Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I wish to again put on the record my appreciation and thanks for all the volunteers in my electorate of Chisholm. Chisholm is blessed by an extraordinary number of people who volunteer their time and effort to support many worthwhile community activities in my electorate. On Saturday I had the pleasure of hosting the seventh Caroline Chisholm Awards, which I initiated within my electorate because I thought that the unsung heroes in our voluntary organisations deserved some thanks. All the volunteers will tell you that they do not want recognition or thanks; they do it because they get so much back. But we as a community must say thank you. It is a terrific opportunity for the organisations which these individuals volunteer for to say thank you. In the seventh year I thought we would not get too many nominations because we have been going for a long time and I thought we had recognised a lot of the people. But this year we received more nominations than we have ever received, and we actually recognised 91 people at a ceremony on Saturday. We rejected a few of the applications because they did not meet the criteria that we set.

Those recognised included people such as Laurie Coles, 92 years of age. She is a woman of many attributes. Laurie is a founding member of U3A Waverley and is also its oldest member. She joined U3A in 1985 and offered to conduct a music appreciation class. Since that time she has continued as a tutor to classes of up to 20 members. Laurie’s classes give so much pleasure to so many and these fortnightly classes have encouraged many friendships. For the past few years these classes have been conducted at Laurie’s home, as she no longer drives. Laurie’s thirst for knowledge remains unquenchable.

Lucille Horro is a 72-year-old who lives in public housing in Chadstone. For 12 years she has devoted much of her time to assisting others through the Assemblies of God church, St Mary Magdalene’s Primary School and the Baptist Church. She has made many contributions to the community. Probably her biggest contribution has been to effect positive change for public tenants living around her local area. She was pivotal in setting up the Ashburton, Ashwood and Chadstone Public Tenants Group, which has existed for 1½ years. This group goes from strength to strength and continues to empower residents living in public housing. Lucille managed to transform the dream of such a group into a reality. This group consists of people who are inspired to make life better for all in the community. Over the past year Lucille has been instrumental in organising two forums, where a panel of speakers from the Office of Housing make themselves available to local tenants. I can testify that these forums have been a huge success. We have had some positive feedback from these forums.

Eileen O’Neill has given 15 years of volunteer service to the Louise Multicultural Community Centre. As a volunteer, she has taught English to migrants and refugees, which has enabled them to participate more fully in Australian life. She has always enjoyed the contact she has had with people from the many varied cultures that she has taught, and she has felt that it was a way of giving back to the community. There are people from 20 different countries at the Louise centre. Much loved by her fellow volunteers and students, this remarkable 79-year-old makes an outstanding contribution to strengthening the Australian community.

Bryan Paten is a volunteer at CARA, which is an organisation that provides specialist residential care and support to young women aged between 12 and 18 years who are victims of abuse and who are part of the Victorian child protection system. Bryan Paten’s relationship with CARA began about 15 years ago. His initial involvement was through the Glen Waverley Rotary Club, which at the time were doing some maintenance work at the CARA house in Syndal. After this work was completed, Bryan continued his involvement in CARA as a private citizen. Bryan started off collecting much-needed items like toiletries, fresh produce, groceries, cash donations from friends and neighbours, and Easter baskets which were delivered to each girl. He has been Santa for the past eight years, bringing much joy and delight to the girls.

Bryan has gone on to be a highly valued board member and has served on the board for approximately seven years. He is currently president but is also a past secretary. Bryan has genuine empathy with and interest in the children. Even though his role at CARA has been more formal, he has never lost the connectedness to the girls or the CARA program. He also works his magic with the Young Mums program, offering support to vulnerable young mothers and their babies.

These people are extraordinary. They give generously of their time, and there were 91 people who excel like these individuals do.

In the short time available, I want to put on the record my condolences at the death of Peter Cleeland, a former member for McEwen. I knew Peter on and off for years—like his membership of this place, which was on and off for a couple of years too. Peter was an amazing community member who did so much for his community. His last act was to be very involved in the establishment of the Outer Eastern Legal Service. My sympathies go to his partner, Jan—who I know will be suffering, because they were a very close couple—and to his children, his grandchildren and the community he served. I know he will be greatly missed.