Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the wonderful things about the electorate of Berowra is its extraordinary sense of community spirit. It's a community where people don't sit back and wait for somebody else to fix issues and problems; it's a community of communities—it's a community where people get involved. One of the great indications of the community spirit of Berowra was when, after the recent Berowra hailstorms which devastated every home in Berowra, there was wonderful spontaneous volunteering, where people just came down after their homes were secure and helped their neighbours by sandbagging and by helping our volunteers and our SES.

One of the things that the Morrison government has in place to support our local communities is the Stronger Communities Program. It's a program where we in government can encourage local community organisations to carry on the good work that they do and provide them with small grants, and my role in this is to encourage groups to apply. I've established, as all members do, an independent committee to assess the grants. The committee that I have established is chaired by my local resident and a distinguished former member of this House, Chris Miles, the former member for Braddon.

This year we have helped a whole range of organisations, from Scouting groups to church groups and from op shops to Lions clubs to Rotary clubs, and from people dealing with people with disabilities to school P&Cs. That, I think, encapsulates the great breadth of the Berowra community in and of itself. The range of projects that we've helped is quite diverse too, from installing better IT equipment to create better internet reception for Warrah in Dural, which is a residential accommodation for people with disability, through to providing new play equipment and sheltered play areas for school P&Cs at Cherrybrook and Beecroft. We've refurbished Scouting kitchen halls, and we've also refurbished Scouting driveways as a result of this.

One of the great things about the program, too, is that it is not just a government grant with no strings attached. It actually says to organisations: 'We want you to match the funding. We want you to get involved and raise some of the money yourself, and we will meet you halfway.' So it's a government-community partnership in the best way, which reinforces and strengthens the bond of communities. We've created outdoor learning areas for schools. We created softball back nets on a diamond at the Hornsby District Softball Association. These are just some of the many programs that we're providing and supporting.

What has interested me is the number of church groups that are looking for assistance at the moment, particularly with carpet tiles. I think we have three or four different church groups that have looked for funding for carpet tiles, but I think that goes to show how regularly used these church organisations are and, indeed, what a backbone of the Berowra community our 70-odd church and faith groups are. I commend the Stronger Communities Program to the chamber.