Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Weerama means 'to play' and is the name of the festival that showcases all that there is in Wyndham. In 1978, the Keep Australia Beautiful committee merged with the Wyndham City Council to form a festival committee. The festival has been at risk of shutting down, but, as always in Wyndham, a group of committed locals ensure that it has remained and gone from strength to strength. The 2017 Weerama committee are president Marcel Mahfoud, vice-president Amanda Littlejohn, secretary Rakesh Singh, treasurer Pam Strong, general member Ruth Mihelcic and general member Greg Leaman, and they have done an amazing job.

We celebrated Weerama on the weekend. It is a great day for families to celebrate the community they live in. Whether they were participants or they were marshals or traffic managers, everybody was out having a great day. The parade was, as usual, a showcase of community groups. I would like to acknowledge the businesses, clubs and service providers who helped with the organisation, in particular the sponsors: Gordon Institute of TAFE, Williams Landing, Paul Sadler Swimland, The Traction Factory, Jubilee, Werribee Football Club, Wyndham Warriors BMX Club, Western Region Environment Centre and Nearbuy, Wyndham's local business guide. It was an absolutely fabulous day. For me, the highlight of the parade is always our local fire brigades, dotted throughout the parade, competing to see who can blow their alarms the loudest and who can share the most joy with the young people as they travel down the street.