I'm sure he's a nice bloke and good on him, but he's still being cynically used.
I could do without the entire 'heroism' narrative too. People are doing their jobs. Perhaps if we think those jobs are important, we should think a bit more on that, rather than awarding them shitty pay and treating them too often as an immigration problem.
Anyway, I hope they enjoy the applause because that's all they'll be getting. At the end of this, they'll probably get a certificate with their name spelled incorrectly on it. Thanks. Pay rise? Soz, we're bankrupt.