Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To follow in the theme of many of the contributions this morning, I too would like to reflect on the Australia Day activities across the electorate of Forde and across the City of Logan. Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the winners of the City of Logan Australia Day awards. The Logan Citizen of the Year was Rachel Simpkin-Bale, the Logan Young Citizen of the Year was Amelia Ayris and the Spirit of Logan award winner was Tammy Robinson. I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the Beenleigh Rotary Club president Janee Hong, for her terrific work and for the lamingtons and coffee on the morning, and Loganholme Rotary president Sharon Hansen.

As you can see it was a busy day on Australia Day. It started off with the Logan City Council's annual Australia Day awards and citizenship ceremony where we welcomed the newest members to our local communities and highlighted the efforts of those who have made an incredible contribution to the City of Logan through their important advocacy work and volunteering efforts. It was wonderful to welcome 110 new Australian citizens to the City of Logan. Hailing from over 41 countries, our newest Australians represent the next chapter, the next part, of our wonderful multicultural make-up that is Australia. I had the pleasure of delivering the minister's message and sharing a few words in addition to that to welcome them to our community.

As I have mentioned, Citizen of the Year went to Rachel Simpkin-Bale, who has devoted herself to providing vital aid and support to women who have experienced or experience domestic or sexual violence. Through her 30 years of advocacy across a range of state and local bodies she has made substantial progress towards ending violence against women.

Amelia Ayris took out the Young Citizen of the Year award for her incredible volunteer work as a youth ambassador for Bravehearts. At just 16 years of age, Amelia has dedicated herself to advocating for some of the most vulnerable in our community.

Finally, the Spirit of Logan award went to Tammy Robinson. Tammy's work through Formally Ever After truly does represent the spirit of our City of Logan. A free community program Formerly Ever After lends a helping hand to students in need, providing dresses and suits and allowing them to take part in their formal activities.

To all the other nominees for the awards, congratulations on being nominated. Finally, I want to thank the Beenleigh and Loganholme Rotary Clubs. Every year they put on coffee and lamingtons in the community to celebrate Australia Day. Thank you to everybody for their efforts.