Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The iconic Black Rock Life Saving Club has faithfully served the Goldstein community for 89 years. After a lengthy fundraising effort, I would like to congratulate the club on securing the resources for a much needed infrastructure upgrade. This is a huge win for our beach-loving Goldstein community.

A year and a half ago, I stood up in parliament and highlighted the decaying state of the Black Rock clubhouse. It was listed as one of the eight clubs, statewide, most in need of urgent renewal by Life Saving Victoria in their audit of 2011. The building regularly flooded, rendering it unfit for purpose. Precious funds were being wasted on constant repairs. Club volunteers were left without basic first aid resources. Local advocates stood up but were consistently frustrated by the opaque allocation of resources for club upgrades across Victoria. It was far from needs based. It was not good enough. But together we called on the state government to finally take a good hard look at their priorities, and it seems that they have finally listened. This is because of the hard work of Black Rock Life Saving Club's advocates, including current president Rebecca Moncrieff, former president Simon Tucker, treasurer Brendan McConnell, vice-president Graeme Eddiehausen, secretary Dave Laws and the ever-irrepressible Emma Olivier. Details of the redevelopment are scarce but, with this new allocation, Life Saving Victoria, with Black Rock, can finally serve our community with the facility they need. A huge thanks also to Murray Thompson, the state member for Sandringham, and the aspirational new representative, Brad Rowswell, for their incredible support. This is a real community constant victory.

Goldstein's success is built on a collective spirit of community-mindedness. Last week we saw that spirit acknowledged when Community Clubs Victoria at their annual awards night, which gives Victoria a chance to celebrate over 1,500 community clubs, officially awarded to the Sandringham Yacht Club the prestigious honour of Club of the Year for 2017. The award is an incredible tribute to the work of people like the CEO, Richard Hewett; the executive team, Helen Tetlow and Paul Corlfield; the functions and events team, Ashlee Patten, Melissa Villella, Paola Barraza, Kristine Fisher and Naomi Smith; the training and development manager, Michah Shuwalow; the boating department, James Sly and Maddie Commins; the accounts department, Paula Robinson-Cooke, Marlize Strydom, Rachael Giannakis and Sharon Tilbrook; the waterfront services team, Paul Gascoigne, Sean Byrne and Karen Crowley; and all the members of and contributors to the Sandringham Yacht Club.

See this speech in context