Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ted Dickson has kept the wheels in motion at the Valley Heights Locomotive Depot Heritage Museum for nearly three decades. He not only helped establish the museum; he gives up more than 20 hours of his time every week to maintain and manage the important historical site. That unwavering effort has seen him named Blue Mountains Volunteer of the Year in the 2022 New South Wales Volunteer of the Year Awards. As a patron of the museum, I was especially proud to present him with his award, which he accepted with humility—and maybe a tear—in front of his peers.

The Zonta Club of the Blue Mountains has a terrific team of 18 volunteers, who have played a huge role in women's advocacy and support during the pandemic. They've supported seven women in their educational journeys, and they provide practical and emotional support for women in crisis accommodation. Congratulations to this relatively new club, the Blue Mountains Zonta, for their exceptional work and for being named the Blue Mountains Volunteer Team of the Year.

Andrea Lang was named Blue Mountains Adult Volunteer of the Year. She gives up her time to keep more than 500 RSPCA staff and volunteers up to date with information, policies and procedures to promote and protect animal welfare. I congratulate all the nominees and award winners and I thank the Centre for Volunteering for supporting and recognising our magnificent volunteers.

When a flood comes and then goes, it isn't actually over; it's often when a lot of the really hard stuff starts for the community. The Hawkesbury community has suffered through multiple floods, and we know the cumulative effects that's having on people's mental health, particularly young people. We're certainly seeing higher levels of anxiety, and the weather forecast for the rest of this year is just enhancing it.

That's why the Albanese government will deliver $1.1 million early to fast-track a headspace for the Hawkesbury. That means better access to mental health services for young people aged between 12 and 25—something that has been sorely needed in the Hawkesbury for so many years, and something that I've been fighting for for more than a decade. That's also why our government will deliver $4 million to make Head to Health a permanent service in the Hawkesbury. That means adults in our community will be able to get free help when they need it, close to home.

Flood has followed flood and that followed fire in the Hawkesbury in the last few years, and all of it came to a head with the pandemic. The trauma of natural disasters has a significant direct and indirect impact—from homes being inundated to businesses feeling the pinch because roads are blocked and customers and supplies, ironically, dry up. I've fought for improved mental health services for our community for years, and I'm very pleased to see this government delivering.

The arts is sometimes seen as something nice to do, but anyone who knows someone who works in this sector knows that they are driven, they're passionate and they work as hard as anybody else in any other job. As Special Envoy for the Arts, over the last few weeks I've been really privileged to do community consultations in regional areas on our new National Cultural Policy. I've listened to artists and creators from the New South Wales Central West to the Kimberley in Western Australia, from regional Victoria, in places like Bendigo, through to North Queensland and Darwin. I've also done First Nations forums for northern Queensland and northern Australia.

Alongside the Minister for the Arts, I've had more than 800 people attend around 14 or 15 town hall consultations and online events, and there have been more than 1,200 written submissions. This is all to ensure that we really get a terrific National Cultural Policy by the end of this year. Typically it takes Labor governments about four years to do a national cultural policy—I'm not going to talk about how long it takes the other side to do it. We like to do it well. This time we've decided that we really need to move fast and the minister has very wisely picked up the policy we had when we were last in government that had barely six months of implementation. It's going to have five pillars, where First Nations are at the heart and the artist is recognised as a worker. We want to look at how we can extend the reach for Australian artists. I'm looking forward to working on this in coming months. (Time expired)