Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Every chance I get in my electorate on a Saturday morning, I do the five-kay parkrun around the Victoria Park Lake. An interesting thing happens when I'm on about my third kay. I'm not the slowest runner. I'm not the fastest runner. But I hear fast footsteps coming up behind me. Then there's a whoosh of air, and then there's a blur. That blur is an outstanding young athlete we have in our community whose name is Kazadi Kadima. Kazadi currently holds the School Sport Victoria Championship title for the 3,000 and 800 and the All Schools Championship title for the 3,000. He has also won medals in the 1,500. He's in year 9 at Greater Shepparton Secondary College, where he also excels at mathematics. He is a member of the Shepparton Athletics Club and the Shepparton Runners Club, and he trains six days a week under the supervision of a private coach, Elizabeth Matthews.

There's a big effort in my community to help Kazadi and his family get to the national championships in Adelaide. In a very short period of time—only about 48 hours—over $4,000 has been raised to help him and his family get there. It's a marvellous effort, and I want to commend the Lighthouse Project. The Lighthouse Project has facilitated this funding to help Kazadi get to Adelaide. We're going to see if we can do more from this place. If anyone wants to go to the Goulburn Valley Greater Shepparton Lighthouse Project and donate, I'm sure it would be welcome. Go, Kazadi! Good luck, mate.

See this speech in context