Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Settlement) Share this | Hansard source

I fully support the Member for Banks in what is a bipartisan motion and one that is, today, a very valuable and heartfelt motion that is on the notice paper. There are many wonderful organisations in the member for Bank's electorate—and we have heard of just some of the contributions, and I am sure there would be many hundreds more. Similarly, there are hundreds of organisations in the federal electorate of Brisbane that help in the welfare and support of those who are in need. I am very grateful for the opportunity to meet with them, and I am always humbled, surprised, amazed and in awe of the incredible work that the volunteers do and their underlying support of these organisations.

I would also like to recognise the support that the government provides to these community groups. This government, as the Howard government before, provides many forms of support in terms of community grants, such as the small equipment grant, which was introduced by the Howard government, that provided a little bit of support in things that people needed, like computers and very, very small equipment that could make an enormous difference in the operations of many of these organisations. There are also volunteer grants and diversity and cultural cohesive programs that are there extensively for many of these groups to take advantage of. The volunteer grants recognise the valuable work of Australia's volunteers, the government's ongoing commitment to support volunteers to assist disadvantaged communities and to encourage, particularly, social inclusion, particularly amongst those who are the most vulnerable in our community. I recently had an opportunity to visit the new centre of the Multicultural Development Association with my colleague the shadow minister for immigration, Scott Morrison. The MDA provides bicultural support services and has an incredible pool of skilled cultural support workers who are employed on a casual basis to support refugees and migrants in the settlement process, an area in which I have had a very strong involvement in the past. This work is to be applauded. MDA does a fantastic job in Brisbane to give that professional service, particularly in working with families from diverse cultures. I am aware that there are many services and programs that rely upon volunteers at the centre. Social justice and the support for diversity, inclusion and harmony in the community have been the very goal of the centre, and it has had many achievements. Whether through a serious topical workshop or in finding housing and social activities for new Australians, this centre has had great success and deserves to be applauded.

Part of the success of MDA is the terrific partnerships that they engage in, including with RAILS, the Refugee and Immigration Legal Service, in the Migration Advice Clinic, and with the Refugee Civil Law Clinic. They also provide financial counselling in partnership with Lifeline Counselling Services. It is clear to me that MDA is one of the most respected and well-known community organisations in Brisbane, and I really want to commend the fantastic work being done by the director, Kerrin Benson, the Chair, Mr Warren McMillan, and all those involved, for their very hard work and excellent organisation. You provide so many broad responses to requests and you provide a wonderful meeting place. All of your achievements are a great credit to you.

I want to talk a little bit now about ChaplainWatch. This year I had the great opportunity again of meeting with ChaplainWatch to learn about the valuable service they provide to visitors and patrons of our busy night-time precincts. We all take it for granted that our children go out and enjoy themselves in the night-time precincts, but ChaplainWatch is a not-for-profit charity which was founded by Lance Mergard to proactively address the issues and consequences of alcohol and other drug related antisocial behaviour, crime and violence that occurs within the major entertainment precincts of Brisbane—and I, as the member for Brisbane, seem to have all of them in my electorate. Take the Fortitude Valley area—I notice the Deputy Speaker smiling; he has children and I am sure they have frequented, along with my children, the Fortitude Valley area, the central business district and Caxton Street. Most of the time, we hope, everything goes smoothly. But that is where night-watch chaplains proactively patrol: the entertainment precincts. They watch out for anyone who is in crisis or in need. On their midnight-to-dawn mobile patrols they focus on public safety in public spaces. They do crisis intervention, front-line first aid, incident diffusion and peace-making; they are streetwise, professional, confident, independent and non-authoritarian and they have had decades of experience. This year ChaplainWatch celebrates its 10th birthday. I have joined with them in the past, and they will be having a fundraising event this coming Thursday, which I hope I can get to, depending on when I get back from Canberra. They will be having this fundraising event at the Mercedes-Benz showroom, and I really look forward to supporting them.

Another great organisation is Parkinson's Queensland. I had the great privilege of attending their Unity Walk on Sunday, 28 August, where I joined hundreds of walkers in New Farm Park to raise money. Over $24,000 was raised in Queensland through this walk. People from all walks of life have raised awareness about Parkinson's disease, and they continue to raise funds to help support, honour and remember people living with the condition. The Unity Walk began in 2008 and so far has raised more than $600,000. All of that money goes to vital services and support for all of those living with Parkinson's and their families, carers and loved ones. It is also used to fund ongoing research into Parkinson's. It is sad when you think about it, but 25 people every day are diagnosed with this condition, and I just want to place on the record my support for all of the wonderful work that is being done by the team at Parkinson's Queensland. During the last couple of years I have had the privilege of meeting Ronni Kahn, a wonderful person, who was honoured a few years back as a local hero in the Australian of the Year awards. She is an incredible person. She founded an organisation called OzHarvest. Last Thursday I had the privilege of joining with Wesley Mission, who will now partner with OzHarvest in Brisbane. OzHarvest are a unique and incredible organisation. Their mission statement is very clear. They rescue food. What does that mean? They rescue food that would otherwise be discarded. This excess food is distributed to charities, particularly homeless charities, in places like Sydney, Canberra, Newcastle and Adelaide.

OzHarvest were founded in Sydney in November 2004. They began with one van. They delivered 4,000 meals in the first month of operations. Ronni Kahn started in a very humble way. She is an infectious person. She is the sort of person you can never say no to—hence my involvement with them! In Sydney, OzHarvest currently have eight vehicles and they deliver 266,000 meals per month. Australia wide, OzHarvest deliver 333,000 meals per month with a fleet of 12 vans. That is food that would have gone to waste; it goes to people who need it. We are turning excess food into a resource. My many years of working in the hospitality industry showed me quite clearly that there is a lot of excess food that goes to waste. We can save thousands of kilograms of food from being dumped as landfill each year. On average, the rescue of a kilogram of food by OzHarvest will prevent two kilograms of CO2 emissions and prevent the consumption of 143 litres of water.

I commend the fantastic work that Ronni Kahn has done in this area. OzHarvest is in its early stages of partnering with the Wesley Mission. I was really pleased to be there. I will lend whatever support I can in getting the restaurant and catering community involved with this fantastic project. I again commend the member for Banks for this wonderful motion. I commend the many thousands of hours that volunteers, young and old, put in. They are the wonderful and rich fabric of our society. I applaud and recognise their incredible efforts. Their contribution every day makes Australia a better place.

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