Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) | Hansard source

Yesterday, I attended the Willunga and Districts Lions Club handover. I had the great pleasure of sitting next to past district governor Bryan Hearn OAM. We chatted about the Lions' eye-health program, and I said to him: 'I would like to bring this up in the parliament.' Last year, this program screened 10,000 children from preschool age up to 18, checking their eyes for vision as well as looking at colour and depth. They travelled all across Australia, from inner-city to remote Australia. So far this year, they've tested 7,000 children, and, shockingly, one in five are picked up with a vision issue; those children are then connected to an optometrist.

There are more than 1,000 Lions members across Australia who have trained for the program, funded by the Lions. They ask each club to donate $4 per member, and most clubs donate far, far more than that. Lions also have the Recycle for Sight program, where old glasses are cleaned, checked and then repurposed—largely, to go to developing nations.

I would just like to say thank you to Lions for their extraordinary work and thank you to the Willunga and Districts Lions Club for your hospitality yesterday. I think that the work of Bryan Hearn, who is taking leadership on this, is really saving children's lives. We know that, if they can see, they've got a much better chance of reading and learning. My best wishes to past President Gerry McKeegan, and I wish the incoming president, Sean McCracken, every success. (Time expired)

See this speech in context