Geoff Lyons (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the wonderful Australia Day celebrations that I attended in my electorate of Bass. Australia Day is a day when we come together and celebrate our great country. It is a day on which we can all show how proud we are to be Australian. I began the day by attending the Launceston City Council citizenship ceremony whereby we welcomed 54 new citizens to Launceston. This was a special occasion for the new citizens where they met the end of their migrant journey and the start of their new life as Australian citizens. Australia Day is a day on which a lot of new citizens elect to receive their citizenship award, thus reminding us of the richness of the culture within Australia that these new citizens offer. The citizenship ceremony was followed by an awards ceremony. I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate the Launceston City Council's Australia Day awards recipients. The citizen award recipient was Diane Hayes. There were two sports awards, to Adam Sanders and David Brasher. The young citizen award recipient was Fiona Miller. These four award recipients worked tirelessly in their local community and are passionate, hardworking, inspirational people who are all worthy recipients of such an honour.

I later headed to the north-east of my electorate to join the Bridport Fun Day and was on the barbecue for the Bridport Surf Lifesaving Club. There were some great events on the beach that day. Fittingly, the Australia Day Ambassador at the Dorset awards was Olympic basketballer Perry Crosswhite AM. Perry is currently the head of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association and has a long and colourful list of employment and sporting accomplishments. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Dorset Council's Australia Day award recipients who worked tirelessly and contributed greatly to their local community.

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The Community Event of the Year was the exhibition of the early timber-getters of the north-east of Tasmania. It is a fantastic exhibition. If you get a chance to go to Scottsdale, make sure you call in.

The Young Citizen of the Year was Aaron Worker, and the Citizen of the Year was Bruce Scott. The school awards went to: Bridport Primary School, Kiarna Hayes and Alex Bessell; Ringarooma Primary School, Caitlin Cox and Joshua van Eldik; Scottsdale Primary School, Millan Browne and Rebecca Irwin; Winnaleah District High School, Emma Steel and Sam Whelan; and Scottsdale High School, Mikayla Binns and Reid Mountney.

Volunteers are the heart of Australia. The West Tamar Council's Community Event of the Year award was won by the Esk Orienteering Club. Congratulations to all involved.

Australia Day is a day not only to recognise and be thankful for the great country that we live in but also to recognise the people that make it so great. I congratulate all Australia Day Award recipients around the country, and particularly in my great electorate of Bass, and thank them for their contribution to the local community. It is people like these that help make our country the great one it is.