Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to rise today on the motion on the International Day of People with Disability before the Federation Chamber. For me, the International Day of People with Disability is really about ensuring that people with disability can be seen as full participating members in our society. On that note, I just want to make one minute's brief comment about a program in my electorate run by the Footscray Community Arts Centre—ArtLife. ArtLife is a program that has been running for more than 20 years. It engages artists with disability, and enables them to collaborate with professional artists in the community in Melbourne's west. Professional artist tutors work with artists with disability to make new works, to build capacity and, importantly, to change perceptions in our community.

This has been a thriving success in Melbourne's west over the last 20 years. It has been particularly successful in engaging other community institutions, reaching out to the other institutions in Melbourne's west. I have been very proud to host a series of works that have resulted from the ArtLife program in my electorate office in Footscray. So all the people visiting me as a member of parliament in my constituency office have been able to see these works on display. I commend this program, and I will cede my time now to other speakers in this debate.

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