Margaret May (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last Friday evening I had the pleasure of attending the Burleigh Heads Rotary Workplace Excellence and Community Service Awards at Bond University. These awards have become an annual event that continues to grow every year. Bren Milsom, the president of Burleigh Heads Rotary Club, and his team are to be congratulated on developing the awards and encouraging local businesses to nominate their outstanding employees to be recognised for workplace excellence. The awards are also about recognising volunteers undertaking community service with not-for-profit organisations. The range of services provided to the community was outstanding and certainly demonstrated a high commitment by local people to give something back to their communities through volunteering.

On the evening a special award was given to an employer—a man who is committed to training young people who are still at school with skills in the building industry. A former teacher himself, Ian Anderson has developed an unusual concept whereby young men and women finish their high school studies at his institute by learning skills in the building trade. It is a remarkable story and one I hope to bring to the attention of our Minister for Vocational and Further Education. The students are building a house—real on-the-job training.

The evening was certainly a night to encourage workplace and service excellence in our Gold Coast community. The special guest speaker was Normie Rowe, a man who needed no introduction but who certainly inspired the audience with his speech on passion and love and service to one’s community. I hope the awards continue well into the future. They are a credit to the Burleigh Heads Rotary Club and the Rotarians who participate in putting the evening together.

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