Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I rise to report to the House on the great work being undertaken by the Cabramatta Community Centre throughout my electorate in the south-west of Sydney. Last Friday, I had the pleasure of speaking at the 32nd annual general meeting of the Cabramatta Community Centre and also to speak at the farewell of the CEO, Jan Collie.

The Cabramatta Community Centre—or 'CCC', as it is affectionately known—is the hub of local activity. It provides many services and programs to the elderly, the young, children, women, Indigenous Australians, migrants and newly arrived refugees. It also advocates on behalf of individuals and groups, particularly those which are socially marginalised. It has recently participated in International Women's Day, equal pay rallies, Youth Week and Refugee Week, all of which I have spoken about in this parliament over the past few months. CCC also participates in White Ribbon Day. As a White Ribbon ambassador, I am very proud to work closely with the centre to help put an end to violence against women.

The centre employs over 250 staff members in the Fairfield Migrant Resource Centre, Cabramatta Youth Team, The Heights Community Services, Multicultural Community Care Services, the CCC Preschool and the Fairfield Area Home Modification and Maintenance Outreach Service. I would like to acknowledge the hard work of all the staff members and volunteers at the centre, who do an excellent job on a day-to-day basis. Among them, can I pay tribute to executive committee members President Julio Gruttulini and Treasurer Edna Peceros, whom have I befriended over the past year, and Adrian Wong, who works for me and has been a volunteer for CCC over many years. Other executive members include Catherine Cranny, Gary Cachia, Dorothy Cole and Holly O'Donnell. I also pay tribute to the managers of the different services and projects, among them Barbara Hillman, Ricci Bartels, Clement Meru, Dr Simon Emsley, Estela Torredimare, Juana Reinoso, Danh Dang, Gary Lee, Debra Rose and Suji Upasena. I thank them very much for helping residents in my community to find solutions to their difficulties and assisting them in any way they can. Their work is totally admirable.

At the AGM, the new Youth Sponsorship Program was also launched by Adrian Wong on behalf of the Cabramatta Community Centre Youth Team. This new initiative will allow young people to apply for financial support and assistance with their activities.

I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the CEO, Jan Collie, who is retiring at the end of this year. I congratulate her on the passion, dedication and commitment she has shown, and the long service she has given to her local community where she has served at the Cabramatta Community Centre since February 1985. She has held many positions over that period but she has guided the Cabramatta Community Centre for an extended period of time and we are all deeply indebted to her commitment. It is indeed a great honour to have people like Jan who are only too willing to devote so much of their time in helping disadvantaged residents and ensuring that they enjoy the life and opportunities experienced by other Australians.

Jan is leaving the centre in a very strong and vibrant position. You may be interested also to know that, apart from her own attributes and what she has brought to the community, Jan is actually the sister of Jon English, one of the most famous rock singers we have. We claim him to be Australian but I think both of them actually came from the Old Dart.

I would like to personally thank Jan and many others like her for their hard work in furthering the interests of people through delivering quality services in south-west Sydney. Multiculturalism in Australia is about building a shared sense of nationhood forged through mutual respect, common values and commitment to fairness. This did not happen by chance in south-west Sydney; it happened through the commitment of places such as the Cabramatta Community Centre and people such as Jan Collie who worked hard to achieve this. This is a tribute to their hard work, and their respect for others, in helping others to work together as a community.

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