David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to highlight this morning a couple of fantastic organisations in my local electorate. Last Saturday, 17 October, I was privileged to attend the Oatley Lions Oatley Village Festival. The festival has been running for 38 years, and for a number of those years it has been led by the Oatley Lions president, Bryan Pirie. The festival is a major event in our community. More than $35,000 was raised at the festival on Saturday, and I was pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to that by running the chocolate wheel for an hour or so. We had some very enthusiastic purchasers of raffle tickets, and it was a great day. There were 160 stalls—food stalls, craft stalls, novelty stalls and all sorts of great stalls. I also want to thank the many local businesses that supported the event by offering raffle prizes and undertaking other activities. Many local cafes, real estate agents and various other businesses supported the festival, and it was terrific. The Oatley Lions are one of the most significant organisations in our community. These events do not happen easily—they happen because of the hard work and dedication of, frankly, a small number of people who put on a very large event that tens of thousands of people benefit from. To Oatley Lions, to Bryan Pirie, thank you very much for what you have done for our community.

I would also like to thank Learning Links for its contribution to our area. Learning Links is based in Peakhurst, in the electorate of Banks, but has activities all around Sydney. I recently met with the new CEO, Birgitte Maibom, and discussed the activities of the organisation. Learning Links has been in place since 1972 and has focused on providing education and related services to children with particular needs. Some of those needs relate to additional psychological support for children who are having difficulties in school, and a range of other activities as well. They help kids with autism, dyslexia, fine and gross motor skill delays and a range of other conditions. Learning Links is a very well respected organisation in our community. It has been providing great service for more than 40 years. To all of the team at Learning Links, thank you for what you do for our area and long may it continue.