Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The electorate of Lalor, my electorate, is home to Wyndham City, which is one of Australia's fastest-growing municipalities. It currently has a population exceeding 300,000 and is expected to double in size by 2041. Lalor is a very special place, as part of Wyndham City. It has a broad demographic. People are attracted to Lalor by affordable housing. We have a broad demographic in terms of educational outcomes, income and subsequent social capital. The average age in Lalor is 32, and 46 per cent of residents are couples with children.

On Friday, I attended three very different local meetings in my electorate. The first was the community opening of our newest special school, Ngannoo Borron, which is prep to 12. I met their principal, Michelle Marcu, gave the school community flags, and helped to celebrate some of the most vulnerable children in the electorate. I want to thank the young people who assisted in unwrapping the flags and holding them up for the school community. It was a wonderful experience to be there for what was their first school assembly.

The second was the Western Metro Mental Health and Wellbeing forum, an initiative of the state government in response to the royal commission. There we had many discussions about the current provision of mental health care and the need to create seamless referral systems between our local GPs, hospitals and mental health support services. In our diverse community, with its inherent barriers to accessing mental health care, these are important conversations. I wish the Western Metro Mental Health and Wellbeing team the best of luck in the decisions they make into the future. I hope that they bring care, concern and, most importantly, connectedness and connectivity in the mental health space for the people that I represent.

The third event I attended on Friday was a meeting with Uniting Werribee to discuss their portion of the additional $14.4 million in funding for emergency relief and food relief to support our most vulnerable community members in response to the rising cost of living. I talked to them about the announcement by Minister Rishworth and the Albanese government on 14 February and heard their plans for how that money will be spent. Not surprisingly, I heard about the increased demand due to cost-of-living pressures and the humbling, sometimes humiliating, experience of walking in for the first time to receive food relief, whether you've been a member of the community for a short time or for a long time. I wish Uniting Werribee all the best in the work that they do and I look forward to working with them at a homelessness roundtable in the near future.

Finally, and most poignantly, I attended a vigil for Chaithanya Madhagani—Swetha, as she was known. I joined Tim Watts, the member for Gellibrand, and Matthew Hilakari, the member for Point Cook, at the vigil for a woman who was, devastatingly, taken from our community, her son and her loving family in India. In attendance were her work colleagues and former employer, who led the vigil and passed along condolences from his staff and the family. It was an incredibly poignant moment. I want to thank the Telugu community and, in particular, Shaqri and Raju, who assisted in organising the vigil and ensuring everything went smoothly.

Social cohesion is what we work on hardest in the seat of Lalor and the city of Wyndham. It is achieved when we recognise who our most vulnerable communities are, when we work hard to provide them with as much support as we can so that they feel a sense of belonging and provide in their community. In my community this week we are celebrating Holi, Ramadan and Easter. We work, live and build a loving, harmonious community together. I am extremely proud of the community I represent for the way we do this work—for the way we come together to celebrate and support one another. So to all of those at home: happy Easter, Ramadan Mubarak and may Holi bring joy and love to every family.

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