Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I cannot imagine Kensington without the contribution of the Kensington Neighbourhood House. The house connects the Kensington community by running programs, including tutoring classes, community gardens, social events, meals, movie nights, employment services and the annual Kensington Community Festival. It simply would not be possible without the hard work of the house's wonderful staff, led by Carolyn Webster, and its volunteers. The house has a team of over 50 volunteers, who contribute more than 1,500 hours of voluntary work each year. What an incredible effort.

I was very pleased to secure a Stronger Communities grant to support the Kensington Neighbourhood House. I met some of the volunteers recently and I would like, in Australia's parliament, to acknowledge their work. I congratulate Kathy Noonan, Erica Green, Margaret Waller, Barbara Holland, Charlotte Gillam, Shannon Maxwell, John Trewin, Ben Somer, Anita Wong, Abigail Elliott, Marie Delaney, Sian Harris, Ros Gautier, John Brown, Suzanne Adams, Barbara Jacobs, Ylan Rodgers, Andrew Carra, Pia Robson-Garth, Barbara Simmonds, Frances McKay, Briley Miller, David Pontin, Janet Walker, Bei Shen Khor, Jocelyn Michell, Arshpreet Chadra, Lo An Tran, Sylvia Wheeler, Akhila Nagaraja, Ken Oag, Edith Chen, Kate Riches, Nick Plaister, Sofia Monkiewicz, Varsha Bapat, Ellie Hansford, Mohsen Keikhavani, Mia Pan, Michael Matira, Steven Weir, Thi Mai Le, Vivienne Bennett, Anisa Rogers, Shaun Norton, Nhu Duong, Persie Duong, Euisuk Jung, Penny Boyce, Alicia Pyszkowski and Zahraa Rohaizad. I say thank you to these volunteers on behalf of Melbourne and Kensington.