Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This morning I rise to congratulate five constituents in Corangamite who received Queen's Birthday honours this week. They were: Rosemary and Bill Brown, from Queenscliff, for services to their community; Lyn George for services to engineering and manufacturing; Jeanette Watson for significant services to marine science and ecology; and Neville Burrows, of Ocean Grove, for services to the Uniting Church and to the community. Each of these distinguished Australians has made a remarkable contribution to improving all of our lives.

I want to single out a couple of recipients to give you an idea of the extraordinary effort they've gone to in order to make a difference. Lyn George runs the boutique engineering firm Austeng with her equally amazing husband, Ross, in Geelong. Austeng started around 1985 and has been involved in all kinds of engineering innovation. They are at the centre of the renaissance in advanced manufacturing in Geelong. But, if running the business weren't enough, Lyn has found the time over the last decade to be a driving force in building manufacturing networks and ensuring there is real collaboration between manufacturers, researchers and educators. Lyn is chair of the advisory board of the Geelong Manufacturing Council, a network which shares best practice and gets unbelievably excited about invention and innovation. Lyn is a key supporter of the Advanced Fibre Cluster, a network of researchers and manufacturers which aims to make the carbon fibre industry a mainstay of Geelong manufacturing. She's also on the board of the wonderful ManuFutures at Deakin University, which gives up to 15 startups a supportive home for up to two years to get their business off the ground. It's what every university should be doing more of and it is what the federal government should be funding. All this effort is working. We have many more exporters in Geelong now than we had a decade ago. In no small part it's due to Lyn George and her colleagues, who are passionate about manufacturing and jobs in Geelong. Congratulations to Lyn.

I also want to mention Bill and Rosemary Brown. In their Melbourne life, Bill had already co-founded the Werribee Community Centre. Rosemary was on the board for 19 years, as well as starting children's playgroups. When the Browns retired in Queenscliff 25 years ago, they did anything but retire. They volunteer regularly through the Visitor Information Centre, the Queenscliff Historical Museum and the SurfCoast university. Their passion for helping has flowed to their children. Their daughter Sarah received Australia Day honours this year for her service to Boronia primary school. The Browns have been great role models not only for our families but for the whole community. Congratulations and thank you to each one of you, the Corangamite award recipients. We're very proud of you.