Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In this place we often have an opportunity to speak on condolence motions about very important people in our society who have passed away, but we do not usually get the opportunity to talk about some of the little people. Recently I attended the wake of a much loved member of my electorate of Higgins, Ms Sylvia Fahey, who passed away at the age of 87 after a long battle with cancer. Ms Fahey was well known throughout my electorate as a person who had devoted her life to our community. She was dedicated and hardworking. On numerous occasions, she defended and fought for a variety of organisations in my electorate, including one that was very dear to her heart, the Prahran RSL.

In 2012 Ms Fahey's service to the Higgins community was officially recognised when she was announced as the City of Stonnington's Community Citizen of the Year for her 70 years of service to the Prahran community. When Ms Fahey was not campaigning for traders' rights or raising funds for the Prahran RSL, she was often to be found at her own small business, Sylvia's Milk Bar, which is one of many small businesses in my electorate of Higgins. She ran the business for over 40 years.

I take the opportunity in the parliament today to pay tribute to Sylvia for her service to our community and to commend those community organisations that do great deeds. Sylvia is like so many others in our local areas who work hard for others, often without recognition, and I pay tribute to them as well. They are the hundreds of thousands of people who make Australia even better. (Time expired)