Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Since 1973 the SES Melton unit has diligently served our community through some of our toughest times. They're on the front line when we need it, whether it's floods, storms, road rescues or, as we saw recently, tragic scenes like the Exford Primary School bus crash. The team at the Melton SES have consistently answered the call, and it was great to celebrate 50 years of the Melton SES recently and to be there when Controller Wayne Stylianou was awarded his SES life membership. Impressively, a combined total of 130 years of long service awards were presented on the night. Congratulations to all recipients, including Robert Trott for 25 years of service; Claudelle Dalgleish for 20 years of service; Nic Garalakos and Deborah Warren for 15 years; Raymond Chapman, Paul Chapman, Daniel Chapman, Rodney Fraser and Paul Granvillani for 10 years of service; and Steve Mora for five years of service. Your efforts have made Melton a better place to live, and so, on behalf of our community, I extend a big thank you. Melton SES also launched their book Hurry Up and Wait: The Story of the Victorian State Emergency Service Melton Unit, covering the history of the unit. It's worth getting your hands on a copy when you can.

In Sunbury we have too many local legends to count, like Charlotte Le Guier, who was recently awarded the highest award in Girl Guides: the Queen's Guide. I first met Charlotte when I visited Sunbury Downs College and the captains, including Charlotte, took me on a tour of the school. It's been amazing to see her commitment to our community through her work as a Girl Guide. The dedication, service and hard work that she's demonstrated is something we can all be very proud of. It was great to be there when she was awarded this honour to say thank you for your effort. Keep up the great work, Charlotte.

The 1st Ballan Scouts now have a brand-new facility to call home. Scouts Victoria is one of the state's largest youth organisations with more than 20,000 members and 5,000 adult volunteers, and plenty of them help in our towns around Hawke. As a candidate for Hawke one of the first places I visited during the election campaign was the original Guides hall with the member for Ballarat to announce that we would contribute $550,000 to this amazing project. The modern and accessible bathrooms, improved parking, kitchen facilities and multi-purpose rooms in this new building will give the 1st Ballan Scouts the facilities they deserve. It was fantastic to be shown around by the senior scouts in the group and to understand their level of appreciation of and their pride in the facilities that had been completed for them. To open the new hall along with them was such a treat, and I thank my dear friend, Minister Natalie Suleyman, from the Victorian government, for joining us to do that. It has been a journey to secure the funds for this facility, and I know it will continue to be a well-loved community asset for generations to come. Big thanks to Wombat, who does amazing work, and the whole team for putting on really fantastic day.

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