Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Congratulations to my local community on the amazing achievement of reaching an almost complete vaccination rate of over 95 per cent. I'm proud of our success, and today is a tribute to the local grassroots effort against what was an incredibly high rate of infection. My office worked closely with local communities throughout this time to establish vaccination hubs in familiar local settings.

There are lots of amazing people and organisations to thank. Today I want to thank those who helped drive some of the local hubs. Thank you to Dirk Schirmer, Aspen Medical's regional clinical coordinator, for his work and the effortless approach to which we were able to work with his team to establish targeted vaccination hubs in record time. A big thank you to Kerim Buday and the ICMG, Islamic Community Milli Gorus, for their impressive lead; Councillor Sam Misho; Walid Hanna; the St George Chaldean Catholic Parish, for their incredible drive; and Nader Hanna and the team at the Meadow Heights Education Centre. I also extend this appreciation to the team at DPV Health and its CEO, Don Tidbury, for their exceptional work.

I especially want to thank each and every person in my community who came forward to be vaccinated. They did so for the welfare and safety of their families, their friends and their neighbours. It is this effort that I want to commend today. I thank them for their incredible contribution to our local community's safety.