Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This weekend, I attended the 38th annual Sunbury SunFest. SunFest is one of those community events where everyone comes together to celebrate Sunbury. The festival is packed with live entertainment, local stalls, expos and activities for everyone. It is an icon in Sunbury, with generations of visitors streaming in from all over the place, including Melbourne and country Victoria. The feedback from locals is always fantastic. Darren Rooney, a local photographer, said:

Damn! What an amazing day for Sunbury. The parade, entertainment, stalls and rides at The Village Green … outstanding event today and the SunFest team should be very proud of themselves. The best thing is there is a second day of activity coming.

Jarrod Bell, one of the organisers, said it was:

… a massive weekend effort by the team at SunFest Sunbury, we can be tremendously proud of what we as a little group of volunteers, create for our community.

An opportunity to celebrate our community, a chance to highlight local talent, an opportunity to recognise service, a chance to show Sunbury off! A chance to come together and enjoy the company of friends, family and strangers in an event that is an engrained part of the Sunbury psyche, SunFest is Sunbury and Sunbury is SunFest!

These are just two examples of the community comments about SunFest, but there are plenty more. At SunFest, there was the Walk or Run for Fun, the Health and Safety Expo and the World's Greatest Shave. There were talented performances, with Sunbury Can Dance and a performance by the Divine Divas of Sunbury—they are fantastic. Every year at SunFest the festival is jam packed with live entertainment from local schools and community performing arts groups, as well as local and national acts. I was lucky enough to be entertained by the battle of school choirs. And all I can say is wow! There are some amazing singers in our neighbourhood!

Big congratulations go to Kellie Sutton for her first place in Sunbury Idol. Throughout the two-day festival, I was able to chat with hundreds of local residents, friends and neighbours. Unfortunately this year, there was an issue that kept coming up in nearly every conversation I had with my fellow festival goers—the closure of the Sunbury Police and Citizens Youth Club.

The PCYC has played a vital role in the Sunbury community since it first opened its doors in 2005. The purpose of the PCYC is to work with Sunbury's youth through exercise and physical activity. Their programs helped so many youngsters in our area, especially those who may have been heading down the wrong path in life. The PCYC was able to provide programs of activity and teach our youth discipline, respect and goodwill in our community. Unfortunately due to a severe lack of funding, the quality work of this important facility had to end when the PCYC closed on Friday, 14 March 2014.

The PCYC closure rests entirely at the feet the Abbott government. In August 2013, a $40,000 grant was announced by the former Labor government. However, upon being elected to government in September 2013, this funding was callously stripped away by the Liberal government. I wrote to the minister in November 2013, urging the government to reconsider its heartless decision but only received the typical rhetorical reply which the Abbott government uses when it turns its back on the people of Australia. The government has shut down a true community asset without even giving it a second thought, without even looking at the outstanding benefit the PCYC brought to Sunbury for about half the cost of an extravagant— (Time expired)