Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I take this opportunity to wish all members all the best for the Christmas season and a very happy new year. It is a time when we all spend a little bit of time with our family and we can be back in our electorates doing things that we do not get time to do at other times of the year. Christmas is very much a family time, very much a time you spend with your friends and your family. That brings me to the point that there are many people in each and every one of our electorates who do not always have the luxury of enjoying Christmas in the way that we do. There are people in each and every one of our electorates who do not have family and friends and they do not have the support that they need at Christmas. For those people it can be a very sad and sorry time. Many people in our electorates cannot afford Christmas dinner and the presents they need for their children.

That is why each year in my electorate I have a Smith Family Christmas tree. In addition, my office is a drop-off point for people in the electorate who would like to leave some Christmas goodies. On the Monday before Christmas, my electorate staff and I go out and distribute those goods to people in the community or to organisations in the community. One of the places I always like to give donations to is the Merrigum Centre at Windale. That is an organisation that operates under the Anglican Church. They do fantastic work in the community at Windale and are a role model for any organisation that is prepared to operate in the community. As a church, it gives support to those people in most need.

I would like to put a call out to all local businesses and to all residents in the Shortland electorate to dig deep and to give freely, to drop some food items off at my office so that they can be included in the hamper that I deliver to the Merrigum Centre, the Samaritans and St Vincent de Paul within the local area. In addition, I would like to encourage people who drop a present in to take one of the little tags from the Christmas tree that I have in my office that identifies the appropriate age and sex of recipients of presents put under the tree. Then we will deliver those presents to the Smith Family. I know I am not the only member in the House who does this. I think one of the roles of a member of parliament is to ensure that we support our communities, and one way of supporting our communities is to make sure that at Christmas time we can help those who need it. And I know there are some members who actually go out and help cook Christmas dinner in the community. I encourage people if they have got any spare capacity to support those who may be lonely at Christmas time.

I come back to where I started, and that is thanking people for the work that they have done in the community. I emphasise my thanks to the Prime Minister for the way he has led the government this year. There have been some major changes in Australia and changes that have been for the better. I think that Australia at the end of 2008 is a very different place from the Australia that existed at the time of the election. It is a much more inclusive, more caring society, one in which every person is valued. By donating at Christmas time we are really linking into that theme of inclusiveness and community. I thank all those involved. (Time expired)