David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 24 September, I attended the Greek Orthodox parish annual fete celebrations in Kogarah. It was a great celebration in particular this year because it coincided with the 12th Clergy-Laity Congress of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia. This event was attended by not only Australian clergy and laity but also senior members of the Greek Orthodox Church from around the world. It was wonderful to see His Eminence Archbishop Makarios on the day and also His Eminence Archbishop Nikitas of Great Britain, who joined us for the celebrations. It was a wonderful event with thousands of people in attendance. I want to thank the president of the Greek Orthodox church of Kogarah, Nickolas Varvaris, well known to this place as a former colleague here in the House of Representatives. The church at Kogarah is an absolute bedrock of our community, and it was tremendous to attend the annual fete celebrations.

On 16 September I attended the annual awards dinner of the Bankstown basketball club, the Bruins. Bankstown basketball has a storied history that goes back to 1964. Literally thousands of people in our community participate in basketball down at the centre in Condell Park. The centre has been there for a long time and is a real centrepiece of the Condell Park community. On the night, at Bankstown Sports Club, we acknowledged many different players who had done great things during the season. That included many of the volunteers and coaches and a number of players from Bankstown who have represented junior national teams from around the Pacific but also are part of the Bankstown basketball community. It was a tremendous night. To Christian Gobolos, the CEO, and everyone who does so much at Bankstown basketball, thank you for what you do for our community.

Florence Jiang is a very talented and hardworking swimmer. She is part of the St George Swim Club and represents that club with great distinction. Recently, at the Sydney Olympic Park School Sport Australia swimming competition, Florence was very successful in her efforts. She received a bronze medal in the 16-year-old girls 100-metre freestyle and also a silver medal in the girls four-by-100-metre freestyle relay. This is a tremendous achievement, because schools from all corners of Australia came to this event at Sydney Olympic Park. Florence is a tremendous credit to the St George Swim Club and to our community. A big congratulations to Florence Jiang.