Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Saturday 3 February I was proud to host the Moreton Volunteer Awards at the wonderful Wellers Hill Bowls Club, an occasion to honour and celebrate our local volunteers. It's wonderful to have that opportunity to celebrate ordinary, kindly people doing extraordinary things within my local community. This is my 16th year of hosting the awards, and they're a fantastic way to kickstart the year. The awards ceremony allows us to take the time to reflect on how the recipients demonstrate the strength of our community and how, with their generosity, humility, service and caring, they demonstrate what community really means. They remind us that we're not just individuals living in the same geographic area; instead, we're a community working together.

This year's ceremony was attended by 52 recipients and over 200 proud family members and friends. Elected representatives from the Brisbane City Council and state government mingled with volunteers and heard more about their vital community work that takes place 365 days a year—but this is the one day when we come together to acknowledge their tireless work for our community.

The award recipients represented a wide range of organisations, from those wonderful community centres helping those doing it tough, people organising community festivals, Scouts, sporting organisations, kindies, P&Cs, volunteers at schools, carers for vulnerable people, RSL sub-branches, Rotary and Lions groups, op shops, food banks, people doing fundraisers for hospitals and even a first aid team. The beauty of these awards is that the recipients are as diverse as the community that I get to call home.

Some characteristics that the recipients all share or have in common are kindness, dedication, reliability and a willingness to give up their own time to help the people in our community. They are the quiet warriors who lead by example—the unassuming role models who show the rest of us how we should be treating our neighbours or those we too often walk past. These people are making a difference where it matters.

Moreton is a wonderful place to live, and it's clear that the spirit of community is strong and vibrant. Our community would not be the wonderful, rich and welcoming place that it is without the award recipients, who give their time so generously day after day, often at great sacrifice to themselves. Thank you to all the people who took the time to nominate these Moreton heroes, these hardworking community workers, and a big thankyou again to the Wellers Hill Bowls Club for their continued support of the awards; they provided their venue for free. I will just give a plug for the Wellers Hill Bowls Club for anyone in Brisbane. I think they've got about 7,000 different types of beer and they provide wonderful food as well on the weekend.

Congratulations to all the volunteers who received the Moreton Volunteer Awards in 2024 for the great work they do in our community.