Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about a wonderful organisation, one that is a national organisation, but we all have branches within our electorates: Meals on Wheels. A lot of us in this place are very involved with Meals on Wheels: we visit their AGMs and we go out to assist occasionally. In South Australia we have over 88 branches across the state. I was very privileged to attend two AGMs recently. One was the West Torrens Meals on Wheels AGM. They do wonderful work in the western suburbs. Their president is Mr Robert Boyle and their secretary is Mr John Madden. They deliver hundreds of meals—I have been out with them in the past—but it is not just the meal service; it is a connection with people who perhaps have very severe disabilities, are ageing or have a whole range of illnesses. Sometimes the person delivering the meal is the only person they will see for the entire day. So on many occasions these volunteers are the first people to pick up on issues or problems that may arise and be their only contact to the outside world.

Some magnificent people have served on the West Torrens Meals on Wheels committee over the years: I have mentioned President Robert Boyle and Secretary John Madden and I would also like to acknowledge Len Glastonbury OAM, who passed away a couple of years ago. Len was a stalwart of Meals on Wheels across the entire community. He received an OAM a few years ago for his wonderful work. He retired as chair in 2008 and, of course, many others have come in to fill his role. But he is missed at West Torrens Meals on Wheels—a great man who contributed so much to our community.

At Meals on Wheels they acknowledged the wonderful year they have had and the number of meals they have delivered. It was followed by a wonderful afternoon tea, which was attended by the Mayor of West Torrens, John Trainer, who attended all the AGMs that I have been to over the years.

Meals on Wheels is an absolutely brilliant organisation. We had a friendship group here that we co-chaired with the member for Parkes up until 2013. I would like to see that group restarted and reinvigorated, because Meals on Wheels does such good work in all our electorates and each and every one of us in this place would have been out to volunteer with them at some stage. A couple of years ago, in 2012 I think, we delivered the millionth meal here in Canberra, with Mark Coulton. (Time expired)

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