Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was honoured this January to present 26 locals with Griffith Australia Day awards at a ceremony held at the Queensland Cricket Club venue at the Gabba. The Griffith Australia Day awards, established by my predecessor the former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, recognise outstanding volunteers in a community. Local residents, members of the many hardworking community groups and my colleagues from state and local government attended this year's ceremony. Each year we ask locals to nominate outstanding volunteers in the local area, and the 2016 Griffith Australia Day awards recipients came from diverse backgrounds and are working in our community in groups as diverse as sporting clubs, Meals on Wheels, multicultural organisations and veterans groups.

It is important that we come together to recognise volunteers. I do not say that because they seek recognition or because they want accolades; their work would continue without any fanfare at all. But, although they do not ask for recognition, they certainly deserve it. By shining a light on their good work, we might encourage others to follow their example, to say to themselves, 'I can do that' or 'I can make a difference'.

Modern life is very full. That makes volunteers all the more precious and worthy of our recognition and thanks. To Brian Laing, Cam Nisbet-Smith, Christina Carswell, Damien Madden, David Floyd, Dorothea Schafer, Emma Simpson, Dr Erin Evans, Kerrod Trot, Norma Morgan, Pat Powell, Steve Pidcock, Brian Menhinnitt, Elijah Buol, Tom Robertson, Gabrielle Chisholm, Mal Causer, Kay Johnston, Jonny Ruddy, Mardi and Morgan Jenkins, Robert and Jill Stanton, Jim Tunstall, and Robert and Russell Turner: on behalf of the southside, I would therefore like to place on the record of this parliament our sincere appreciation of all you do in the local community.

Each one of those people I have just mentioned had a remarkable story. Whether it was volunteering in the same organisation for 46 years; whether it was establishing a local festival to bring southsiders together around the G20 and to have continued that on; or whether it was establishing a veterans support group—Emma Simpson was 16 when she did this—to connect young people with veterans in our community, the stories of these volunteers were just deeply inspirational. It was wonderful to celebrate them together.

I would also like to thank the Griffith Australia Day Awards committee—the chair, Mary Maher; Jim McClelland; Reverend Linda Hanson; Marie Dwyer; and Brian Daley. I am so grateful to all of you for everything you did. You did an admirable job in following in the footsteps of the committee that Steve Rowan had chaired the year before. I also want to thank the Queensland Cricketers' Club. They were kind enough to support the event—and that helped us to host it in the spectacular surroundings of the Gabba, which is of course an iconic southside location in my electorate. I congratulate all those who won awards and all those who received nominations. (Time expired)

See this speech in context