Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Hansard source

Congratulations to Bells Amusements on celebrating 100 years of service and fun. Although Bells are an Eden-Monaro family based in Queanbeyan, they travel and provide sideshow entertainment across Australia. If you're keen to know more about this family then check out the documentary The Carnival on SBS OnDemand. It gives a fantastic insight into the life of the Bell family.

Elwin Thomas Bell was born in 1942. When he left boarding school he began working and fighting in his father's boxing tent. He went on to run his own business of amusement rides and games and, amazingly, is still working and travelling Australia at 81 along with many in his family. Over the past 100 years Bells have experienced many challenges and many successes. Most recently the Black Summer bushfires and the COVID-19 provided unique challenges for Bells Amusements and the travelling sideshow industry with the cancellation of ag shows across the country. Despite this, Elwin and his family have ridden the roller-coaster and have returned to provide exciting sideshow entertainment to ag shows around Australia. Happy 100 years to Bell's Amusements.

The Deadly Runners program is deadly. It is a hugely successful program created by Kuku Yalanji woman Georgia Weir, an Eden-Monaro resident living in Dalmeny. The vision of the program is to bring the joy of running to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The Deadly Runners group creates a safe space for Aboriginal people to come together to share their stories, their culture and to support each other.

Recently the Deadly Runners were invited into the Wallaga Lake community and it was great to see 17 new members achieve their five-kilometre goal. This successful program shows what can be achieved when members of the community are supported to do the work that works in their community. Thank you, Georgia, for your efforts and passion to deliver this program, and I look forward to seeing runners wearing the distinctive black-and-white singlets throughout Eden-Monaro.

Finally, I want to give a shout-out to an amazing volunteer in Queanbeyan, Leonard Kemp, for his outstanding contribution to assisting students with maths. Over the last five years, Len has provided one-on-one support for Queanbeyan High School students who need an extra hand in maths. However, that's not all. He has been a volunteer helping students to love and to understand maths for 25 years. He has spread the love of maths to a number of schools across the ACT and New South Wales, including Woden special school, Charles Condor school, Jindabyne Central School, Cooma Christian school, the Anglican School Googong, Karabar High and, most recently, Queanbeyan High. The tributes from the parents have been nothing short of amazing. They have said the support that Len has provided their kids has been second to none. Thanks, Len, for helping to make maths more accessible and easier to understand for so many people across our regions.

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