Motions

London Bridge Attack

Debate resumed.

The Hon. C. BONAROS (17:52): I, too, rise in support of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing's motion honouring the courage and compassion of Kirsty Boden who was tragically killed on 3 June 2017 during the London Bridge and Borough Market terrorist attacks. Woven within our communities are strong, nurturing and selfless people. We call them nurses. Kirsty Boden was a shining example of a dedicated and selfless nurse. Kirsty trained and worked as a senior nurse at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London. As we know, she rushed to the assistance of other victims that fateful night without any concern whatsoever for her own safety.

Kirsty chose in a split second to run towards those in need and not run in the opposite direction to safety, as many others—myself included—probably would have done. The heroism Kirsty displayed that fateful night has led to her being known as 'the Angel of London Bridge'.

Kirsty's death touched all South Australians and brought home the horror of terrorism for all of us. That courage earned Kirsty the Queen's Commendation for Bravery in this year's civilian gallantry honours list awarded in July. A Flinders alumnus, Kirsty was also honoured last year by the former Labor government with a scholarship in her name, supporting Flinders University nursing students from regional SA.

Kirsty was a graduate of the class of 2009 and her teachers remember her as an outstanding scholar, winning the School of Nursing and Midwifery study abroad scholarship in 2008. The Vice-Chancellor of Flinders University, Professor Colin J. Stirling, has said, and I quote:

Kirsty Boden was distinguished by her generosity, selflessness and her determination to help others and to make a difference…Her enthusiasm and zest for life made her much loved by staff and peers, and a natural ambassador for the benefits of higher education and the discipline of nursing.

It is these remarkable qualities that are honoured in the memorial scholarship, and the former Labor government is to be commended for establishing the Kirsty Boden Memorial Nursing Scholarship for regional nursing students in their final year of study.

As we have heard, the scholarship was developed in consultation with the Boden family. It provides $20,000 per year to support two students in their final year of study and is awarded on the basis of financial need and academic commitment to their studies. The scholarship will remain a legacy to Kirsty's selflessness and courage and the indelible impact she has had on our lives. She will continue to inspire future generations of graduate nurses building careers to care for the sick, the infirm and the dying.

In March this year, James Cheeseman and Rita Amyan were honoured to be the first recipients of the scholarship. Both recipients are mature age students inspired to complete a degree started over a decade earlier—in the case of James Cheeseman it followed a personal tragedy in his family and, in the case of Rita, it was to retrain as a nurse from the ground up because of the length of time that had elapsed since she was a nurse in her native Hungary. Both recipients are from the Riverland, the same area in which Kirsty was born and raised.

The scholarships will provide the deserving recipients with much-needed financial assistance during unpaid placements as they complete their studies, help them achieve their ambitions and, importantly, carry on Kirsty's legacy of loving care. The former Labor government initially provided $100,000 to fund the scholarship for at least five years. I am hoping the Marshall government will commit to continuing the scholarship for many years beyond the five years initially promised by Labor. I am sure I would be joined by other members in this place in calling on the Marshall government to do just that. I thank the Minister for Health and Wellbeing for moving the motion and giving this place the opportunity to acknowledge Ms Boden's selfless display of courage and compassion and to acknowledge her heroic actions.

I also want to take a moment, as the Hon. Russell Wortley has just done, to honour Sara Zelenak, the 21-year-old au pair from Queensland who was also tragically killed during the London Bridge and Borough Market terrorist attacks. As we know, Sara was on the trip of a lifetime, doing what thousands of young Australians do each and every year, experiencing the Aussie rite of passage of living and working in the UK and travelling around Europe.

Her parents were due to meet Sara in Paris at the end of June last year to climb the Eiffel Tower, eat cheese and drink wine. Sadly, none of that happened. Instead, her parents undertook an emotional bike ride called Meet You in Paris, riding from London to Paris along with four other cyclists, including members of the Met police whom they became close to during the investigation into the terrorist attacks. The ride raised money for Sarz Sanctuary, a not-for-profit organisation her parents set up and named after their daughter to offer help to victims of violence. The purpose of Sarz Sanctuary, in the words of her parents is:

We want to honour Sara's life and give purpose to her loss by helping others who have, like us, suffered traumatic grief. We are motivated to find a greater good from what has happened. We keep a positive outlook and want to build this positivity in others.

The charity's mission is to open a healing sanctuary for those experiencing traumatic grief so that they can find peace and support through holistic, personalised care. I encourage all South Australians to contribute what they can to this wonderful and worthy charity.

The minister's motion also recognises the work of all South Australian nurses who serve selflessly, both nationally and internationally, and who are the heart and soul of our health system. Nurses are the trusted professionals we turn to when we are sick and hurting, but nurses do not just practice at the bedside. They bring their care, thinking, teaching, problem-solving and get-it-done qualities into our families, homes, schools, churches, businesses, legislatures and neighbourhoods, and we are so very much the richer for it.

One such person, whom we have mentioned this week and last week on a few occasions, was Gayle Woodford, the dedicated remote area nurse who dearly loved the community she cared for. Tragically, as we know, Gayle was murdered in March 2016, while working alone in the remote APY lands in SA's far north. Gayle's Law, the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (South Australia) (Remote Area Attendance) Amendment Act 2017 was drafted and passed by this parliament in December of last year in honour of Gayle Woodford. As we know, that law requires remote area nurses to work in pairs when attending after-hours callouts, and is intended to reduce isolation and improve safety for health workers and practitioners, particularly in remote areas.

We are waiting for that law to become operational, but I think we all agree that remote area nurses, like all nurses, deserve to be safe while carrying out the work that they dedicate their lives to every day. I am certainly heartened by the minister's comments during question time this week in particular and his commitment to ensuring that Gayle's Law is operational as a matter of urgency. With those words, I thank the minister for raising this most important matter in this place and, like other members, I extend my condolences to Kirsty's family and commend the motion to the house.

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (18:01): I would like to thank the Hon. Russell Wortley and the Hon. Connie Bonaros for their contributions. I also acknowledge that, if her health had been better, the Hon. Tammy Franks was also seeking to associate herself with this motion, and I acknowledge that all honourable members are associating themselves with this motion. It is obviously a source of great pride for South Australians that Kirsty Boden stepped up in London on foreign shores to act selflessly to help others, which is a credit to her family, her community and the values that she lived by.

In the context of this motion, we wanted to also recognise the courage and compassion of nurses day by day—everyday heroes who often put themselves at risk in all sorts of ways, whether it is attending to someone with an infectious disease, dealing with somebody with challenging behaviours in an ED, the day-to-day compassion that people show in palliative care wards and the nurses in the community who go into situations where they are often unaware of what they will face. The compassion of nurses is legendary but it often goes unnoticed that nursing also involves courage.

We acknowledge the life of Kirsty Boden and mourn her death, and take the opportunity to recognise the selfless service of nurses both nationally and internationally. I thank members for their contributions and commend the motion to the house.

Motion carried.

At 18:03 the council adjourned until Tuesday 4 December 2018 at 14:15.