Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We all have them in our electorates—those selfless volunteers who are the very glue that binds our communities together. On Australia Day we recognise them, acknowledge them and honour them.

Here is a roll call of community champions for the Riverina electorate. They are citizens of the year—volunteers who have done so much to make our towns and Wagga Wagga a better place in which to live. In Coolamon there was Guy Purcell. In the Cootamundra-Gundagai local government area, there were Maureen Simpfendorfer and Sister Kathy Hodge in Cootamundra and Wendy Anderson in Gundagai. In Cowra, there was Jenny Friend. In the Hilltops local government area there were: in Boorowa, Angus Clements, who won Citizen of the Year; in Harden-Murrumburrah, Sarah and Andrew Jones; in Wombat, the Wombatian Citizen of the Year Cathy Simpson; and in Young, Ted Webber. In Junee, it was Natalie Phillips. In Lockhart, it was Keith Fraser. In the Snowy Valleys there were Shane Walsh in Adelong, Glenn Lavis in Tumbarumba, and Jane Dean and Adam Farquharson in Tumut. In Temora, there was Frances Dwyer.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 10:17 to 10:26

The Upper Lachlan Shire's Shire Citizen of the Year was Melinda Medway. In Crookwell it was Louise Gibbs. In Taralga it was Robert Handley. In Wagga Wagga Aunty Mary Atkinson deservedly was honoured with Citizen of the Year. In Weddin which is Grenfell, John Gorman got the gong. In Yass Valley it was Phil Gaden. We thank each and every one of them. Congratulations to past and present Riverina constituents who were awarded an Order of Australia for their contributions: John Killick OAM of Galong; Thomas Moss OAM of Khancoban; Stephen Sullivan OAM of Taralga; and Brett Murray, with whom I worked at the Daily Advertiser in the 1980s, who received an OAM for services to motor sports and journalism. I'm also very pleased that Gerard Kearns, the Kapooka commandant, the leader of 1st Recruit Training Battalion, Blamey Barracks, also was honoured in the Australia Day list. Nedd Brockmann of Forbes is the Young Australian of the Year. Now, he's not in my electorate anymore—Forbes is now in the division of Parkes—but his inspirational regional work and national work is something to behold. I eagerly look forward to seeing where Nedd's efforts take him into the future.

To each and every one of those community champions, I say thank you. I say thank you on behalf of your communities, because your communities are better places in which to live, work and play because of the selflessness that you have shown not just in the past 12 months but for many years besides. Without those sorts of people, we couldn't have a nation that is as great as Australia is. So well done. Happy Australia Day to each and every one of them. Thank you for your efforts.