Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to highlight some of the fantastic volunteers in the Bendigo electorate. Last Friday in celebration of International Volunteers Day we held several ceremonies across the electorate, recognising the hard work of these local heroes. International Volunteers Day, as members know, is celebrated on 5 December, the day before, but knowing that we would be here in Canberra we organised to recognise our local heroes and volunteers on the Friday.

Volunteers and their organisations quite often do not do this work for recognition. They do it for their community, for their neighbours, for their organisations. They do it in many cases because it is a passion. Without our volunteers, I believe our communities would fall down, particularly in central Victoria. I want to highlight a couple of the organisations and individuals that we recognised last Friday in our ceremonies.

Friends of Kyneton Community Park volunteer Katrina, the vice-president, has been actively involved in working with the president, Amy, in making sure that the community understands the purpose of the project. Friends of Kyneton Community Park recently secured a government grant to be able to continue to develop the children's park.

I would also like to acknowledge the Kyneton Uniting Church Op Shop. Flo Watson there is amazing. She is a volunteer herself and she coordinates rosters of up to 80 volunteers. I have spoken to Flo about whether she would join my campaign team for the next election, given her ability to organise volunteers.

There were people in this program nominated by their children. I would like to highlight Maryanne Murdoch of the Campbells Creek Fire Brigade, nominated by her son and daughter. They know how much Maryanne cares for the local community and how she stepped in when nobody else would. She has currently completed her rigging licence so that she can now drive the fire truck. She attended the Black Saturday fires in 2009. She had just returned from assisting with the New South Wales bushfires, where she and her fellow members took five days away from our own state, our own community, to assist in New South Wales.

I must also mention the 70 City of Greater Bendigo volunteers that staff the visitors' centres, the Elmore senior citizens, the Bendigo Special Olympics team and, lastly, the Laanecoorie Mechanics Institute hall—in particular their secretary, Geoff, who has been a secretary or the president for 39 years. Before Geoff, it was his father, and before his father it was his grandfather. So as long as there has been the Laanecoorie Mechanics Institute, somebody from this family has been involved in this committee. This hall, of course, was a favourite host of the Young Farmers' Balls for decades and decades. Today, whilst they do not host the Young Farmers' Balls, they are quickly becoming the museum for the region, making sure that they continue to preserve the history and the culture of the region.

All of us recognise that our local heroes are our volunteers. Our volunteers are the people who ensure that our communities remain strong and remain connected. They do this work not for recognition, but they do this work because it is their passion and because there is a job that needs to be done. We have decided to make this an annual event to recognise the Bendigo electorate hard-working volunteers on or around International Volunteers' Day.

I seek leave to table a list of the recipients of the Bendigo International Volunteers' Day awards for 2013.

Leave granted.

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