Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

Next week is Men's Shed Week, and what a great week that is. Men's sheds are uniquely Australian. A lot of us do not know that. They are everywhere now, by the way. I have two in my electorate, in Parramatta and Granville, and one just across the border in Northmead, to the north. We all have them but they are quite a recent invention. They were first created following a conference on mental health for men in 1995. The first one was opened in Tongala, Victoria on 26 July 1998. Since then, not that many years later, there are well over a thousand.

I remember standing here about three years ago and are saying that there were 700. Now there are well over a thousand and they are growing every day. And they have spread to the rest of the world—New Zealand has about 30, Ireland has over 100 and the Scottish association was formed in 2012 for their men's sheds. It is a great Australian initiative that provides a place for men to come together to talk, share their skills and spend that mysterious shed time that men seem to like—secret men's business. It is a place where men come together to do those secret shed things, and a great thing it is.

Next week I will be heading out to visit mine. I will be visiting the Parramatta men's shed early in the week. In fact, they are having a bit of a get-together on Monday with 10 students from Parramatta High School. Those 10 students and the guys from the men's shed have been making possum boxes for Parramatta High School in conjunction with WIRES and Karabi—which was formerly Toongabbie Community Centres. It is an excellent mentoring program for young people.

I am looking forward to getting out there and having a cup of tea with all the guys and of course their board. Kerry Boyce, who is the president, and Rob Colless, who is the secretary, are two great blokes. Lawrence Flood is the vice president. I have done lots of selfies with these blokes over the years. Ian McHugh is the treasurer. Brett Evans, the safety coordinator, does a great job at the men's shed. Robert McKenzie is a member representative. And of course I will get down to Granville too if I can later in the week and say hello to Bill Tibben, who does an extraordinary job down there as well.

For all the men's sheds around Australia: happy Men's Shed Week for next week. I would expect that all of my colleagues across the parliament will be out picking up some tools and having a cuppa with the blokes next week.

Tomorrow—before next week—is National Ride2School Day. Schools right across my electorate of Parramatta will be encouraging their young students to ride their bikes to school. There was a time, when I was young, when we all did it. Eighty per cent of children rode their bikes to school. I remember us all crowding at the gate—the gate closed at the end of the day—and someone making sure there was no traffic before we all careered out onto the road to make our way home. Hopefully, we went straight home, although I think there were a few local creeks in my area that occupied us on the way, as I am sure they did for many of us back in those days. But not so many children ride to school now, in spite of the health benefits which we all know about and in spite of the pure joy you can have just from being on a bike and knowing how to ride it well.

Tomorrow morning I will be heading down to Darcy Road. I rode to school with them last year. I joined them in a park. It was on the top of the hill, so I had to ride up there to get there, and then we all rode down the hill to the school. But tomorrow they are doing something different. They are rewarding some of the students who have passed their bike training test. Darcy Road has a bike track in its school ground so the children can ride round and round safely in the school ground, and they have training to ensure that they know the road rules and they can ride safely. So I am going to be there to present some certificates. I am hoping that they actually let me do the test too. I understand that some children are doing it tomorrow morning, so I hope I get to do the test too. My staff tell me I want to make sure that I pass it or it could cause a scandal because I ride my bike on the road on a regular basis.

It is going to be an absolute pleasure to join the children at Darcy Road to celebrate one of the great activities not just of childhood but of life, which is riding a bike. I will see you guys at Darcy Road tomorrow.

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