John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2015-2016 and related bills. In 2010, when I was elected as the representative for Bennelong, I likened it to the moment of joy when you are selected to represent your country, and then one second later you realise there is a serious responsibility. You give a vow to serve these people and in some ways you enter into a marriage; you inherit a lot of children, grandparents, parents, working people and all the challenges that a family can present you with, and you do your best to recognise the problems and find solutions.

Recently, I attended, during National Volunteer Week, our regular celebration of what you would have to refer to as the heart and soul of Bennelong. There were 300 certificates given out to people who volunteer and give their time for people who are in need. The volunteers are headed by Helen Crouch, who is an absolute treasure and a leader of this organisation. Again, it was a joy to recognise and celebrate the contribution that these people make. Another event that I have been to recently was a creation of the Ryde District Historical Society, who have put together a book, with some support from our government, called Ryde Goes to War 1914-1919. Ryde was a small, almost a farming community in 1914. There were 3,400 homes and 2,000 men and women went to war. Some 400 did not return. This book has assembled the records of all of those and some 200 biographies. Sitting, as I do, with my partner in crime, Louise Markus, she inquired whether her grandfather was in this book. We followed that up to find that TH Tyrrell, Louise's grandfather, not only went to war but also came back, and he shared that good fortune with two brothers. Louise was able to see where he had lived and where he had worked and to have confirmed her family tales.

In another moving event, I went to the launch of a book put together by Dr Robert Creelman. Again, it touched our group of representatives here, because the book was largely the story of Harvey Bawden, who is the father of the member for Murray, Sharman Stone. Harvey is now 91. He is the only survivor of a Lancaster bomber that crashed over Germany in the Second World War. Two of the crew died on impact, others survived and some were killed by marauding locals incensed by the bombing. Harvey survived, albeit with great wounds, and on this day there was a lot of pride. I am sure Sharman had pride for her father and her father certainly had pride for Sharman.

Recently, the budget has gained a great deal of notoriety. Last year's budget also gained notoriety but not always for the best reasons. This year, it is celebrated. One of the first things that we did when taking office, albeit in opposition, was to recognise the aftermath of the global financial crisis and the impact that it was having on small businesses, particularly in our villages. So we set forth and started a campaign called Bennelong Village Businesses campaign to help small businesses operate in villages for the difficult circumstances they were facing because of the economic downturn and the tough competition they were getting from the major supermarkets. We sought to get them discounts in advertising, which we were successful in thanks to the Weekly Times, who gave a 33 per cent discount, and we sought to encourage them to work together to collectively bargain. I am pleased to say that in the past couple of weeks, when we have launched our Bennelong village of the month at West Ryde, this budget has been so well received. We have had business after business tell us of their joy, their anticipation, and their optimism at the true benefits that are coming from the tax reduction and the ability to write-down a $20,000 investment.

Interestingly, in this period of time, homes need maintenance. I had had some maintenance done to my home by three different groups; I guess I had neglected it in recent times. I would call them 'Tony's tradies'. An interesting group of men, who came but—unlike other times where I have lived in the past—did not price the client but priced the job. I felt that I got great value and very high quality work done—and they left the place cleaner than when they found it, which might not have been that difficult. We have plans for our Ryde group of Tony's tradies. We are trying to assemble them so that they can take their pricing of the job to other parts of Sydney, and maybe we can help them expand their opportunities in other parts of Sydney through our BVB initiative.

Another situation we saw early on in going to schools was that a number of kids in this very diverse cultural area of Sydney were being left off the playing field. They were not being able to engage with other children, because they were not interested in playing those sports. This was a distressing thing to see—to see kids left off; not that they did not get to play the game, but they were left out of making friends through the activities of sports. I spoke to Hugh Lee, who is the head of the Asian Australian Association of Bennelong, about an idea that I had developed to put table tennis tables in all of the schools—not necessarily for the sake of playing table tennis, but to get an activity that children of all ethnic backgrounds could participate in and have fun and make friends. This has been an extraordinary success. Through the generosity of Hyundai, which gave over $100,000, we have been able to put table tennis tables in all 40 schools. Kids from all schools play in an internal competition within their schools and then they come and play in the Bennelong Cup later in the year, with over 200 kids competing in ELS Hall on the one day on some 26 tables. It is a great sight. It is a distillation of our multicultural society, and there are nothing but smiling faces. The results seem to be secondary.

This competition also accompanied the development of the Bennelong Cup, which is played at the highest level between nations in the region—China; Korea, Japan and Malaysia is joining us this year. In the year of the Anzac centenary, Australia and New Zealand will play together as Australasia, as we did at the beginning of international competition in Davis Cup tennis. We are looking forward to playing. That will be played on 12 November here in the Great Hall, with the very best table tennis players in the world competing for their country. As friendships are made on the school ground around a table tennis table, so are the friendships made between these players and between our countries.

Another issue that we became aware of was the difficulty in finding work for people with disability. As patron for Achieve, in discussions with Anne Bryce, we came up with an idea based on the Bennelong area having once been market gardens. There seemed to be a lot of land that was left over, and people just endlessly mowed it for no good reason. We came up with the concept of again having commercial market gardens in this area where land is available, but for the purpose of giving people with disability work and ownership of a business. We thought that we could encourage people who are retired and looking for active recreation and socialisation and maybe some purpose in life and marry these two groups of people together. This concept has been really well received. I went to Duncan Gay, the minister for roads in New South Wales. He was gracious and found us land. Now we are going through that red tape that you have with local councils to get a development approval to plant our first gardens at Kemp Road in Ryde. The marriage, I am here to report, is going well. We have our trials; we have our tribulations, but most of all we have great joy when we work together.

See this speech in context