Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of hosting a visit by the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Peter Dutton, to Western Australia. He met with multiple organisations that have been experiencing a sharp increase in the need for their services in the past year due to the cost-of-living crisis.

Chorus, in Palmyra, has more than a thousand employees and volunteers who work alongside the community, with a particular focus on the elderly and people with disability or mental illness. Chorus operates a meal service, Chorus Kitchen, which, importantly, provides meals to some of the most vulnerable members of our community from the City of Melville right down to the City of Albany. Sadly, for some Australians a service like Chorus is their only point of contact with the wider community, so Chorus's impact on our community is through so much more than simply providing a meal.

Unfortunately, the commercial kitchen that they're operating out of to cook meals will be gone by the end of the year due to the land being sold by the local council. In such difficult times for so many Australians, I personally believe that it's critical to have organisations like Chorus which can provide meals and also keep people connected within our community. I look forward to working with Dan, Mandy and the team at Chorus to help them find a suitable venue that will meet their needs so they can continue to deliver thousands of meals to hundreds of Western Australians well into the future.