Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is always good to see my neighbour, the member for Wright, in the chair. The coalition government's Stronger Communities program is a tremendous success. I would like to take this opportunity to share with the chamber some great projects that have been supported in my electorate of Forde. It is fantastic to see the benefits that the Stronger Communities grants have brought to our local community. The ones I announced last year have been put to very good use. The grants were awarded to local organisations for projects contributing to the region's long-term vibrancy and viability.

Park Ridge Pirates AFL club have purchased their new mower and have now put it to great use in maintaining their football fields. As a club that continues to grow and develop and provide a wonderful community service around Park Ridge, it will be very well used. Brigalow Country Music Club put the funding to great use by expanding the clubhouse by constructing a new deck. The shade sails will soon be up and the project looks fantastic. Certainly during the Christmas period, when they held their Christmas carols, the deck was very well utilised. One of my favourite projects was organised by My Ormeau, a community group located in Ormeau. Their funding went to building a parent room to be used at the local Ormeau fair, the Ormeau Christmas carols event and many other local events. The reason for this is that there is nothing worse as a parent than having no space to change a nappy or care for a little one or having to squeeze parents and children into narrow portable toilets. The parenting room debuted at the 2016 Ormeau carols and was hailed a huge success by local families. Some other exciting projects currently underway include field lighting at the Logan Uniting Church soccer fields and major refurbishment to the Chambers Flat equestrian grounds. Logan Lightning FC have also had funding to refurbish the club house at Chris Green Park. That has recently been finished and looks terrific.

These are just some of the examples of the fabulous opportunities that the Building Stronger Communities Grants Program creates in our local communities. As we move forward with these projects, the community is benefiting to a huge extent. It helps when we provide that little bit of assistance, that little bit of a hand up, for our local community groups who do so much tremendous work in their communities. Most of those people are volunteers. Not only do they work hard in their day jobs but they also put in a tremendous amount of time and effort in local community groups. To be able to help them out in this way is very pleasing and to see the great things they have done with the money is fantastic.