Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last weekend I attended the inaugural Fed Up Lunch at Flemington Racecourse with almost 300 other Victorians to raise funds for McAuley Community Services for Women. McAuley provides vital services for women and their children who have experienced family violence. The event was organised by a group of five like-minded mates—Michael Jones, Toby Potter, Peter Fraser, Scott Walker and Nick Poole—who heard about McAuley's work on the radio and wanted to help. They were fed up with family violence in our community and wanted to do their bit to make a difference.

After almost 12 months of planning—much of it at the pub—the Fed Up Lunch raised $30,000 for McAuley Community Services for Women. It was a massive effort. It is great to see that we are starting to see a shift in community attitudes towards this issue and that these kinds of local initiatives are starting to emerge. The funds raised by this lunch will be vital for McAuley in being able to continue to provide crucial assistance to women and their children who are escaping from family violence. There are a number of organisations like McAuley in Victoria who are desperately in need of funding to provide these critical services. Without future funding for these organisations, many of the women and children who are experiencing family violence in our community will have nowhere to turn. It is great to see that members of our community, a group of mates with a common interest, are doing their bit to respond to this crisis and take a stand on these issues. I congratulate everyone involved and I look forward to attending many more Fed Up lunches in the future.