David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

One of the great privileges of being in this place is that you get to meet some pretty extraordinary people and some people who want to do very important things in their community. There's no group for whom that is more true than the extraordinary group of families who came together with the concept to create Grace's Place. Grace's Place is a world first. It will be a residential centre—a place to go—for kids whose families have been the victims of homicide. Sadly, every year significant numbers of Australian children have a family member who is murdered. The families that came together for Grace's Place had a vision, and that was to support those kids through this new, world-first facility.

Some years ago, Greg Hunt and the government committed $6 million to build Grace's Place. We've gone through all of the various approval processes, and Grace's Place is physically being built in Blacktown right now. It's going to be something very special. It will open in September next year. In my current role as Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, I'm particularly conscious of the significance of Grace's Place and the fact that it will help children who are going through extraordinarily difficult times.

To the whole Cusumano family and all the other families: thank you so much for what you have done, for your vision, for your perseverance and for your grace. Grace's Place is going to be a tremendous testament to your efforts.

The Mortdale Men's Shed is going from strength to strength. Greg Moar and the gentlemen down at the men's shed are doing a fantastic job, helping the local community, local schools and other organisations through practical things, building things, that help build our community. They moved of course from Riverwood to Mortdale in 2017 and, credit where it's due, Georges River Council has done the right thing by the Mortdale Men's Shed in backing them and providing that space at Riverwood. It was great to visit Greg and the gentlemen recently, and I look forward to a future visit.

Coolaburoo in Padstow is a remarkable organisation, a community organisation, that sits at the heart of Padstow, supporting seniors in our community, supporting people who are doing it tough. It was great to join their AGM recently to talk with Rosanna and the whole team. It's been a tough year for Coolaburoo like so many community organisations, but 2022 is going to be a great year for the organisation.

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