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

I am pleased to have the opportunity this evening to highlight a number of important organisations that are doing great work in my community of Banks. On 4 March I attended the Way In Network's 25th anniversary charity ball in Sydney. It was very pleasing to be able to represent the Prime Minister at this important event, which was attended by over 400 people and raised more than $90,000 for the Australian Gynaecological Cancer Foundation. The Way In Network has been around for a quarter of a century now and in that time has raised more than $3 million for a range of charitable causes. In 2008 the Way In Network raised $340,000 towards victims of the Sichuan earthquake and over $160,000 towards bushfire relief programs.

I would like to thank the President of the Way In Network, Elsa Shum, for inviting me to celebrate with the organisation on the night and for all the effort that she puts in. There were many previous presidents there on the evening, including Helen Sham-ho, who was instrumental in establishing the Way In Network some 25 years ago. It is a terrific organisation that does a lot of very good work in the community in Sydney.

Last week I attended the Lugarno Progress Association's annual president's dinner down at Lugarno Seafood Restaurant, one of the finest establishments anywhere in my electorate. The Lugarno Progress Association has been in existence for almost 100 years and is one of the longest running groups of its kind anywhere in Sydney. As the name suggests, the Lugarno Progress Association is focused on the development and the success of Lugarno and its community. It was great to chat with LPA President Ken Mason on the night and to see him perform in his band with his son, which was entertaining, and to talk about the different projects the LPA has on the go at the moment. One of the big proposed projects is to build a pavilion to enable musical performances to take place at Evatt Park. By coincidence, I had been at Evatt Park two days earlier with the Prime Minister, where we announced the No Jab, No Play policy. Then, a couple of nights later, we were talking at the LPA about the importance of getting this music facility in place at Evatt Park.

Back in October the LPA held the Music in the Park event, also at Evatt Park, coordinated with Lugarno Lions club and the Georges River Lioness Club. The LPA does a lot of other great work. They first alerted me to an old, disused walking track that was in some disrepair in Lugarno, which we were able to fix up through the operation of the Green Army. The track is now open between Murdock Crescent and Evatt Park. That is very much down to the strong advocacy of the Lugarno Progress Association. To Ken Mason, to previous president Joan Curtis and to everyone else who was there on the night, thank you so much for everything you do for Lugarno.

Last week I attended the Panania senior citizens group, which meets at the hall in central Panania. It was good to chat with the ladies about a range of issues. One of the big issues in Panania at present is Canterbury Bankstown council's proposal for a very excessive high-rise development in that suburb. Whilst most people in Panania accept the need for some development, the proposal of the council is excessive, and we discussed that at some length at the meeting.

We also talked about scams, which unfortunately are still being perpetrated by telephone. A number of members of the group had recently received very worrying phone calls that sought to defraud people of their personal details, and we discussed measures to help address that problem. Thanks to Win Burns, who coordinates the event, for inviting me along. It was nice to visit, and I look forward to doing so again in the near future.

Last year three schools in my electorate came together and organised the inaugural Trilogy Schools Mega Fete, held at Playford Park in Padstow. The trilogy schools—Caroline Chisholm School at Padstow, Broderick Gillawarna School at Revesby and George Bass School—all cater for kids with special needs in the Bankstown community. The parents got together last year and said, 'Let's put on a big fete for the enjoyment of the kids and to raise some money for our schools.' Several thousand dollars were raised—it was a really big event—and this was the first time that it had been held. The event is coming up again on 2 April, also at Playford Park at Padstow, and I would encourage anyone in our community who is around on 2 April to get down to Playford Park and enjoy this fair. It not only will be a great fun day but also will be raising money for some of the most important schools in our community. I want to thank Kirrily Hoscher, Glen Waud, Angela Gatt and Pauline Headman, who all played a big role in setting up this event in the first place, making it a success in its first year, and who are now doing so much work to make it come together in its second year. It is going to be a great day on 2 April, and I encourage everyone to get along there.

On 6 March I visited St Joseph's Catholic Primary School in Riverwood. A number of the kids had recently been involved in a range of interschool sporting competitions in the area and had been selected because of their particular prowess in swimming, soccer, netball or touch football. It was really nice to be able to present awards to the kids who had represented their school so well. I have visited St Joseph's at Riverwood many times, and it is always great to touch base with the community there. There is a very active parent community. It is notable that the school assemblies each morning are always very well attended by the parents, which demonstrates the very close nature of this school. Thanks to the principal, Kim McCue, who does an outstanding job. This is a school with a very good reputation in our community, and that does not happen by accident. I look forward to visiting St Joseph's again in the near future.

Chinese Australian Social Services, or CASS, is one of the most important organisations in the Sydney Chinese Australian community. On 13 March CASS held an aged-care expo in Hurstville. The event was a very useful way of bringing together different providers of aged-care services, particularly for people who speak either Mandarin or Cantonese. One of the realities of our aged-care system at the moment is that there are not enough aged-care services in languages other than English. CASS recently set up an aged-care facility in Campsie, which has been extremely successful—I understand that it is at capacity—and is currently looking at developing various other facilities. Other providers of services in the community were also there on the day. St George Community Transport, who do a great job, were there, as were a number of other aged-care providers. To have all of them in the one place at one expo was a very good idea, and CASS is to be commended for it. I thank the founding chairman, Henry Pan, for everything he does, and I thank Tony Pang, the executive director, and all the other members of the executive and staff of CASS for their great efforts.

Riverwood Community Centre has a new CEO, Barry Higgins. Barry has replaced Pauline Gallagher, who was in the role for well over 30 years and who did a terrific job at the Riverwood Community Centre. Barry has now stepped into that role. I would certainly like to welcome him to that role at this very important institution in my electorate. Riverwood Community Centre runs a range of childcare services, youth programs, aged care, disability support and a Men's Shed program. It has a very wideranging role in the Riverwood community. Barry has really hit the ground running with a lot of great ideas and great energy and experience that he brings from previous employment. I wish him every success as the new CEO of Riverwood Community Centre.