Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to pay tribute to Shane Brown, who has recently retired after serving for 35 years as the CEO of Weave Youth and Community Services. Weave began as South Sydney Youth Services in 1976, set up by a group of local parents worried about the welfare of their children and other children in the area who were playing on the streets at night. Shane Brown joined the organisation as a social worker and later became CEO. Weave provides much-needed support to young people, children, women and families who are socially excluded, and aims to build a stronger and more connected community. I would say it has succeeded in doing so.

I've known Shane for very many years. During that time Shane has shown a tremendous amount of dedication and commitment to his work strengthening the community through providing support. Shane's strong understanding of the positive impact of social justice and the political system meant he thrived in the role of CEO and helped shape Weave into the organisation it is today. He believes equality brings people together and creates more vibrant and healthier communities. As the CEO of Weave, Shane was focused and driven, and respected by his colleagues and by the people he served. He had a reputation for finding new and innovative ways of delivering services with positive impacts.

One of the areas that the old South Sydney Youth Services, later Weave, took on almost uniquely was serving young people who had a dual diagnosis of a mental illness and a drug or alcohol addiction problem. They were often excluded from mental health services because of addiction problems, or excluded from addiction services because of mental health problems. Under Shane's leadership and guidance this uniquely disadvantaged group of people received assistance they would have otherwise missed out on. Today Weave's programs include their Kool Kids Club; tutoring; mental health, drug and alcohol counselling; outreach; juvenile justice; their Women and Children's Centre; their Arts Program; psychological services; and Aboriginal information and referral. They do all of this in an incredibly fun and vibrant environment, with skateboarding competitions, barbecues and so on. As the local member, I was pleased to help a few years ago Weave secure from our government's community infrastructure program a $2 million grant, which enabled Weave to build a new head office and youth hub in Waterloo.

Shane's focus on bettering the community and improving the lives of its young people has been evident right throughout his working life. On behalf of the parliament and on behalf of the people of Redfern and Waterloo, I thank Shane for his service and wish him all the very best in his next venture.