Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week, I was very fortunate to host the fourth annual Deakin Community Awards. These awards are a fixture and, might I say, a bright spot in my calendar. I always look forward to the opportunity for our community to come together and celebrate what makes our part of the country so extraordinary, which is volunteerism. As I said to the more than 700 people in attendance on the night: as much as we may all lose sight of this from time to time, the strength of our community in Deakin—indeed, the strength of all communities around the country—is not found in the formal institutions or the elected representatives such as myself; it is found in the individuals, families, clubs and other private organisations that are willing to give up their time to improve the lives of others.

Once again, this year we were able to recognise more than 100 of these very deserving but unsung heroes and their organisations. From this 100, we further recognised five finalists who went into the running to receive the overall Deakin Community Award. These finalists were varied and included David Dressing, of the Vermont Football Club; Colonel David Jamison, from the Ringwood RSL; Keith Kilner, from Nadrasca; Nance Swingler, from TLC Church in Bayswater North; Bwe Thay, a great community member and leader in our electorate; and Helen White from the Ringwood Art Society.

Each of the finalists has made an outstanding contribution to our local community and is deserving of this special recognition. But, as always, there can be only one overall winner, and this year it was a great honour to announce the winner as Colonel David Jamison, a very deserving winner and popular winner on the night. As a tireless advocate for veterans in our community and indeed veterans around the country, his service has been exemplary. He has been the president of the Defence Force Welfare Association since 2007—over a decade—as well as a member of the RSL since 1967, the director of Defence Health and a member of the Department of Veterans' Affairs national ex-service round table consultative forum. David's also been heavily involved in local sporting clubs and sporting associations and has assisted in fundraising for many worthy local schools.

Also this year we were able to recognise the contributions of Georgia Hammond from the Girl Guides as winner in the seniors category and Thanushi Peiris in the youth category. Finally, in the overall group category, we were able to recognise Nadrasca, now marking its 50th year of service to our community. So, I again congratulate everyone who was acknowledged on the night and particularly our finalists.