Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to speak on an issue of some seriousness tonight. It relates to the bushfires in Victoria and especially—though on a slightly lighter note—some of the fundraising efforts that my local schools have made to support people in those areas who have been affected in terms of property or other goods or lives. Those areas are really just up the road from the electorate of Deakin. The Yarra Valley is quite close, and there are a lot of community connections.

In total, so far—and they are still counting—the schools in my electorate have now raised over $110,000, and some of them are still going. That is a really good and honest tribute to the community spirit that has certainly shown itself since that time. I would like to speak about a few schools in particular. I am sure there are a couple that I will have missed, but I am sure there will be another time to talk about them as well.

One of the schools, Blackburn Primary School, with just under 500 students, raised $11,000 through both a general appeal and a trivia night organised by the staff. For a school of that size to raise so much money is quite an impressive achievement.

Another school, Antonio Park Primary School, which is just down the road from my electorate office, raised $1,500 in its free dress day, with another $1,200 raised through donations to the school’s office. This money will be donated to the Flowerdale, Kinglake, Middle Kinglake and Kinglake West primary schools. In addition to this, the School Council at Antonio Park has decided to donate 10 per cent of this year’s profits from their school fete to the bushfire appeal. The school is hoping that this will mean that an extra $2,000 or more will be donated following the fete in April.

The Junior School Council at Laburnum Primary School were largely responsible for that school’s fundraising efforts, organising a casual dress day and, with the help of the school’s parents group, conducting a twilight sports sausage sizzle. Food and drinks for this were donated by local businesses, and their efforts saw the school raise almost $10,000. I would particularly like to highlight the role played by the students on the Junior School Council at Laburnum. It is always pleasing to see young Australians contributing to their community, especially at times when the rest of the community is watching and taking notice.

In addition to raising $1,200 for the bushfire appeal, Ringwood Heights Primary School put together about 200 individual classroom packs containing items such as stationery and drink bottles to be sent to a school destroyed by the fires, Middle Kinglake Primary School. Some of these packs also contained hats and sporting equipment and some contained toys and games sorted by school grades. The school has also collected a donation of a pallet of stationery ready to be delivered along with 20 to 30 boxes of stationery donated by two other schools and by Officeworks. These supplies will be delivered to Middle Kinglake Primary School once it has completed its move to an alternative site—as I said, the school was destroyed.

A huge effort has also been put in by the staff and students at Ringwood Secondary College, who raised over $13,000 for the bushfire relief fund. In addition to this outstanding effort, 140 students and staff are rostered to donate blood throughout this month of March. The school community, along with others like Ringwood Heights Primary School—as I have mentioned—and Tinternvale Primary School, has rallied together to provide toiletries, goods and tools to people who have been affected by the fires.

As well as their fundraising efforts and appeals for donated goods, I have also seen a number of drawings and letters from primary school students in the electorate which are to be sent to students in the affected areas. I think this gives a personal touch to the fundraising efforts. It is great to see money donated, but it is also really good to see a generous personal outpouring of genuine thoughts that are sent across.

Dorset Primary School held a crazy hair day to raise money for the Red Cross bushfire appeal. The school tells me that the collection of hairstyles there ranged from the strange to the crazy to the downright ridiculous. The parade held on the netball court, they tell me, looked quite amazing and, at times, amazingly horrible! From this appeal, $2,557 was raised for the Red Cross bushfire appeal.

Of course there are many other schools—and I am going to run out of time and not get to them all. Just quickly: Norwood Secondary College raised $6,900, and Great Ryrie Primary School raised $1,850. There are many more and there are many good fundraising efforts going on. I congratulate all the schools, the students and the teachers involved.