Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to pay tribute and bid farewell to a hardworking local member of the Labor Party, Alen Wale. Sadly, Alen passed away on 24 March this year following a very long battle with illness.

Alen was a very active member of the Cabramatta branch of the Labor Party. Obviously, he was a regular meeting attender but he also played a significant role in federal, state and local government election campaigns, and also worked for our campaign centre in Sussex Street. Most notably, Alen personally contacted 2,000 people through phone calls in the last federal election. He was a person who actually put a huge amount of effort in to ensure our Labor candidates did well.

Alen was also a very talented sportsperson; he played cricket for Cabra-Vale Diggers Club. He went to school and graduated from Cabramatta High School and he worked at the State Rail Authority. But one of the things he did in our community was that he was a cricket coach of extraordinary talent. He brought many young players on, and many turned up to his funeral and spoke about Alen's tuition.

I was one of the many MPs who benefited from Alen's dedication, commitment and unshakable belief in the Labor cause. Alen will be sorely missed. My condolences to his family, particularly to his father, Ted, who is 105 years old and who is also a member— (Time expired)