Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has paid tribute to the hundreds of people involved in the search for Samantha Murphy and offered his thoughts to her family.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In Ballarat on Sunday for the 20th anniversary of the Ex-Prisoner of War Memorial in the South Gardens, Mr Albanese spoke about Ms Murphy who has been missing since leaving her Ballarat East home for a run at 7am on Sunday February 4.
"My thoughts are with the family and friends of Samantha Murphy. It has been, I'm sure, just such a difficult time and I thank all of those people who are involved in the search and hope that it has a good outcome," he said.
Federal member for Ballarat Catherine King, who also attended the memorial ceremony, said the community support of the search for Ms Murphy was "extraordinary".
"The Ballarat community has been extraordinary as they always are. The SES, Victoria Police, CFA and ordinary members of the community are all desperate for a positive outcome here," Ms King said.
"I want to say thank you to the community and our heart really does go out to Samantha's family at what is an extraordinarily distressing time for them.
"A community like Ballarat has big hearts, very, very big hearts and we hope very much there's a positive outcome for Samantha Murphy and her family."
The comments come as the search for the missing Ballarat woman was scaled back from Saturday February 10.
Extensive search operations involving local police, the Search and Rescue Squad, Mounted Branch, Dog Squad, SES and CFA have been taking place since February 5, but have failed to find any evidence as to Ms Murphy's whereabouts.
On February 9, police announced the Missing Persons Squad would be taking over the investigation, and would be looking into Ms Murphy's devices and tracking her movements prior to her disappearance on February 4.
Over the weekend, search operations in the Buninyong area were noticeably reduced, but detectives were seen on Eureka Street, near the home of Ms Murphy, going door to door and asking residents for CCTV footage.
Uniform police were also seen pulling over passing cars on Eureka Street and interviewing drivers.
In addition to going door to door, detectives made a renewed call to the public for any CCTV or dashcam footage covering the Ballarat East, Mount Helen and Buninyong areas.
Even if recordings do not depict Ms Murphy, detectives are still keen to review any footage from the area taken between 7am and 7pm on Sunday, February 4.
Previously police asked the public to check their CCTV and dashcam recordings for possible sightings of Ms Murphy, particularly in the Canadian forest area, but would now like to collect any available footage.
They said despite scaling back operations, the investigation remains ongoing, and if any new information arises, search efforts will be increased.
"Police continue to be in regular contact with Samantha's family regarding the developments of the search and the status of the investigation," the statement said.
