Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to commend 15 community organisations in my electorate of Menzies who are recipients under round 4 of the Stronger Communities grants. There were 15 organisations in the previous round, round 3, and another 15 in this round 4. It's been a delight to work with these various organisations, the office-bearers and officials, to secure these grants which are so important for local communities. The first one is a very significant one—that is, Onemda, a disability service in my electorate based in Doncaster East. This service was commenced in 1969 by a group of parents and by volunteers. Eventually, they grew it, they moved to the current premises in 1977 and they've continued to provide services for people who are disabled in the immediate area and even more broadly than that over many, many decades. This grant is to fit out the innovation centre and also the acquisition and installation of technical equipment.

The second organisation is the Park Orchards Football Club—that is, a grant to move the electronic scoreboard and increase the window size for timekeepers as well as building a bench to make the area more comfortable for volunteer timekeepers and also improve and extend shelving and storage space. It reminds, Mr Speaker, us of the great work that volunteers do in all sorts of organisations in sporting cultural social organisations not just in my electorate, in your electorate, sir, and throughout Australia.

A third grant is to the south Warrandyte Football Club for the purchase and installation of an electronic video scoreboard, as well as site works. Again, this is another wonderful sporting club in the electorate. It gives an outlet for young people and older people to play sport, to be involved in physical exercise, which is good for both their physical and mental health.

The next grant is to the Schrams Sports Club to purchase foldaway tables, a TV and a trophy cabinet, which will benefit the three co-tenant clubs of the reserve who use that facility—namely, the Fitzroy Doncaster Cricket Club, the Doncaster Junior Football Club and the Doncaster Seniors Football Club.

Another grant goes to the Vantage Point Church in Donvale. This is to purchase a vehicle to provide pastoral care to elderly people who are shut in or in nursing homes and cannot access the care that they need alone. Mobility for older people is so important. We all have parents, relatives who are growing old, who don't have the mobility that they have had in the past. To have services like that provided by Vantage Point Church to be able to go out and transport to people to take them to shopping, to take them to a medical appointment, to take them to visit people is very important for the lifestyle of elder Australians.

The Bulleen Templestowe District Junior Football Club is in receipt of a grant for ICT equipment, a barbecue, and signage for their facility. The 1st Templestowe Scout Group is to update their toilet facilities. This will include removing existing toilets and flooring and renovating two toilets and a washing area. Often, many of these clubs operate in buildings that were constructed in the 1970s or 1980s, and the facilities are not up to scratch for what is required today, and this is a good example of a grant going to a wonderful organisation—namely, the Scouting group—in order to provide for the people coming through their programs.

The Manningham Cobras Football Club will receive a grant to install electronic scoreboard to replace the current manual one. Equally, the Donvale Cricket Club is to purchase two medium-sized turf pitch covers, two cricket pitch hessians and a new bowling machine. The Croydon Hills Baptist Church will purchase a vehicle to transport and carry equipment and purchase garden equipment to enable more Karen refugees from the local community to be able to work in the local community. The Donvale Football Club will receive a grant for the installation of behind-the-goals netting, which will provide a type of fencing to catch balls and also provide necessary safeguards for the players currently attempting to retrieve balls from the nearby busy road. Sharing Hope in Croydon Hills will purchase new ICT equipment to provide the help needed for their work with the Karen community refugees in the local area.

St Haralambos Greek Orthodox Church will carry out urgent and required repairs to the roof and plumbing including the connection of downpipes, drains and critical upgrades of electricity capacity. The Bulleen Templestowe Sports Club will purchase new equipment. And, finally, the Kevin Heinze Garden Centre in Doncaster will convert part of their site into a stand-alone multipurpose group room to deliver programs for young people, particularly the disabled. All are worthy recipients of these grants.