House debates

Monday, 30 November 2020

Private Members' Business

Scouting and Guiding Movement

5:52 pm

Photo of Phillip ThompsonPhillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to start by apologising to the House for not being appropriately dressed. I haven't got my scarf on to talk about a very important issue today. I am a bit upset, but I'm sure the member for Lyons also regrets not having his scarf on. Local community groups and associations are the foundation of our society. As members of parliament, we regularly have the opportunity and privilege to be invited to be members of these groups or visit them to see what they do and how they do it. Such groups are the Scouts and Girl Guides. Just over a week ago, I had the honour to be invited to the Kirwan Scout Group to be, as they call it, 'scarfed up'. This was my first experience at a Scout meeting. After being greeted by my host, I was escorted to a parade to see 30 or so young men and women standing proudly at attention around a campfire and their flag pole. The parade was led by one of their peers who called on various leaders to address the meeting and keep everyone up-to-date on what was going on. Soon it was my turn to be called upon to be 'scarfed up'. I was humbled to receive this honour on behalf of the community I serve. I was welcomed into the Kirwan Scout family and issued an open invitation to attend any of their meetings and activities in the future, which is something I'm very grateful for and looking forward to. I was also presented with a scout name. I have a call sign: it's 'Goanna'. I'm pretty happy and excited about the call sign I've been given. As we know, it's a very prominent animal in the north, so I was very happy. I told my wife, and she thought it was hilarious. She thought I should have been named 'Koala Bear'!

An honourable member: I would have thought 'Wombat'!

The wombat was already taken! Despite her being upset, I think Goanna is a good name, and I now have my two-year-old daughter calling me Goanna. But there was one more job to do, and that was, as the newest member of this community, to add a log into the fire. The ashes from this log would be used next week, the week after and into the future and years to come in a tradition that symbolises the community of the group being a part of something that was bigger than any individual or person or group of people.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the Kirwan Scout Group for welcoming me into their hearts. I was struck by their sense of service and their sense of community. These young men and women and their parents were a part of this movement to grow and develop not only their own skills and character but those of their scouting mates and to help others in the community. One of those lessons was being taught within minutes after being scarfed up. It was a very important ability—to cook a pizza over a fire.

Scouts and Girl Guides are critical for our local communities because they encourage young men and women to seek out adventure and to pursue their own dreams. They give them an opportunity to develop life skills and drive their sense of curiosity in a safe and rewarding environment.

One of the leaders of the Kirwan group is a senior local police sergeant. He's someone who has an extremely busy and important job, but he's an example of the kind of person who donates their spare time and energy to ensure their students have opportunities. He knows that the more kids he mentors the better his community will be in the future.

That's why I'm very happy to speak in support of this motion today. Scouts and Girl Guides across Australia have a membership of over 70,000. Worldwide, this number exceeds 40 million. I know that this year has been a difficult one for Scouts and Girl Guides, as it has been for so many other community groups. One of the things affected by COVID-19 are the regular fundraisers, including the famous cookie drives, so there has been a loss of regular income to keep all of their important programs running. But as restrictions ease and we start to get back to normality I'd like to see more fundraisers from these groups continuing to thrive and be able to go down to the local Bunnings, pick up a sausage and raise money for these groups, because they're so important for our future generations.

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