Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently I represented the Minister for Social Services to open a new toy library located within my electorate of Spence. The toy library is located at the St Augustine's Parish School in Salisbury, and it is now the second toy library operating in Spence. I hope there are many more to come. Toy libraries throughout Australia, due in large part to the incredible volunteers that donate their time towards running them, offer invaluable opportunities for children to experience play. Backed by this government's $700,000 investment towards toy libraries across the country, they also make recreational and bonding experiences more accessible for families, when toys can be a luxury item out of reach to some households.

I myself have experienced the joy that a toy library can bring, having visited one in the 1980s as a youngster over and over again. Back then, the one thing I really wanted was a toy digger, but, growing up on a farm, money simply couldn't be spent on things like that. But, at my local toy library, there it was. Mum would hire that digger over and over again for me, and I played with it for hours. It just so happens that today is my mother's birthday. Happy birthday to you. I love you and I hope you have a great day. While my dirt-moving adventures might have been made of plastic, the commitment of our government towards making play available to all Australian children is very real. I'm proud to see it come to life in Spence.