Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

REELANDER () (): I want to take this opportunity today to wish Macarthur residents a very merry Christmas and a happy, safe and relaxing new year. Here's to all that my community and its residents have achieved this year!

The challenges we saw this year have certainly been tough for many families and local businesses. However, throughout this year I have been inspired by the result of individuals, organisations and businesses from my community to get through and do the right thing by the whole community. We have seen great demonstrations of camaraderie and mateship in Macarthur, with people working harder than ever and working together to support their neighbours and their loved ones.

There are lots of people I could talk about, but I want to single out a few in particular: the Macarthur Arts Centre Cafe, the Lomandra Community Pantry, Life Without Barriers, Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation and Medical Service. And, of course, I want to single out my colleagues in health care who really got us through this pandemic. I thank them so much for all their support and what they've done for our community.

I want to thank our teachers and our schools who've dealt with every challenge they were set. I want to thank all the kids who've done so well to cope with homeschooling, returning to the classroom and then going back to homeschooling.

I want to thank everyone in the community that's done so well. No matter how Macarthur has been stressed during this pandemic, they've done well by working together and working as a community. I'm very, very proud to represent them.