Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of our community, I congratulate Amber Lawrence, who recently won her first Golden Guitar award for female artist of the year at the Country Music Awards in Tamworth.

The ironic fact about this award is that Amber is not from the country. She grew up in Mascot, in our community, and spent her youth at Maroubra Beach. That childhood by the beach has heavily influenced her music and her songwriting.

One of the tracks on her award-winning album is the song Lifesaver. It is a tear-jerking ballad about her late father who, tragically, suffered a stroke at 40 years of age—a fit, boat-rowing lifesaver at the South Maroubra surf club who tragically suffered a stroke when Amber was eight years old. The song chronicles the family coming to terms with that tragedy, and how Amber's mother then became her father's lifesaver.

Amber is beloved by our community. She regularly plays at community events. She is an ambassador for the National Stroke Foundation and for the Special Olympics. She is a very big talent—one to watch in the future. Congratulations, Amber. Our community is very proud of you.

See this speech in context