Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's a privilege to be able to speak on the mighty work of the scout groups in my electorate, who support so many young leaders. I was able to visit many of these groups when they held their annual report and presentation, also known as an ARAP. Over the past month, I attended the 1st Kallista Scout Group's and the 1st Mooroolbark Scout Group's ARAP evenings. I was also at the 1st Lilydale Scout Group's presentation where the joeys, the cubs, the scouts, the venturers and the rovers put on a very successful progress dinner as they shared what they'd done in the last year.

At Kallista, it was wonderful to present awards and to congratulate them on their achievements, including Lachlan, who was awarded the Joey Scout Challenge Award, and Jayden, who received the Grey Wolf Award—the highest achievement that you can receive in youth cub section.

I'm looking forward to heading out to Upwey, later this week, to the footy club to use their rooms, which are a great community asset, to celebrate the local scouts for the whole of the Sherbrooke,Yarra Ranges, ARAP, which covers all of the electorate of Casey.

Scouting groups play such an important role in supporting our young people, showing them how to lead, to be confident and to trust in their abilities. This wouldn't be possible without the volunteers and the parents who devote their time to the scouting cause.

Congratulations to all recipients on receiving awards that reflect your high level of discipline, commitment and leadership. You've done all Scout leaders across Casey proud. Good luck on another year of scouting.

The work of our local CFA brigades doesn't end when the siren stop, and that's why I was proud to hop on a bike recently to officially kick off the Badger Creek CFA 24-hour spinathon fundraiser. The team pledged to cycle for 24 hours to raise funds for the annual firefighter stair climb, which supports Lifeline, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the 000 Foundation. I took the first pedal at 5 pm alongside CFA community safety coordinator Sally. From there, rosters of supporters kept the wheels turning until 5 pm the next day. It was a massive effort by the volunteers and their families, with support from the Healesville SES, the Healesville RSL and members of the community. After 24 gruelling hours the team had peddled over 600 kilometres and raised just over $3,300. Congratulations to the team at the Badger Creek CFA on your hard work, sweat and efforts paying off.

When I arrived at the brigade I noticed a sign flashing which said the brigade had attended 110 incidents this year. It's a powerful reminder of how much our brigades and volunteers give to our community. To everyone at the Badger Creek CFA: thank you for being there for us when we need you and for always going above and beyond to support others in need.

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