David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I take this opportunity to formally congratulate you on your election to the speakership. I rise today to raise with the House the success of a couple of important community organisations in my electorate of Banks. Banks is very rich in community spirit, with a very diverse range of community organisations working from Carlton in the east right across to Revesby in the west. I wanted to highlight the work of a couple of those organisations this evening. One is the Pole Depot Community Centre based in Penshurst. The Pole Depot provides a very diverse range of social support services to more than 500 people every single week in the St George district. Its vision is for a healthy, supported, active and involved community, and it has many different programs that help to fulfil that vision. The Pole Depot runs programs for carers, kids, members of the local Chinese-Australian community, people with disabilities, seniors and young people as well. It also has a popular community cafe. It truly is a one stop shop for community services in Banks.

Last week I was fortunate to be able to visit the Hurstville YouthZone, which is operated by the Pole Depot, and to meet with Edgee Ribeiro and his team. Edgee has been managing the youth centre there for more than 10 years, which is a real testament to his dedication and to the ongoing success of the YouthZone centre. Importantly, the centre really focuses on encouraging young people and teenagers to play a constructive and active role in the community, to not stay at home and watch video games, but to get out there and really contribute to the community. There is an anti-graffiti program which they run, which has been very successful, and a number of different preventative workshops designed to teach study skills, job-hunting skills and to give people broader experiences so that they are able to move confidently into the world of work. It is a really tremendous organisation, and I was very pleased during the election campaign to have the member for Wentworth visit the Pole Depot with me and commit $500,000 towards much needed capital upgrades at the centre. With so many activities it is bursting at the seams somewhat, and I am very pleased that we will be delivering the financial support to allow that important financial expenditure to occur next year.

Also this evening I congratulate the Autism Community Network, which is based in Riverwood. This is a parent-run organisation which is quite young—it was only founded in late 2011 by Steve Drakoulis and other members of his team—and it exists basically to assist families of kids who have an autism spectrum disorder. It provides one-on-one counselling; support services; and a range of other activities such as a drama club, an arts club, a cooking club and a fitness club. It is important to note that this organisation sprung up from the grassroots—from the hard work of just a small number of people with very little external support—and what they have achieved is certainly very impressive.

The Autism Community Network provides a significant number of its services online. For example, there is an online support platform where parents and families can go in and talk about issues they are facing with their child with an autism spectrum disorder. As you can imagine, that provides a lot of much-needed support to families who have a child with an autism spectrum disorder.

Such activities have been so successful that families from as far afield as right up in the Hornsby region and right down to Wollongong have been looking to get involved with the activities of the network—which, as I said, was only set up a year ago in the St George district. I extend to Steve Drakoulis and all his team my very hearty congratulations on their success.

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