Page 714 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 28 March 2006
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Why would I talk about this charity? My heart was touched when my daughter at age 19 became an official carer for her boyfriend’s brother, Simon, who has cerebral palsy. It was just amazing to watch the input and effect that Zoe had with this particular guy. I am humbled to be given the opportunity to have that same input into Tim’s life at the moment and just be there for him. Not that he needs anybody to hold his hand, and I can see Mr Hargreaves nodding. Tim is a very capable young man.
At this point I have to give a big “hooray” to Westfield Woden. They have been absolutely magnificent in supporting Tim and, more importantly, the Spastic Centre. I think we can always get behind good ideas. This young man has refined his music over the years. His first album was called Able-bodied and his second album was self-titled TJ James. I would urge people to spent $10 on one of these CDs to enable him to produce his third album called Another World.
Last Thursday and Friday we hopefully did not irritate too many shopkeepers and shoppers when Tim played music as part of our effort to raise interest in and the profile of the Spastic Centre. Geraldine Walters was there as well. I take my hat off to Tim James. He is a young lad who will not let anything get in his way. He has let his disability become an ability in his life. He is a real role model for all young people, not just people with a disability. So well done, Tim, and we wish you all the best for the future.
I have sent around to members—and I thank the Speaker for allowing me to do this—an email headed “Don’t dump it—donate it—help the environment and it won’t cost you a cent”. Members can collect old mobile phones. I offered to do so and I took a box off the Spastic Centre. Members can come to my office, collect a little plastic bag and put their old mobile phone into it. We can send them off to the Spastic Centre and for every phone they receive they get $3 to $5. So I think it is well worth it. If members do not have an old mobile phone they could ask their friends if they could help. Let us see if we can really get behind not only the very worthwhile cause of supporting the young man that I have just mentioned but also the need to help tidy up the environment. Mr Speaker, I put this course of action to members.
Finally, I want to say “well done” to all the people who worked so hard to make the Lanyon festival a huge success. I went to the festival on Saturday and I was so taken by it that I took my family back on Sunday. It was just the most brilliant place to be. I notice that Mr Hargreaves is nodding again and Lanyon is in his electorate. I happen to live there and I love it. Lanyon and Queanbeyan, where my daughter lives, were the first places we went to when we came to Australia, and I love both of them.
I want to say a really big sincere thank you to the organisers of the festival. If we do not look after our heritage we are going to see it rapidly diminish. So well done to the committee who organised the festival, to the people who worked there, to the volunteers and to the storeholders. It was just a brilliant day and I want to convey my huge thanks. I also thank those who know Lanyon and support it in everything it does.
Lanyon
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (5.11): One of the wide array of topics that Mrs Burke just referred to was the Lanyon festival and I also am going to talk about that event. I went
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