Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation) Share this | Hansard source

Today I want to salute just some of the many thousands of highly-valued volunteers in my electorate. The tireless community work of these quiet achievers has in many cases, quite literally, been on show over the last few months with people like Val Stewart and her horde of helpers at the newly-established Mother Hubbard's Cupboard in Camden, who do an amazing job of working agencies in the community to support local families in need, especially victims of domestic violence.

There are people like Wayne Wilmington and his team at the Luddenham Show Society who put on another bumper annual event, bringing the country to the west of the city. The Goulburn AP&H Society president Jacki Waugh and her incredibly committed crew of more than 40 locals, after being forced to cancel their show last year, bounced back with a vengeance just a few weeks ago to stage a really top weekend, pulling thousands of visitors from the south coast, Sydney and Canberra regions.

President Stuart Keith and the Taralga AP&H Association held their annual event recently in the beautiful tablelands village that sits between Goulburn and the Abercrombie. It was their 131st show, and the Flock Ewe competition was as tough as ever.

This year's Tarago show put on by the local society and headed by president Keith Hunter will go down in history as the day when the Lose Screws team knocked off the eight-time tug-of-war champions, the Loaded Dog, to win the prestigious title.

The entire district of Tarago in the south of my electorate and just a 30-minute drive north of where we are today had its own tug of war with a raging grass fire in mid-January. The Currandooley outbreak torched almost 3,400 hectares. It destroyed one house, killed hundreds of stock and turned kilometres of fencing to ash. It could have been much worse if it were not for volunteers. Hundreds of them, including crews from Tarago and Taylor's Creek rural fire brigade units, converged from around the region in blistering conditions to bring the blaze under control and keep people safe. A few days later, more than 30 volunteers from BlazeAid, that wonderful organisation that helps out in cases like this, mobilised to mend fences and help clean up.

I am pleased the federal and New South Wales governments came together to ensure eligible farmers and communities in the Tarago district receive the support they need to recover as quickly as possible. If volunteers are the heartbeat of Hume, then my electorate is in a very healthy state.

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