Zhi Soon (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to acknowledge some of the community groups in my electorate who I've had the pleasure of meeting with over the last few weeks. The Mid-Autumn Festival is an important date in the calendar for Chinese Australians. The festival celebrates the end of the autumn harvest and dates back over 3,000 years in Chinese culture. This was a very special mid-autumn festival for my family this year, as it was the first one for my baby daughter, Dorothy. I was able to join the Georges River Association for their celebrations in Hurstville alongside the member for Barton, as well as local Georges River councillors Leon Pun, Elaina Anzellotti, Gerard Hayes, Thomas Gao and Ben Wang. It was a fantastic celebration of Chinese Australian culture, including the unveiling of a mega mooncake—spectacular stuff! Congratulations to the Georges River Association for putting on a fantastic event.

The St George Australian Football Club have been playing Aussie rules football for nearly 100 years, now fielding eight teams across both men's and women's competitions each week at Olds Park in Penshurst in my electorate. It was my pleasure to attend their presentation night a couple of weeks ago in Oatley with the member for Barton and both state and local government colleagues. I would like to congratulate club president Angie Zissis—who does an amazing job—alongside Vice President Dale Widders and the fantastic organising committee for putting on an amazing evening.

In particular, I want to acknowledge the late Brendan Donahue. Brendan was involved with the club for many years, joining the committee when the club was on the verge of being removed from the competition as a result of its financial position. Today, the club is financially healthy and widely respected across AFL Sydney for the fantastic grassroots club that it is. This wouldn't have been possible without Brendan Donahue, and it is widely acknowledged that his efforts were instrumental in saving the club altogether. That is why it is particularly fitting that the club person of the year award is now named in Brendan's memory.

This year it was awarded to Sabrina Saez in recognition of her work in developing the club's social media presence, leading the way amongst AFL Sydney clubs. It would just about rival any professional club's across the country. I want to say, from the bottom of my heart, 'Congratulations, Sabrina and all the worthy winners across the club, for another successful year in AFL Sydney.' Congratulations to St George Australian Football Club for a fantastic season.