Prime Minister says he hopes for a ‘good outcome’ in search for missing mum

Anthony Albanese has issued his thanks to those who have joined in the search effort for mother-of-three Samantha Murphy as he visited Ballarat.

The Prime Minister has shared a message of hope in the search for missing Ballarat mother-of-three Samantha Murphy exactly one week since she was last seen.

Anthony Albanese stopped to say his thoughts were with the Murphy family following an appearance at the Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial.

“Here in Ballarat, my thoughts are with the family and friends of Samantha Murphy,” Mr Albanese told media on Sunday.

“It has been, I’m sure, such a difficult time and I thank all those people who are involved in the search.”

It has been one week since Samantha Murphy went missing. Picture: Supplied

Anthony Albanese said his thoughts were with the Murphy family. Picture: Ian Wilson

He said he hoped for a “good outcome” and again thanked those who were going out “everyday” working on trying to bring Samantha home.

The Prime Minister was flanked by Federal Member for Ballarat, Catherine King, who echoed Mr Albanese’s comments regarding the Murphy family.

“This has been a really distressing week for the family,” Ms King said.

“Can I say the Ballarat community has been extraordinary as they always are, from SES to VicPol to CFA to just ordinary members of the community, we are all desperate for a positive outcome here.”

Mr Albanese was in Ballarat attending the 20th Anniversary Service for the Australian ex-prisoners of War Memorial. Picture: Ian Wilson

She thanked the wider community, adding that the hearts of those in Ballarat go out to Samantha’s family during an “extraordinary distressing time for all of us”.

Ms King said she was proud of the volunteers that had poured over difficult terrain.

“It’s beautiful bush land, we all love it but we know how difficult it is.”

She said she had delivered a hamper to SES volunteers on Friday to say “thank you” for their efforts.

“I know members of schools and Facebook and people who have been talking about ‘what can we do to help,’” she said.

A group of just under 30 locals marshalled outside the Buninyong Police Station at about 9am on Sunday.

Search party members split their resources in areas outside of the search zones covered during the week.

Members were searching as far south as Enfield State Park and as far north as Creswick Plantation, with the focus of the search aimed around Warrenheip, only a few hundred meters from where Samantha was last seen.

Volunteers join the search party outside Buninyong Police station. Picture: Ian Wilson

One woman who helped organise the community search on Sunday, who preferred to be referred to by the pseudonym Tori, has called for more people to go out and help with the search.

Tori said a lot of ground had been covered on Sunday, however, no volunteers had found any suspicious or related items.

With emergency services scaling back their search on Saturday, those that turned up to help were surprised their were no police on the ground searching.

“It is a bit disheartening,” Tori said.

It is understood police are in the process of collecting pieces of footage and information from locals, who had been presenting to police stations across Ballarat over the weekend.

Tori said she had not lost hope and was “grateful” for the 28 people who showed up in the morning ready and willing to help.

“I just want to find her really, don’t we? We want some answers for her family,” she said.

“I’m glad there’s still people out there that want to bring her home.”