Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Cities and Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to mention in this place two wonderful community organisations in my electorate of Scullin and these are the Lalor Men's Shed and the Whittlesea U3A, an organisation that you would be familiar with, Deputy Speaker Mitchell, member for McEwen. I had the great pleasure of visiting them both last week at the premises their share in Lalor. This is an important precinct in the Scullin electorate with these two organisations sharing premises with a wonderful community garden and with the Northern School for Autism, the Merriang Special Development School, the Peter Lalor Secondary College and the Outer Northern Trade Training Centre. I mention this because this evolution as a precinct is something that I am very proud to see continue and flourish but am also concerned about, particularly as it is a space that hasn't always been served by wonderful community facilities and is very close to the Lalor train station.

The Men's Shed is a relatively recent organisation but one that has been flourishing. It was terrific to check out what they are doing and how many people are being engaged. Many retired men and women and quite a few with disability are being engaged in fellowship, friendship as well as pursuing crafts that they are passionate about. Certainly, as someone who is not very handy, I learnt plenty of things, including which end of a hammer is the correct end to make use of. But, for those who are keen to pursue these activities in retirement, it has been an absolutely critical initiative supporting men and their families in the Thomastown and Lalor areas in particular. I am really pleased, as someone who has spoken often in this place about loneliness and social connection, to see this place flourishing. Next door, Whittlesea U3A is an organisation with nearly 1,000 members.

These organisations rely on many things, not only volunteers that drive activities but also having places to come together, and this is of course particularly important for something like the Men's Shed, where access to some of the devices for woodworking and metal working in particular is absolutely fundamental, particularly in a place people can access either on foot or via public transport, and there aren't too many of those places around. So I am concerned that there have been some significant impediments to the operation of both facilities in recent times. There seem to be difficulties with accessing parking, which is of concern to participants with disability. There have been issues in relation to the availability of toilets, impacting on both facilities. I am really concerned that these issues have not yet been resolved and I will be writing to the Victorian education department and to the school to see what can be done to ensure that the licence that has been given to both these groups can be given proper effect to, because we know how difficult it is to keep people engaged, particularly in later life. We know how dangerous loneliness and social disconnection are. When we have found organisations like the City of Whittlesea U3A and the Lalor Men's Shed that are doing good work, it is on all of us to keep that going.