David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week I was honoured to welcome to Parliament House a young community leader, Lane Brookes, from Roma in my electorate of Maranoa. Lane and 49 other young Indigenous men and women travelled from all across the country to be here with us for the National Indigenous Youth Parliament. Lane likes nothing more than to represent his community, and I was proud to learn that Lane had also successfully been elected as the Indigenous parliament's opposition leader.

At just 22 years old, Lane is a credit to his family and community. Lane has been at the helm of community events in Roma, raising more than $50,000 for the annual charity rugby league all-stars game, all for the benefit of his local community. In 2013, Lane received the Ethel Munn award for service to the community for: volunteering for six years at the Roma Christmas luncheon, which supports homeless and socially isolated people in Roma; arranging football games for the community; volunteering at the evacuation centre during major floods; and also for sharing his culture's traditional dance, nationally and internationally.

At just 18, in 2014, the Maranoa Regional Council awarded Lane the Roma Citizen of the Year Award. In 2016, Lane was awarded the Young Legend of the Year for Australian Tidy Towns. Also in that year, Lane was part of the Queensland state parliament's Indigenous Youth Leadership Program. His initiative to have a go and lead, coupled with his passion to continuously improve the life of his local community, is nothing short of inspiring. Congratulations, Lane.