Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] Hello from Melbourne today. I'm in my Werribee office. The pandemic has taught us a lot about ourselves. It has taught us a lot about what and who is essential in our lives. Today I want to give a shout-out to some unsung heroes—those manning our bank branches, our customer-facing bank workers. This week I met with Liz, Yvonne and Rahool. These workers in my electorate are essential. They deserve our thanks and they deserve to have their work acknowledged. During this pandemic, they are working with banking customers sometimes on their worst financial day. They are distraught. I want to thank those workers in my electorate and across the country who are giving the support that people need when they're entering their banks at the moment. I support the Finance Sector Union's call for an essential worker payment for our customer-facing bank workers.

I would also like to congratulate the Melbourne Vixens on their fabulous win on the Suncorp Super Netball grand final on Sunday. They did it for Victoria. They are a champion team. I'd also like to note that we're also saying goodbye to some real netball champions, particularly some Victorian champions. We're honouring the retirements of Tegan Philip, Caitlin Thwaites and Madi Browne, all great Victorians and great netballers.