Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

On Saturday, 12 March the Lismore CBD is going to be transformed into a street themed strip with market stalls, a beer garden, music stages, cooking demonstrations with celebrity guest chefs and a dedicated children's entertainment area for the annual Eat the Street Food Festival.

Last year's festival saw hundreds of people enjoying the smells and tastes of exotic foods served up by local restaurants and chefs at the inaugural Eat the Street Food Festival. Lismore local council blocks off Magellan Street to traffic to create a vibrant, bustling food strip with cooking demos, exhibitions and the sound of music filling the air.

This year will see the second year of the food festival, which has become a highlight on the food calendar. It will run from midday to 8 pm on Magellan Street, Carrington Street and through the Back Alley Gallery. This will once again give many of our local businesses the chance to provide great experiences for many of the tourists who also come to our region for this event.

I would like to inform the House of the annual Page International Women's Day event that was held in Lismore last Friday. Over 400 people attended the International Women's Day lunch in Lismore last week. The guest speaker was the 2013 Australian of the Year and trailblazing media editor Ita Buttrose. With a guest as remarkable as Ita, it was no wonder the event took on a life of its own, receiving lots of support—in fact the whole community became involved with local businesses generously donating prizes, decorations for the auditorium at the Lismore Workers Club and the Northern Rivers Conservatorium donated musicians, who played as the guests arrived. As a regional MP, it was great to give access to people in our community to such a motivational and inspirational woman. Proceeds from the luncheon were donated to Alzheimer's Australia. As I said, it was the second International Women's Day lunch, which was hosted by my wife, Karen, after last year's successful event.

I would like to welcome new communities into the electorate of Page. As we know, there has been a redistribution in New South Wales. Some communities we have lost, and others we have gained. I would like to welcome to Page just some of the communities and the surrounds of these communities: Brooms Head, Glenreagh, Glenugie, Gulmarrad, Maclean, Minnie Water, Townsend, Tucabia, Tyndale, Ulmarra, Wooli, Arrawarra, Corindi, Emerald Beach, Nana Glen, Sapphire Beach, Woolgoolga, Bexhill, Clunes, Corndale, Dunoon, Modanville, Nimbin, Rosebank and The Channon. These are just some of the communities that have moved into Page.

Obviously, the part of the Lismore local council area that was not in Page has been moved in, and I have mentioned many of the communities there. Also, the whole of the Clarence Valley Council area will now be in Page because places like Maclean and others that I mentioned were not. So now the whole of the Clarence Valley Council area will be in my electorate, which makes sense. Also, I am picking up some of the area north of Coffs Harbour, as I mentioned, like Woolgoolga and others, which I will have the privilege of representing in this chamber.

See this speech in context