House debates

Thursday, 7 December 2017

Constituency Statements

Banks Electorate: Hurstville Rotary Club TAFE Awards, Banks Electorate: Hurstville South Public School, Banks Electorate: Penshurst Returned Services League Junior Rugby League Football Club

10:33 am

Photo of David ColemanDavid Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

On 6 November, I attended the Hurstville Rotary Club annual TAFE Awards night. I have to say that this is one of my favourite functions of the year. It is a really interesting and quite moving event, because Hurstville Rotary puts on awards for TAFE students in our local area, many of whom have encountered difficulties in their lives—they may have been out of the workforce for a long period of time or suffered from long periods of unemployment. Hurstville Rotary, with the great assistance of St George TAFE, through Vicky Mazzeo, the faculty director, acknowledges in quite a formal presentation the efforts of these TAFE students. It's a fantastic night and it is a great testament to Hurstville Rotary. I'd like to thank my friends from Hurstville Rotary, including Val Colyer, Jan Gartrell, Barry Dunn, Dorothy Dixon, Bernie Dolan, Kevin Smith and Marion Smith. Hurstville Rotary Club is one of the backbones of our community, and the TAFE awards night was a special night.

On 30 October I attended a meeting of the Hurstville South Public School P&C. It was good to catch up with the P&C and the principal, and talk about issues affecting the school community. There is an unusual road layout near Hurstville South Public School, around Albert Street, Druery Lane and Days Avenue, and there are some safety issues for the kids exiting at the back of the school and navigating that narrow series of roads to get through Bell Park. I'd like to see Georges River Council take action on this issue, and there are a number of options in terms of pedestrian crossings, better signage and improved visibility, with mirrors and so on, but action does need to be taken. It's an important issue. I want to thank P&C president Brenton Hamdorf, secretary Alan Foster and of course the principal, Michelle Shelton, for all their fantastic work.

On 29 October I had the pleasure of visiting the Penshurst RSL Junior Rugby League Football Club for their annual presentation day. It was good to go down to Evatt Park in beautiful Lugarno where the club plays, and talk about the need for a shade structure adjacent to the existing clubhouse. This is an important issue and it is something I envisage I will be working on further with the club and the Georges River Council. It is the largest junior Rugby League club in our area. I do want to thank the Penshurst RSL president, John Hoban, for his ongoing support of the Rugby League club, and of course the president of the league club, Graham Chong-Sun, for all of his work. There are several hundred players at Penshurst junior Rugby League club, and it a great institution in our community. I look forward to continuing to work with the club.