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

I'm very proud that a sample of the wonderfully creative Mount Vic and Me designer, Kara Cooper, is for sale in the Parliament Shop for the month of March. Her quirky range of Blue Mountains socks includes Gough Whitlam urging 'Time to pull up your socks' and features many other political faces, and also local birds and plants and a true-blue Aussie cattle dog hanging out in the backyard. Mount Vic and Me is a legend at the top of the Blue Mountains and online, with her tea towels and mugs featuring prominent political figures.

Kara is taking part in the Parliament Shop National Showcase, which is the new program to help promote Australian made products from across the country in our own Parliament House shop. It's a collaboration with parliamentarians, and, like so many others, I've shared the invitation to take part with small businesses in my electorate. I'm delighted that her work will be shared by the scores of people who finish a visit to the parliament via the shop, and I'll be urging all my parliamentary colleagues to go and check out the New South Wales showcase for themselves. I look forward to other Macquarie creatives being part of this program when New South Wales is showcased next in September.

I'd like to share with the parliament the achievements of one of the recipients of the medal of the Order of Australia, Paul Rogers, who lives in the Hawkesbury. It's particularly pertinent this week because Paul is a committed Rotarian, and most of my dealings with him have been either in his capacity as secretary or president of the Rotary Club of Kurrajong North Richmond and then as assistant governor of Rotary District 9685. Just this weekend, Paul texted me a photo of inbound district exchange students at the district conference, who I'm lucky enough to be hosting in the parliament later this week. As a former Rotary exchange student, I can't wait to hear about their year so far in Australia.

Paul's work for Rotary—and also supporting bushfire and flood victims, problem-solving community issues and fundraising for local causes—has been core to the community contribution that I've seen him make in the many years that I've known him. But of course, when you receive an OAM, we get to fill in a lot of gaps from the past, like his role at the Parramatta Community Justice Clinic, his position as a Hawkesbury councillor in the 1990s, his volunteer roles at Hawkesbury Hospital, his directorship of our local Bendigo Bank, his membership of the Hawkesbury catchment management trust and his Scouting commitments. Like so many who receive these awards, it's based not just on one contribution to our community but on a multitude over very many years. There is much more that Paul has done, and it's an absolute delight to be able to acknowledge in this place his contribution to the Hawkesbury and wider community.