Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Calls for applications for funding from the centenary of Anzac program struck a nerve in my electorate of Lyons, in Tasmania. In fact, the one-off national funding program for projects to commemorate the centenary of Anzac attracted so much interest in my electorate that I am told it had amongst the largest number of responses nationally anywhere in the country.

As you know, $125,000 was made available for each electorate to distribute for local grants programs. In Lyons we had more than 23 applications from returned service and community organisations seeking more than $330,000. It was a diverse round of applications with groups planning new memorials, memorial parks, plaques, honour boards, murals, commemorative ceremonies and restoration of town cenotaphs as their way to mark the centenary of Anzac. We responded to this deluge of interest by setting up an independent committee of review, headed by respected Tasmanian academic Professor Michael Roe, to assess the applications and select those to send onto the Department of Veterans' Affairs for approval. Professor Roe's panel colleagues were rural RSL committee executives Brian Harper, Denis Webb, Wayne Cubitt and former serviceman Mr Ron Sonners. It was an excellent process, and I look forward with great interest to the results being announced.