Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the 10 players from Hockey Coffs Coast, who will represent Australia at the 2024 Masters World Cup in South Africa and New Zealand. The over-35 and over-40 Australian players will travel to Cape Town for their internationals from 11 to 21 October while the over-45s will play in Auckland from 3 to 14 November. Hockey Coffs Coast players selected to their respective teams include Nadie Gream, Tania Pollock, Adam Ellison, and David Dart. Hockey Coffs Coast players selected in their respective Australia A teams include Kieran Marshall, Craig Rathbone, Dean Herbert, Sam Ash, Rick Fischer and Jonathon Williams. They will be competing against some of the powerhouse countries—England, Argentina, Germany, Netherlands—and, no doubt, it will be an experience they will never forget.

President Dean Herbert said, 'We have a great culture that has been set from our founders of masters hockey in Coffs, so being able to play for Australia at Masters level is a good way to show founders we will continue their legacy for many more years.' Congratulations to you all and best of luck.

I was lucky enough recently to attend the opening of the veterans' well-being centre in Taree. Taree is not in my electorate; it is about an hour away from Port Macquarie at the bottom of my electorate. Thank you to Geoff Harrison and the OneLife congregation, who offered me the invitation. I say I was lucky, because in Cowper, we have 9,000 veterans. We don't have a veterans' hub. Just before the last election I advocated for and we allocated $5 million for three veterans' hubs, one in in Coffs Harbour, one in Port Macquarie and one to go down to Taree. That funding, when Labor was elected, was re-allocated to Richmond, which has 4½ thousand veterans. The veterans in my electorate are expected to travel an hour away to get the services they need for the issues that they face from serving our country. I say to those veterans: Labor may have forgotten you in Cowper, but I haven't. I will continue to advocate for you. I will continue to fight for veterans' wellbeing centres so you can get the services you deserve.

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