Ms SPENCE (Yuroke) — On Sunday, 28 August, I had the great pleasure of joining with Victorian emergency management commissioner Craig Lapsley and Ambulance Victoria general manager Mick Stephenson to present the National Emergency Medal to five members of the Craigieburn community emergency response team for their service during the Black Saturday bushfires. The nominations for these medals were made by Ambulance Victoria, and the recipients are well known to a very grateful Craigieburn community; they are: Jason Davies, Trudy Harris, Robyn Jones, Casey Nunn and James Yates.

The citation for this award is as follows:

These medals are presented for sustained service: during the dates of Sunday, 8 February, until Tuesday, 17 February, Craigieburn CERT provided extended coverage, often 24 hours a day, as an additional resource to be used by Ambulance Victoria. Each of the awarded members today completed at least an additional three rostered shifts during this period. At different points in time, the CERT vehicle was used to ferry firefighters up to staging areas …

The Craigieburn brigade’s vehicle had perished in the fires on that Saturday, and its melted steering wheel and metal are displayed in the room at the Craigieburn Country Fire Authority station where the presentations took place. The members were also acknowledged for the fundraising and relief work completed within the two‑week period immediately after the fire. Members worked with Red Cross to facilitate the purchase and donation of over $60 000 worth of cash and goods that were then ferried to relief centres at Wallan and Whittlesea. Again to these recipients I say: congratulations and thank you.