Fiona Scott (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

21 March will mark the annual Penrith festival. But this year there will be a very, very special event for all of the community participating—the opening of Poppy Park. 102,804 people from our country have served and lost their lives in a conflict overseas. These 102,804 people will be commemorated with a poppy each, all placed into the earth just behind Judges car park in Penrith. It will be open for all the community—in fact, all Australians—to participate.

You can buy a poppy from either poppypark.org.au or from Remember A Soldier. They are also being sold at Westfield Penrith for only $9.95. Volunteers can plant one of the 102,804 poppies from 15 March. Our local schools will then get involved, laying poppies from 20 March, with the Minister for Veterans' Affairs then opening the park and planting the last poppy on 21 March. This exhibition will be open for five weeks for us all to remember every single one of these 102,804 soldiers.

The wonderful thing about this event is that the poppies will be assembled and then, after the event, boxed up by the local Thorndale Foundation, which is providing jobs for those in our community with disability. I would like to commend Owen and Martin Rogers for their work— (Time expired)