Stephen Smith (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I would like to take the opportunity to mark the contribution of, and pay tribute to, the Maylands Railways RSL Sub-branch in my electorate. For as long as I have been the federal member for Perth, the Maylands Railways RSL Sub-branch has met at the Peninsula Community Centre in Maylands and has commemorated both Anzac Day and Remembrance Day at the Maylands Memorial, well known to Maylands residents, on the corner of Eighth Avenue and Peninsula Road.

Over the years, of course, the ranks of the Maylands Railways RSL has thinned and recently the sub-branch determined that it could best make a continuing contribution to the welfare and lives of veterans by formally disbanding and merging with the Bedford-Morley RSL. I think that is an appropriate decision for the Maylands Railways RSL Sub-branch to make, but it does give an opportunity to mark the contribution that that sub-branch has made over a substantial period of time to the lives and welfare of veterans who live in the Maylands area.

The Bedford-Morley RSL of course makes its own outstanding contribution to the life and welfare of veterans. The Bedford-Morley RSL meets at the RSL Hall in Grand Promenade and commemorates Anzac Day and Remembrance Day at the Salisbury Street Memorial in Inglewood. I am very proud that a couple of years ago the Bedford-Morley RSL Sub-branch asked me to become its first associate member, a new membership category which was opened up to RSL sub-branches in Western Australia, and I proudly wear that badge and associate membership.

I mark the contribution that the Maylands Railways RSL Sub-branch has made in a very memorable way to the lives and welfare of RSL veterans in that area and wish those remaining members of the sub-branch all the best for their ongoing activities with the Bedford-Morley RSL.

Question agreed to.