Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently, I had the privilege of attending the Lyrebird College senior school's opening of their new senior school and their new playground. Lyrebird College is a special community in Coldstream. Many people come from all over the state to get an education for their children and to make sure that their needs are addressed. It was wonderful to be at the opening and to spend some time at the school, particularly with the founder, Melissa; the principal, Julie; and many of the teachers—and it was great to run into my good friend Sophie, who is an EEA there as well. It was a great day to see the students who need certain conditions and certain buildings that aren't standard to make sure that they are safe and their educational needs are met. That was delivered through $880,000 from the former coalition government. Importantly, that dream that Melissa had three years ago of turning a piece of dirt into a wonderful school and a wonderful community has come to fruition. When you speak to the parents of those students, many driving hours to get their children to the school, many moving closer to the school so their children can have the education they deserve, you see the impact that it has on the students, on their families and on the wider community. It was great to be there to visit them regularly, and I'm looking forward to continuing to support Melissa, Julie and the wider community as they continue to grow and provide support to many other students.

In Casey we recently had the opportunity to celebrate with the Mt Everland Street Party. After a tough couple of years with COVID when we hadn't been able to hold the festival, it was great it see it back in action. The weather was perfect. We're debating whether it was a record crowd—we think it was. There were people everywhere enjoying themselves. Importantly, it was good to see the community back, connecting. I had the opportunity to buy a couple of pieces of artwork that supported the Mt Everland CFA. It was great to drop in and see them later that week to collect the artwork and talk to Rick, the captain, and a few of the team. They were heading up to Queensland to support our communities up in Queensland. I congratulate the Mt Everland Street Party committee and all of the community groups that participated in a wonderful day.

I'll also take an opportunity to send our love and support to those in Queensland, as well as those in the CFAs across the Yarra valley, across Casey, who have taken time away from their families, friends and work to head up north to protect our communities. We hope they stay safe. We thank them for their work. We know they're going to have a tough summer coming up and it's important that we continue to support all of those CFA volunteers for that surge capacity in Victoria and across the nation.