Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with great pleasure that I rise in the House today to share with this chamber the achievements of the Belmont Neighbourhood Centre. Belmont Neighbourhood Centre is a model for how a neighbourhood centre should be run. It has the support of the whole community and it is an integral part of the community. It is well run with a fantastic management board. The centre manager, Sheena Harvey, is an outstanding manager.

Belmont Neighbourhood Centre has been operating for 21 years. Needless to say, a neighbourhood centre does not operate for that long and have the support of the community unless it is absolutely doing things the right way. It also has a community garden that has been operating for 19 years. If you drive by you can see the vegetables and the men working in the garden. It really is fantastic. The centre runs Tai Chi programs. A playgroup operates there five days a week. It has a toy library. It is an outreach for low-interest loans. It provides counselling. And, if you are feeling a bit stressed or your back is hurting, you can go there for massage. Somebody there even does reflexology.

But the jewel in the crown of the neighbourhood centre is their men's shed. It received funding from the federal government through the Jobs Fund, in round 1, of $200,000. My office has worked closely with them during this development period. I pay particular credit to one member of my staff, Mark Raper, who has worked with the men and the centre to ensure they got the men's shed they wanted. I attended the inaugural meeting and it had support right from the start. The men's shed now has 57 members. It operates five days a week. When the shed was built, the builder only built the shell and then walked away. I was talking to Sheena and she said that, at first, she was quite worried about the fact that they only had the shell. But the men moved in, they fitted it out and they actually built their own shed. So the shed the men have at the Belmont Neighbourhood Centre was funded by the federal government but all the men who were involved in it were integral to its planning the whole way through. They built their own shed. That is what a shed should be about.

As well as the standard activities that the men's shed has and the work they do there, they are actually making some tables for the Tai Chi group. They have a couple of contacts in the community. Belmont Chamber of Commerce has given them a contract to water all the pot plants on the streets in Belmont. The simple fact that Belmont Chamber of Commerce has approached the men's shed shows their acceptance within the community. They have also been sanding outside equipment for Jewells Public School and making rolling pins for Blacksmith Public School. So you have the community coming to the shed and the shed going to the community. Integrated with that are all the other activities that take place in a men's shed. I know some of the men who attend the shed. It is about more than just going along and building; it is about companionship and getting together with other men and doing the types of things that men enjoy doing.

I congratulate the Belmont Neighbourhood Centre and I look forward to attending the official opening of the men's shed on Saturday, at 12 o'clock.