Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to congratulate the Collie Rotary Club on its 60th anniversary. This group has done extraordinary things in its local community as well as provided support to other parts of Australia, such as the Victorian bushfire relief needs, and has supported other rotaries. At a local level it has assisted with the Bibbulmun Track tourism attraction, helping to build huts, a bridge and a boardwalk; the erection of a new fence around the Collie cemetery; and other things, such as a concrete footpath and cycleway link from the town to the cemetery. Over the years there has been invaluable assistance in Collie to Silver Chain, providing nursing for the town's aged; the Police and Community Youth Centre; Meals on Wheels; local schools; and the district hospital, with equipment. It has just been endless.

This small group of people has worked very hard both locally and internationally, reaching out with their exchange program. Over the past 50 years they have contributed in excess of $500,000 to international causes. This is an extraordinary effort for a small group of people in Collie. They have also assisted in providing wheelchairs for children in the Philippines, clean water for villages in Africa and India, tsunami disaster-relief housing, support for New Hope leprosy care and polio efforts internationally. What an extraordinary effort. I want to commend them for 60 years of great work.