Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Every year on Australia Day, or the nearest Monday, I have the privilege of presiding over the Rosewood New Citizens Ceremony. We had 10 people this year. Before that, we had the Rosewood Citizen of the Year, and I want to commend Arnold Rieck for the great work he has done and the fact that he was the citizen of the year. Arnold has been a great warrior for the environment in the region, actively involved in West Moreton Landcare. His knowledge of the flora and fauna in the Rosewood scrub area is exemplary. No-one knows more than Arnold. He and his wife, Joyce, have done an enormous amount of work not just with Cabanda aged care but with many community groups in the Rosewood region in rural Ipswich.

This year we had 10 new citizens at that ceremony, and I want to thank the Rosewood Lions, who actually run the day. We used to have it at the Rosewood Uniting Church. Now we have it in that wonderful facility that the Prime Minister criticised: the BER hall at Rosewood State Primary School. It is a fantastic facility for the Rosewood region, and I have been to many civic and community events held there. It has been a fantastic facility, and it is a shame, a tragedy and a disgrace that the Prime Minister should criticise those particular facilities.