Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Deputy Chairman , Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Hansard source

Like all of us, I attended a number of fantastic Australia Day celebrations. In the morning of Australia Day I had the pleasure of attending two functions organised and hosted by local Rotary groups. The first was the Rotary Club of Wandin, which had an Australia Day breakfast that packed the Wandin Town Hall with more than 300 locals. I want to pay tribute to the president, John Sanders, to the MC, Neil Tassell, and to the many volunteers who helped bring about a fantastic and successful event, including Carol Pitman and Heinz Budweg. I would also like to pay tribute to Wendy Bartsch and her daughter Natalie, who sang the national anthem to kick things off.

Later in the morning I had the pleasure of attending the Rotary Club of Monbulk's Australia Day breakfast. I would like to pay tribute to president Barbara Clark, secretary Darrell Hayes and to Peter Hayne, Ross Byrne, Keith Corbett. I also pay tribute to the two guest speakers, locals Leo and Carla Van Alphen, who told their story of becoming Australian citizens after migrating from Europe, and to the local Hills Jazz Orchestra which made the morning very eventful indeed.

Local Rotary groups do so much for so many throughout our community. On Australia Day, of course, it is a great chance to reflect on all of the great aspects of our national character. One of those is surely the volunteer contribution and the volunteer spirit. Rotary epitomises that in so many ways.

While I am speaking of volunteers and their critical contribution to our local and national community, can I also take the time to mention three people to whom I had the pleasure of presenting National Volunteer Awards in the final weeks of last year. There were Colin Matheson and Shaun Caulfield of the Lilydale SES. Colin is the unit controller and Shaun is the deputy controller of operations, and both were recognised for their dedication to the Lilydale SES with 35 years' and 20 years' service respectively. The third award was to Lis Guldager-Nielsen from the Lilydale and District Community Information Centre, of which she has been an integral part for more than 30 years.

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