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

I rise today to discuss two important issues in my community. Firstly, there is an ongoing issue at Caroline Chisholm School in Padstow. Caroline Chisholm School is a school for children with special needs. One of the issues is the need for a pedestrian crossing at the school. At present, the request for a pedestrian crossing has been declined on the basis that Caroline Chisholm School does not have sufficient people crossing the road to meet the Roads and Maritime Services guidelines for the introduction of a pedestrian crossing. But those guidelines do not take into account a situation such as at Caroline Chisholm School, where children with special needs and disabilities have a particular need for a pedestrian crossing, even if the minimum number of people crossing the road as per the guidelines is not met. I believe that discretion should be exercised in this matter. It requires cooperation of both the New South Wales government in exercising discretion and also Bankstown City Council in putting the crossing in place. I am hopeful that a common sense solution can be implemented. I believe it should be done so. I have taken this matter up with the New South Wales disabilities minister, Mr John Ajaka, and with Bankstown council, and I am hopeful that a common sense solution can be implemented, because a pedestrian crossing should be put in place at Caroline Chisholm School.

Recently I attended the CanRevive Chinese New Year celebration in Hurstville. CanRevive is a tremendous local charity which focuses on providing support to people with cancer in the Chinese Australian community. The event included cultural performances, singing, musical performances and so on. I would like to thank Mr Eric Yeung, the president of CanRevive. Eric is somebody who gets things done, and he is a very, very consistent advocate for CanRevive and for the cause of cancer education. I thank him for his work. I would also like to thank Club Central for their support of the event and many community organisations in my community. It was good to see board member Sandra Coogan there on the day, as indeed it was to see council Annie Tang of Kogarah Council—who is a strong supporter of many local community organisations including CanRevive. CanRevive's mission of providing advice and support for people suffering from cancer in the Chinese Australian community is a very important one. I thank Eric Yeung, I thank the board of CanRevive for all their efforts, and I appreciate their invitation to the recent event.