreciate the fact that normally, or in the year prior, we saw 5,500 incidents being responded to, so that is in excess of tripling the number of incidents responded to in the previous year. That is an extraordinary statistic and it is all done by hardworking volunteers.

While many of us were huddled up in the warmth of homes across the state, our SES volunteers, last winter (as I am sure they will do this winter), were out there in torrential conditions braving storms, saving families and their homes from flooding and falling trees, and other risks that arise out of a significant storm event. This government recognises the invaluable contribution of our SES volunteers and I have to say that the one thing that always strikes me is how humble and hardworking they are, which is all the more reason to celebrate their efforts.

They do incredible work, not out of a need for recognition or adulation but simply out of a genuine motivation to be able to serve and protect the communities they are part of. I know that our emergency services volunteers enjoy bipartisan support by way of recognition, but it is also important to note that this government is committed to making sure that we don't just support them through efforts like Wear Orange Wednesday but we also support them through making sure that they have all the resources they need in a technological sense and in a practical sense to be able to go out and do the incredible work they do. The emergency services levy provides the opportunity for us to continue to provide that support to our volunteers in an ongoing and sustainable way into the future.