It was the community doing the right thing that got Ballarat through our latest lockdown. It has been truly inspirational to watch.

Three new pop-up testing sites were built literally overnight and our community packed out each and every one of them.

Families, teenagers, retirees - people from all across our community - lined up for hours to makes sure that they didn't have the virus.

Even some typically bleak Ballarat weather didn't shorten the queues!

Then, when state government rushed extra vaccine doses to our town, the Ballarat community took them up gladly.

Our vaccine rate is growing quicker than it ever has.

For those who have been unfortunate enough to attend a tier one or two site, they have been flooded with offers from neighbours, friends and family to cook dinner, to walk dogs or to help out with the supermarket shopping.

For those businesses that have been able to remain open, they have been supported by loyal customer and those who understand what role small business plays in our vibrant community.

Even the distressing sight of empty streets was a reminder of how so many of us are doing the right thing and staying at home.

Some of those attending violent protests seem to think of themselves as heroes, but the rest of us know that they are anything but.

The real heroes are our healthcare workers, our police and our emergency services personnel.

The real heroes are those who have lined up for hours for tests and for vaccines.

And the real heroes are the vast, vast majority of our community who are doing the right thing.

Yes, the scenes in Melbourne this week of riot, destruction and division have been disgraceful, but we must remember that they are a tiny minority

Their actions have sought to tarnish the work of our tradies, our unions and our construction workers, while also putting at risk our police officers, our health system and the thousands of dedicated healthcare workers who keep us safe.

Despite these terrible scenes, we should not lose sight of the positives.

On the same day that a couple of thousand angry individuals blocked traffic, almost 90,000 Victorians formed orderly queues to receive a vaccine.

Far more construction workers and tradies got their first jabs this week than joined any protests

When the news is so awful it can be easy to be brought down, but we must remember that there are far more positives than there are negatives and that our community is doing the right thing and looking out for one another.

Despite what you might think by watching the news, our community is as united as it has ever been.

Catherine King is the federal member for Ballarat