Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a quintessentially Australian day this year I had the pleasure of hosting the 10th annual Holt Australia Day Awards in Hampton Park. We honoured 39 individuals and two local organisations for their contributions to our community. The 2014 Holt Australia Day Awards were presented at the Day of Nations celebrations in Hampton Park and large crowd of families and friends turned up to support the recipients. I would like to thank specifically the Hampton Park and District Progress Association and the City of Casey for their support and assistance with our Holt Australia Day Awards. In particular I would like to acknowledge and thank the Holt Australia Day Award committee members—Erica Maliki, Judy Owen, Chris Drysdale, Anne Atkin and Leanne Petridis—for selecting the award recipients.

I would like to read out the award recipients so we have in this place a permanent record of their achievements. The recipients were: Alfred Goldburg; Father Elias Matta; Neville Worthington; Helen Appleman; Sean Balfour; Thomas Barnes; Keith Barrot; Calvin Bell; Roland Blaschak; Colin Booth; Rebekah Booth; Johnathan Clarke; Simon Dewar; Savio Gonsalvez; Steve Chapman; Marianne Dawes; Luke DeLutiis; Mehmet Salih Dogan; Keith Edwards; Bryce Eishold; Joan Graham; Joan Green; Mary Haigh; Rosemary Hutchins; Julie Johnstone; Mary Jonker; Mark Jouvelet; Sriyani La’Brooy; Peter O’Hagan; Christine Gladwell; Eileen Hillis; Louise MacDonald; Shaun Petrie; Keith Pimblett; Brian Regan; Sadiq Sarwari; Carolyn Scott; Colin Smith; Lima Stanikzai; Oliver Thomson; Sharon Thomson; Slobadan Todic; Shelly Peluso; Eda Vistac; Noorullah Noori, who received a posthumous award; the organisation Carols by Twilight by the Casey City Church; and Painting with Parkinsons. There were 39 individuals and two local organisations. There are such vibrant, strong stories to tell about the contributions that these people made to the community that merited their awards.

One of the reasons I commissioned this award some time ago was so I could acknowledge the massive amount of work that was being done in our community by people who were not seeking public acclaim and public recognition. I thought, given the contribution they had made to the community, it was important that we have a ceremony on Australia Day to recognise the contribution that people made to our community. As I said, this is the 10th Holt Australia Day Awards, and the enthusiasm of the family members and those connected to the nominees is quite palpable—we would have had a crowd of about 400 or 500 people there—and it generates more enthusiasm.

It is important to note that, in our community, there is a lot wrong. Recently, I think in Cranbourne—we have heard all about it on 3AW and elsewhere—there was a problem with a young man who was stabbed. That is a terrible thing. But I have never been contacted by 3AW about this. There are so many great stories about our area, but how often do we hear about the contributions that are made by these people? Because they actually enhance the community, they do not wind up on 3AW. But, when something bad happens, it is there in a flash and you are asked to comment about it. Really, you just get sick and tired of it. People who live in my community know that it is a fantastic community to raise a family in, to plan future in, to live and to work in and to be in.

As part of this process, as I can assure people in my electorate and in the Casey region, I will continue to talk about the good things that happen in our community. Frankly, this seems to be about the only place where that happens. As I said, I will continue to do so. So, again, thank you to the Hampton Park Networking Group, to Erica Maliki in particular, and to those hundreds and hundreds of people who labour day in and day out through non-government organisations, through cricket clubs, through mosques, through family groups and through Casey Little Athletics clubs. They labour away—they use their family time, the time that they could have available to them—to strengthen the community and to make the community a better place. On behalf of this chamber, to all of those people whose names I read out, I thank them for their contribution to our community, making it a stronger and a better place.