Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm delighted to rise to speak on this motion by the member for Braddon and to congratulate Rotary Australia and New Zealand on their centenary anniversary and first 100 years of service to our communities. I'd especially like to congratulate my local Rotary clubs: Rotary Club of Beenleigh; Rotary Club of Loganholme; Rotary Club of Logan; Rotary Club of Ormeau-Pimpana, my newest Rotary club; and Rotary Club of Coomera Valley.

Rotary's mission is service above self. Whether it's collecting pyjamas for the Fijian flood and cyclone survivors, manning the Bunnings barbecue or packing books to send to children of drought affected families, the service of our local Rotarians makes a real and lasting difference in the lives of countless people in our communities and across the word.

More broadly, Rotary is an international community of leaders who are prepared to take on the world's toughest challenges. As the founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Rotary have been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years. Rotary's PolioPlus program was the first initiative to tackle global polio eradication by vaccinating children on a massive scale. Their first program vaccinated children in the Philippines in 1979, and this led to the establishment of the eradication initiative in 1988. At that time there were 350,000 cases of polio in 125 countries. Since then, Rotary and their partners have helped immunise more than 2.5 billion children against polio in 122 countries across the globe. Focusing on advocacy, fundraising, volunteer recruitment and awareness building, Rotary's polio eradication program is one of the world's longest-standing and most significant. More than one million Rotary members have been a part of this program, and they have contributed more than $2.1 billion. But more valuable than that are the countless volunteer hours to protect the more than 2.5 billion children across the globe that have been helped. The infrastructure Rotary built to end polio is also being used to treat and prevent other diseases, including COVID-19. In fact, Rotary in India are lending the knowledge they gained from the mass polio vaccination to the COVID vaccination program in that country. We know how important that is at present.

The polio program has wider benefits beyond just vaccination. The polio surveillance networks and vaccination campaigns monitor children for other health problems like vitamin deficiencies and measles so they can also be addressed early. The global efforts to eradicate polio have saved some $27 billion in healthcare costs since 1988 and are expected to save a further $14 billion by 2050. If all these efforts to remove polio stopped today, within 10 years polio could paralyse as many as 200,000 children each year. The global healthcare costs would rise dramatically. It just shows the value and importance of the work that Rotary has done over these past many years.

I had the pleasure earlier this year of attending the 100th anniversary lunch celebration that was held by the combined clubs of Beenleigh, Loganholme and Logan. I reflect on the work that they have contributed to our community over so many years. We speak about the polio program. We also know about the exchange programs they have and the Pride of Workmanship Awards that they hold each year. Now they are looking to reprise the Beenleigh Cane Festival, which for many years has been in abeyance.

It's this contribution to our local communities by these three clubs—and I also wish to mention the Rotary Club of Coomera Valley and the Rotary Club of Ormeau-Pimpama—that makes our communities such a wonderful place in which to live. I want to commend Rotary right across my electorate—the clubs of Beenleigh, Logan, Loganholme, Ormeau and Coomera Valley. I commend Rotary for the tremendous work that they do not only in my community but across the world, and I congratulate Rotary for their hundred years of serving our communities.

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