Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm delighted to come to my first point this evening, which is on the Gippsland United basketball league men's team division 1, who were victorious in their recent premiership game by nine points. I had the absolute pleasure of attending the game a fortnight ago, and I have got a strong association with the league, having served previously as chair of the Gippsland United basketball league. It's the fastest-growing participation sport in our region, as I understand it, and it's a great team sport for young people right through to elite athletes to get involved in.

There were a number of players from my electorate of Monash that I was cheering on, including Joel Winderlich from Leongatha, who was a stand-out player for Gippsland United. He scored 21 points in that game. The men's coach is Scott McKenzie from Korumburra, and he really has taken this team with just a dream on behalf of the community to be able to play in division 1 in the Big V league. To Scott McKenzie and his assistant coaches, I give my congratulations. There were many other players from the Monash electorate who were in the men's, women's and youth league teams through that competition.

The big break that senior basketball in our region had was the re-establishment of senior Big V teams for men's and women's in 2021. Since then, the men's team have gone on to win two championships, and the women's team only narrowly lost their grand final on the same night. So I give my sincere congratulations to both teams. It's a really important opportunity, I think, to provide a regional pathway for very talented and elite junior basketball players in our community who were previously leaving our region to seek senior playing pathways elsewhere. We get to keep them in our region. We get to cheer them on, and that is just an absolutely fantastic thing for our community.

We've also got Gippsland United junior teams who compete every Friday night, with many competing in the Victorian championship division. The success of the program is in large part due to local sponsors and volunteers, who come from right across my electorate. I give a special shout-out to the volunteers and also the local businesses who, although doing it really tough right now, are still the first to put their hands up to support local sporting clubs, so I give my absolute sincere thanks and appreciation to them on that front.

There are a couple of other things I would like to touch on. I am really passionate about civics education in schools. We've got some absolutely amazing schools in the Monash electorate. I've had the privilege of visiting a number of them recently to present new Australian flags and also talk about our parliamentary system. Although I am a new member here, it's wonderful to be able to share my last couple of weeks in this sitting period with those students. I've been to Foster Primary School in South Gippsland, which only has a few students. It's a small school, but it's an incredible school, and I pay tribute to the wonderful teachers there, who are really, really dedicated in the job that they do. I visited Drouin West Primary School with some new flags as well. At the Marist-Sion Catholic college in Warragul, I spoke to their year 12 legal studies class just a couple of weeks ago. I have to say I was just blown away by the calibre of questions. Only two students seemed to nod off a little bit during my presentation, but for a moment only. But they were such insightful questions. Those students are preparing for their VCE exams later in the year, and I wish them all the very, very best in their study and preparation. I did say to them that, when I was in year 12, it was the TER score, but, no matter how you finish year 12, it doesn't determine the rest of your life. So study hard, and give it your best shot, but I know and I have no doubt that each one of those students that I engaged with is going to go on to have a really interesting, incredible career and life ahead of them.

Aged care is a very, very important issue in my electorate of Monash. We've got some wonderful aged-care facilities. We've got some incredibly dedicated staff. I know, for a lot of those not-for-profit providers, there are some really challenging issues that they need to grapple with every single day. I previously served on the board of the Woorayl Lodge community aged care centre in South Gippsland. All of the staff and carers in all of those facilities do an amazing job. I recently visited the Fairview retirement home in Warragul, where the flag-bearer is 94 years old. His name is Bill, and he is a veteran. It was wonderful to present him with a new flag and also speak at the residents' morning tea about my new role and about our magnificent Monash electorate, as well as the story behind General Sir John Monash, which I am passionate about and committed to retelling because, in my humble view, he is Australia's greatest ever citizen.

I also want to congratulate the Gippsland Community Leadership Program. They were established in 1996, and that came out of the Karpin review into leadership in regional Australia. I have to acknowledge the Hawke government for initiating that review. But there are a number of community leadership programs right across regional Victoria and regional Australia. Unfortunately, the Allan Labor government has cut funding to those regional community leadership programs, which do such a great job of identifying, fostering and developing leadership talent in our regional communities.

Over its 30 years, we've had some incredible alumni come through the Gippsland Community Leadership Program, including the former Victoria Police commissioner Ken Lay, who is a Gippslander, and Senator Bridget McKenzie, who is an alumni as well. I had the great fortune of being able to go through the program in 2011. It's a wonderful opportunity. I encourage more aspiring young Gippsland leaders to put their hands up and nominate themselves for that program. I wish the board of the Committee for Gippsland, who manage and auspice that program, and everyone involved all the very best for what I hope is another 30 successful years.

I'm very passionate about the work that men's sheds do. It has been a real privilege to be able to visit a number of men's sheds in my electorate, including Mirboo North, who do some amazing woodwork—

Debate interrupted.

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