Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to acknowledge, thank and congratulate the Firefoxes group. I am so proud to be your representative in parliament and I am grateful to you for the work you do to make your communities, especially in Murrindindi, better places to live. Congratulations for the many awards you have won. Firefoxes—Women Rising Together From Black Saturday—began following the 2009 fires as a way to support women in the Kinglake Ranges community and give women a voice. It is a grassroots organisation and members typically get together for a monthly dinner.

Over the years, the group have grown in their skills and knowledge of community development and resilience and they now share these skills with communities all around Australia who have been affected by disaster. The community dinners are social, fun, entertaining and a way to share information and connect people. On Friday night, I had the honour of meeting and being inspired by this wonderful group. We talked about challenges and strategies, about what women can achieve within their communities when they work with a common goal, about blooming where you planted and about being the change you want to see in the world.

I would like to thank everybody for a wonderful night, particularly my dinner companions—Margaret, Irene, Jude, Dorothy, Tania, Kate, Jemima and Michelle—and for your wonderful hospitality.

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