Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mere words are a cheap way to thank people for a valuable contribution; nevertheless, here I go. The Moreton Volunteer Awards are a proud feature of the community calendar on Brisbane's southside. I've been running these awards that acknowledge and celebrate local volunteers for the last 15 years. We had a wonderful ceremony on Sunday 25 February at the Wellers Hill Bowls Club in Tarragindi, who let us hold the event there for free.

The awards celebrate the spirit of volunteerism in our local community, and we thank some of these dedicated, reliable and kind people, who actually ask for nothing in return. They are the lifeblood of community organisations in my patch. They volunteer in community centres, schools, community groups, not-for-profit organisations and sporting groups. These people volunteer to make a difference, and I would like to acknowledge some of them here today: Amar Khan from the Islamic school of Brisbane; Di McRae from the Lions Club of Sunnybank; Sue Kerr from Meals on Wheels Sherwood and also from the Oxley Bowls Club; Arturo and Mahoney Buonocore from Tocco Italiano, who actually opened up their restaurant and fed people during the floods; Farouk Adam from Muslim Charitable Foundation; Cathy Bartley, Nelly Erbacher, Irene Marshall, Gieng Sun, Ally Wood and Carol Bowie, all from St David's Neighbourhood Centre, who do incredible work; Patricia Brannigan from Meals on Wheels Sherwood; Iree Chow, Pasifika Women's Alliance; Shanjeshni Deo, Kanya Wati Pradham and Kanthi Wijesoma from the Damani Women's Association of Queensland; Michael Eddiehausen from the Graceville Croquet Club; Andrew Fisher from Moorooka State School; Ian Forrester from the Community Connection & Belonging project at Community Plus+; Jennifer Kruger; Julian/Sulieni Layt from the Brisbane Tongan Community; Jan Neville from Omega International; Nykoal Rentsch; Aida Salcedo from the Sunnybank and district pensioners club; Brooke Sinclair from the Clubhouse Moorooka, which is having a second life; Jon Smith from Coopers Plains State School; Gary Summers from the Sherwood Indooroopilly RSL Sub-branch, Cecilia and Mauro Somodio from the Filipino-Australian Foundation of Queensland; Jessica Tovey from the Australian Breastfeeding Association and Corinda State School P&C tennis committee; Shay Tovey, Corinda State School and Oxley Community Festival; Elsa Van Haeght from the Community Connection & Belonging Project at Community Plus+; and Koula Gerbanas from Foodbank. They're just some of the people, but I also thank Mark Bailey, James Martin, Peter Russo and Jess Pugh—the state MPs—and Councillor Nicole Johnston for helping out with these awards. I thank all the nominators for helping acknowledge our local heroes and I give a huge shout-out again to the Wellers Hill Bowls Club for their continued support of the awards. It's very generous of them.