Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk about a fantastic golf club in my electorate, the Ararat golf club or the Chalambar Golf Club. I was there on Saturday as a guest of the club to open six new fairways that the club has put in. This means that the whole course has been re-laid and is ready to host some of the best golf that you will see in regional and rural areas. As a matter of fact, the course is one of the great country courses. The view from what they call ‘Coronary Hill’ across the region is spectacular. I ask everyone here in this place to do themselves a favour and go and play there, because you will not find a better venue to play golf at. I would like to thank the president of the club, Frank Vernon. It was fantastic to have a round of golf with a president. It is the first time that I have ever played golf with a president and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also played with the team captain of the club, Bruce. Their camaraderie as we played a round was absolutely fantastic.

I would also like to express my appreciation to all the members of the club whose volunteer work has led to great improvement of the greens. Volunteerism and community commitment are the hallmark of regional and country areas. We can see this personified in what they have done at the Ararat golf club.

I had a terrific evening there afterwards. They had great entertainment, with a magician. There was a good turnout of club members and the local community. It was a fantastic night. As I was departing, I was fortunate to bump into the winning lawn bowls pennant team from the club. Included in that winning pennant team was the Australian champion, Grant Seary. Grant will be heading off to Hong Kong later this year to represent Australia in lawn bowls, having won the Australian title in Launceston earlier in the year. The pennant team from the club was in full voice celebrating their victory that day of the pennant title. I congratulate them. There are excellent bowling greens also at the club, so it is a great venue not only for golfers but also for lawn bowlers. It is there because of the local community, the work that they do in volunteering and in giving their time, their effort and their money to make the club a fantastic institution. I thank them again for their time.