Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I would like to share with the House some recent events that have taken place in my electorate and also table a petition from the Northern Turkish Women's Association in Meadow Heights.

I was pleased to visit the wonderful Greenvale Primary School during Education Week in May. I was invited there by the school, which had recently sent some of their students on a leadership Kidsview Conference at Coolaroo Primary School in my electorate. The school was very keen for me to visit them, because this was part of a follow-up to the conference. They wanted to hear from me about the federal government's role and contribution, and its overseas aid and development program.

The Kidsview Conference was run by the Bahay Tuluyan Philippines Australia Volunteer Group, which advocates for the rights of children and those in need of special care. The name Bahay Tuluyan means 'house of welcome'. It is an organisation that believes in the power of all children to create change. The BT conference encouraged students to discuss the global distribution of wealth, the impact of poverty, education and life opportunities, and basically it encouraged students to think about how they could act on making a difference on these issues.

The kids also got the opportunity to hear from young people who had grown up in extreme poverty and who had managed to go on and become role models and community leaders in their own communities. The BT conference allowed students an opportunity to have a glimpse into how different their lives could have been had they been born, in this case, in the Philippines instead of Australia. During my visit students shared with me what they had learnt and many of them explained how it had moved, inspired and indeed motivated them.

I was pleased to share with the students that the government has increased Australia's Official Development Assistance to a record $5.7 billion in 2013-14 budget. I was also pleased to tell students that over the next four years the government will target malnutrition among women and children in the Asia-Pacific region, lift universal education by supporting an additional 1.2 million children to go to school, and also increase access to maternal and child health services for a further 900,000 women.

The students said to me that the conference had been for many of them a life-changing experience and they came away with a greater appreciation of their own lives, as they were able to reflect on how lucky they were to access education, running water, electricity and also have the warmth and shelter of their homes. That was a very rewarding experience for myself and the kids.

I also want to inform the House about a recent visit to the very wonderful Brite Industries in my electorate. I visited them to announce funding that they received from the federal government's Local Solutions Fund. They received $82,000 in funding which will help Brite Industries develop a project which will provide a local hands-on, supported learning environment for people with disability and those that are vocationally disadvantaged. The initiative will facilitate the pathway for pre-accreditation to accredited training and provide opportunities for participants to undertake qualifications in Certificate I in AgriFood Operations and Certificate II in Horticulture. Anticipated outcomes of that the program will include providing opportunities for people to learn, work and participate socially and economically in their local community; and create a social enterprise which will be self-sustaining and give Broadmeadows the opportunity to provide organic herbs for the local community.

In closing, I would like to table a petition from the Northern Turkish Women's Association in Meadow Heights. This is a wonderful group of women who have been collecting signatures petitioning the government on a range of issues. In November I tabled the first part of this ongoing petition of 1,429 signatures. Today I table the following, comprising 212 signatures. I inform that House that the petition was considered at a recent meeting of the Standing Committee on Petitions and certified as being in accordance with standing orders.

The petition read as follows—

To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives

This petition of the undersigned residents of Australia draws the attention of the House to issues affecting the daily cost of living for families, the living standards of pensioners and carers, as well as the accessibility of medical services. We feel we have spent our entire working lives in Australia and should be permitted to receive our pensions in manner that does not restrict our freedom to move.

We feel the rising cost of electricity, gas, water, rates and groceries, as well as the price of fresh fruit and vegetables, have become unaffordable. In addition to almost paying double for amenities, we feel the Government needs to examine the manner billing rates are determined and charged. We feel the Government should encourage farming by providing incentives to make it financially viable. We have also noted in our respective communities a concerning increase in waiting periods for necessary medical procedures in the public health system.

We therefore ask the House to request the Government to:

1. Reassess the criteria of awarding aged care and disability pensions for Australians who wish to visit families overseas for a period longer than six weeks.

2. Examine the rising cost of amenities and groceries.

3. Examine the factors contributing to the time residents wait for medical procedures in the public health sector.

from 212 citizens

Petition received.