Wear Orange Wednesday

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (14:49): My question is to the Minister for Emergency Services and Correctional Services. Will the minister inform the council about the State Emergency Services Wear Orange Wednesday celebrations?

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (Minister for Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Autism, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:49): Thank you to the honourable member for his question. On 21 May we proudly celebrated WOW Day, Wear Orange Wednesday, a national day of thanks dedicated to recognising the remarkable dedication and selflessness of our State Emergency Services volunteers.

Wear Orange Wednesday is an opportunity as a community, as a state, to come together and to say a heartfelt thankyou to the men and women in orange who give so much of themselves to keep us safe. Across South Australia, more than 1,700 SES volunteers stand ready to respond not just in times of crisis but every day of the year.

These incredible individuals provide 24/7 support, 365 days of the year, responding to thousands of emergency incidents, often in challenging and dangerous conditions. They willingly put their own lives, their families, their work, their time on hold to help others and they do so with extraordinary professionalism, compassion and skill. Their commitment goes beyond the frontlines. SES volunteers undertake regular and ongoing training to keep their skills up to date so that they are ready when they are most needed.

This year has been an especially busy one for the SES. Not only have they managed extreme weather events here in South Australia but they have also supported our interstate counterparts in times of great need. Their recent efforts include:

responding to the Wilmington fires with both incident management and ground support, with 42 SES members deployed;

supporting operations at the Grampian fire, including staging and base camp coordination;

multiple deployments to Queensland, to assist with the flood and storm damage following ex Tropical Cyclone Alfred;

sending teams to WA for cyclone response and incident management; and

establishing base camps to support the South-East fires also here in South Australia.

Closer to home, the SES continues to support Innamincka and surrounding communities during ongoing inland flooding in the state's far northeast. I hadthe privilege of travelling to Innamincka where I got to see firsthand the record-breaking floodwaters impacting the local community.

A massive shoutout to the SES who supported, I believe, what has been a 50-day activation. A DefenCell flood barrier was constructed to help support this community. More than 10 additional volunteers were embedded in the incident management team at Emergency Services at Keswick with, I believe, over 30 SES volunteers rotating through the deployments in Innamincka.

To every SES volunteer who has contributed to this response, we recognise the sacrifice, the long hours, the travel, and time away from loved ones. Your efforts in Innamincka, across our state and interstate, have not gone unnoticed.

Thank you also to Mel and Rachel, who were integral in organising the Wear Orange celebrations this year. It was a pleasure to attend the Rundle Mall activation and both the Enfield and western Adelaide celebrations with their volunteers.

Thank you to the many who did wear orange. It is a hard colour to find in the wardrobe. Hello, you are wearing orange today! The Hon. Connie Bonaros has lots of orange too, and the Hon. Ian Hunter's tie. It is the wrong Wednesday, though, I would just like to highlight. You are carrying it on to the following Wednesday. I am the only one not wearing orange. Thank you to everyone wearing orange last week and this Wednesday to show your support and gratitude to the ongoing services and to say what we never say enough and that is thank you.