Offering members and other emergency service workers a completely free service when looking to buy or sell their homes, Luke Lawlor and the team at Emergency Services Property Advisors have enjoyed a productive and supportive partnership with The Police Association of Victoria.

Since 1917, The Police Association of Victoria, otherwise known as TPAV, have endeavoured to protect, represent and support the professional, industrial and welfare interests of Victoria’s police and protective services officers. With the sector now sitting at over 17,000 Australians, the TPAV journal is just one of the methods used to ensure that the organisation continues to serve as a leading voice on a range of topics and information relevant to those working within Victoria’s police force. 

The locally produced magazine reaches tens of thousands of Victoria’s policing community, and ESPA founder Luke Lawlor recently had the pleasure of announcing to readers what lies ahead in 2023 via the ESPA Kokoda Charity Trek. 

Although Luke already had over twenty years experience in managing real estate agencies in Frankston and Seaford, the concept of offering his services exclusively to emergency services workers came to fruition after he returned home from conquering the Kokoda Track in 2016. Although the track had been on Luke’s bucket list for a number of years, the real surprise was getting to know his fellow hikers, many of which were in fact emergency service workers.

“On the track, there’s a lot of time to think and talk. The guy that runs the Kokoda Courage walks was actually a policeman from Geelong named Peter Condon, who I had already explored much of the United States with. What really surprised me though was the number of other emergency services personnel that we completed the track with. Inevitably, we began to talk and I asked them what they thought of the idea of a service just for them, and whether it would work. As the days progressed, my confidence in the idea increased.” 

In 2023, Luke is set to tackle the Kokoda Track once again – but this time, for vastly different reasons. With the end goal being to raise some much needed funds for industry charities Victoria Police Legacy, Blue Ribbon and Police Veterans Victoria through donations and sponsorships, the inaugural ESPA Kokoda Charity Trek Challenge is scheduled for 2023. With the aim being to raise $96,000 – or $1,000 per kilometre of the Kokoda Track – the trip is a means to both give back to the industry that supports him, and to encourage others to rally and do the same. For Luke, his experiences on the track in 2016 were life changing, and believes that it could be the same for many others.

“When ESPA was established in 2020, one of my first undertakings was to create an annual fundraising event for each emergency service. Our original trek leader and my friend Peter Condon is the ultimate guide, and offers a holistic experience including laughter, tears, historical facts, tall tales around the campfire and a knockabout personality that is akin to those brave diggers of eighty years ago.”

The ESPA Kokoda 2023 Charity Trek Challenge will be limited to twenty attendees, designed to deliver an intimate experience to get to know your fellow trekkers, along with the locals. In fact, the porters on the trek are direct descendants of the “Fuzzy Wuzzy” angels that saved many Australian lives during World War II in Papua New Guinea, and have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the track’s history plus the physical trek itself.

If you are a current or retired emergency services member that has always wanted to tick the Kokoda Track off your bucket list, there’s never been a more perfect opportunity to do so whilst supporting industry charities that give much more than they ever take back.

Emergency Services Property Advisers provide property advisor services to Police, Fire, Ambulance and S.E.S personnel and their families right across Victoria. If you are looking to get more information about the ESPA Kokoda Charity Trek, or even potentially buy or sell property in the near or distant future, please get in touch with Luke today.