Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm fortunate to be involved in so many amazing community driven schemes that benefit so many of my constituents. One of these is a campaign to establish a community garden in Wynnum Central. I was approached by Kieran, the owner of Wynnum business Frenchies Cafe, who flagged the idea of a community garden with me, but, when I approached Charlene Leftley, owner of Crystal Rose Gallery, this is when things started to grow. Some background: there is quite a bit of green space next to the Woolworths shopping centre on Florence Street. Attracting people to Wynnum Central has been an issue for a while now, so Charlene thought setting up a community garden would help draw people to the area. I thought this was a fantastic idea, so I was happy to put my name to a petition and throw my full support behind a community garden. The petition has already gathered over 150 signatures and was only launched two weeks ago. What an amazing show of support. I will be advocating 100 per cent for this community garden to go ahead.

I have to thank another Wynnum business owner, Cherie from Reel Cutz for Men, for her help in promoting the petition. Cherie tells me that a community garden would help give the clients purpose. She says many of her clients would like a space where they can give back to the community. I want to encourage my bayside constituents to sign the petition at Crystal Rose Gallery on Edith Street. Cherie and Charlene have formed the new Wynnum Merchant Movement, and I can't wait to see the other local initiatives that they have in the pipeline.

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