Kerry Bartlett (Macquarie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to acknowledge the magnificent work of our Rural Fire Service volunteers, particularly over the last two or three weeks, with a number of fires raging in parts of my electorate—in the Blue Mountains, in the Lithgow area and around Bathurst and Oberon as well as the Hawkesbury. These magnificent men and women, who put in enormous work for our community, really deserve to be praised. They do a fantastic job, often at great risk to their own lives, putting their own safety aside in order to serve our community.

And it is not just in times of emergency either. The hundreds of hours these people put into training throughout the year to make sure that they have the skills to adequately cope with emergencies when they do arise often go unnoticed. They do a wonderful job for our community. I dare say that there are many people in the Blue Mountains, in the Hawkesbury and in other parts of my electorate who owe their property and, in some cases, even their lives to the fantastic job that these volunteers have done. So, on behalf of the community, I say to all the volunteers and the permanent staff of the RFS: thank you for your outstanding work for our community.