Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to congratulate three local people on receiving significant national awards. The first is Sister Dr Berenice Kerr. Sister Berenice, as we call her, received a Fellowship of the Australian College of Educators award. After hearing of it—and this was in a local paper, the Daily Examiner, on 22 June—she was completely overcome and said:

I feel proud of the contributions I have made. It never occurred to me that the work I was doing was in any way extraordinary. I’m honoured to be receiving this award.

Sister Berenice is a member of the Catholic Education Commission, resides in Lismore and works throughout Australia as a consultant in education for the Sisters of Mercy. The second person I want to congratulate and recognise is Jim Hurley. Jim is the joint managing director of the Brown and Hurley Group based in Kyogle. The Brown and Hurley Group, a national organisation in trucking, has a wonderful history, and the Hurley family are really well known. Jim was recently inducted into the Queensland Road Transport Legends Hall of Fame in a ceremony at Gatton. The Brown and Hurley history is a wonderful story. It started with Jim's dad, Jack, and Alan Brown. When they were 25 and 21, they met in the army and opened a bicycle business, which then became an agency deal with Land Rover. Then, in 2011, they delivered their 9,000th Kenworth truck. It is a great family company with a great history in Kyogle. Well done, Jim.

The third person I want to recognise for receiving an award is Dr Christine Ahern, Director of Training with North Coast General Practitioner Training—or NCGPT, as it is called. Dr Ahern has just been recognised as Medical Educator of the Year. She is one of hundreds of GP medical educators placed across Australia who train and mentor junior doctors and registrars during their general practice training. She is based in Ballina. The stories about Jim Hurley and Dr Ahern were run yesterday, Tuesday, 20 September, in our local newspaper, the Northern Star. It is great that local newspapers profile local people who are doing wonderful things locally but on a national scale.