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

I rise in this place to share the stories of our Lalor Heroes for 2020. We're extending the nomination process for our Lalor Heroes this year beyond our sports, community organisations and schools into retail, banking, aged care and child care to ensure that we capture the heroes we've had during COVID.

Those who have already been named this year include Gurmeet Rajpal, who is a frontline banking worker from the ANZ branch at the plaza. We've had the emergency department from the Werribee Mercy Hospital; the CFA Hoppers Crossing brigade, where we celebrated Mark, Melissa, Steph and Ian; the Werribee Hockey Club board; local Nurul Khan for his work on the International Mother Language Day; and Frances Fraser, who is the nursing director at the Manor Court Werribee Aged Care centre. We celebrated her last night, and there were many, many tears as she recounted the work across this year.

There will be many celebrated in our community, as there should be this year—such a tough year—and so many have gone above and beyond, either in their volunteer capacity or in fact in their workplaces. They've been working long hours and meeting new demands, finding new and collaborative ways to go about their work, to keep our community safe and to ensure that people could get about their daily lives. Thank you.