Frontline workers have continued to help navigate the enduring threat of COVID-19. Doctors, nurses and other health workers have been instrumental in holding this unprecedented pandemic at bay, but there've been many other unsung heroes, including our thin blue line.
Six new probationary constables in the Sutherland Shire Police Area Command, are among the 159 recent graduates from the Goulburn Police Academy embarking on careers in service to our community. I wish them all the best as they join the policing ranks.
Each day police officers do a job which is stressful, challenging and - as we've been reminded many times - dangerous.
They regularly confront scenes of domestic and family violence, a national emergency that's seen six innocent victims killed in NSW in the last 8 weeks alone.
324 people have died in road accidents in NSW in the 12 months to 28 June. The trauma not only devastates families, but leaves its mark on our men and women in blue too.
When five young people lost their lives to illicit drugs at music festivals in the summer of 2018-19, police officers were among those breaking that gut-wrenching news to their unsuspecting families.
It's easy to forget the years of dedicated and difficult service from our police, but it's something we should never fail to recognise.
Their work also speaks for itself. Our State continues to record mostly stable or falling figures across major crime categories regularly reported by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.
The NSW government continues to back the blue. We're delivering 1,500 extra police over four years - the biggest single increase for the NSW Police Force in more than 30 years. Child protection and elder abuse in particular have been identified as key areas requiring more police