Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As we all know across this place, we have wonderful volunteers across all of our electorates. A week ago, I had the pleasure of hosting the Forde Volunteer Appreciation Awards. Our committed volunteers, as we all know, usually like to steer clear of the limelight, but I felt it was time that they were recognised and I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the incredible work of these local individuals and community groups. I thought what better way to give them some credit than through some appreciation awards. A trophy or a certificate are just a small token of thanks from me and the community of Forde for all the time, work and effort these volunteers have put into our electorate.

As I've said, I'm sure that many of us recognise the wonderful efforts of all of our volunteers across our communities. In 2023, it was noted that some 64 per cent of Queenslanders volunteered in some capacity.

On the awards, on 24 May, some 66 people and groups were nominated for four categories: Volunteer of the Year, Senior Volunteer of the Year, Young Volunteer of the Year, and Community Organisation of the Year. There were also some special awards handed out for 'years of service'. I want to take this opportunity to commend Beryl Brown and Margaret George for over 20 years of service to the community through volunteering; Heather Christensen and Christine Johnstone for over 30 years of service; and Peter Davidson and Rodney Hammel for over 40 years of outstanding service through volunteering for our community.

Each person or group was nominated for the award by someone in our community. We then had a community selection panel whittle down the nominations to select our winners and the highly commended. Volunteer of the Year was awarded to Jan Bloem, Senior Volunteer of the year went to Felicity Torr, Young Volunteer of the Year was Khloie Cregan and Community Organisation of the Year was jointly awarded to Coomera Valley Rural Fire Brigade and the Kids4Kids Foundation. Highly commended awards went to Jenna Shanks in the Young Volunteer of the Year category, William Boobermien, Natasha Ross and Emma Garratt in the Volunteer of the Year award category. Sue Hutchinson, Kay Wilson and Heather Christensen in the Senior Volunteer of the Year category, and for the Community Organisation of the Year award, highly commended went to Nightlight Outreach and Loganlea Community Centre.

I give a big thanks also to Club Beenleigh for hosting us on this special evening. I want to thank every nominee and everyone who turned out to support this event. It was a great success. Congratulations, and thank you to all the volunteers for the wonderful work that you do in our community.

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