David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 4 August I attended the Oatley Football Club gala dinner, down in Kyle Bay. It was a fantastic night, with a large and enthusiastic crowd. The Oatley Football Club was formed in 1975 as part of the Oatley RSL Youth Club, and it has grown and grown and grown. Recently the football club decided to become independent of the youth club, which was a big decision for the club to take. It certainly has continued to grow very rapidly. There were just eight teams back in 1975; now there are more than 70 teams and many hundreds of players. It was great to attend the gala dinner. I want to thank, in particular, the club's president, Peter Jones, who is a very consistent and forceful advocate on behalf of the club. I also thank the club's key volunteers, including vice-presidents Ken Alexander and Mike Thompson, secretary Antonella Cino, treasurer Jason Finlay and registrar Belinda Stanton. Oatley Football Club, one of the strongest football clubs anywhere in the St George region: thank you for your contribution to our community.

On 4 July I visited the end-of-term English classes at Inner Journey in Padstow. Inner Journey is a terrific community organisation that offers a range of services, including family and marriage counselling, English classes and gambling counselling. It also promotes an active social life for local seniors. I have visited on a number of occasions; I've attended its Chinese New Year event and language classes a couple of times. It's great to see many of our local Chinese residents—people of Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking backgrounds—getting involved at the activities at Inner Journey. More than 200 people have benefited from Inner Journey since it was established in 2016. I would like to thank Reverend Tony Choy and Pastor Michelle Choy for their selfless and very important work for the local community in Padstow.

On 11 August I attended the Penshurst Panthers AFL trivia night. This was a great night. Penshurst Panthers are the longest continually operating junior AFL club anywhere in Sydney. They have a proud tradition and hundreds of players. It's great that they are able to use the facilities at Olds Park, which have been substantially improved through support from the federal government and others in recent years. It's run entirely by volunteers, and it is a club with a tremendous spirit, and that was very much in evidence on the night of the trivia quiz. I'd like to thank president Louise Grady, vice-president Allan McGregor, secretary Adrian Buncle, treasurer Darien Nimmo and registrar Sandra Plummer. Penshurst RSL Panthers Junior AFL are a great club in our area.