Page 1320 - Week 04 - Thursday, 7 April 2016
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This event is close to my heart. It was an idea that was formed in the former Gungahlin Regional Community Services when I was a member of that board, before GRCS merged with Communities@Work some years ago. I would like to thank in particular Communities@Work—and Lee Maiden, Lorcan, Chris Barry and Michelle Anderson from Communities@Work—as a major sponsor, the ACT government Land Development Agency as a major sponsor, Morgans Group as a major sponsor, and the Bendigo Bank under the former leadership of our new member of the Assembly, Mr Jayson Hinder. I also thank the other Celebrate Gungahlin heroes, in particular the local McGrath real estate branch and the wonderful Gillian Yeend from Yeend & Associates—Family Lawyers in Canberra. A key contributor was Mark Scarborough from My Gungahlin, as he is to many events and community activities throughout our wonderful region.
I had a great time visiting many of the stalls on Saturday with our new local member for Gungahlin and Belconnen, Mr Hinder, and ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr. In particular I had a great time catching up with Betty Bettong and the fantastic Kate Grarock from the Mulligans Flat woodland sanctuary. It was an indication of the success of the Celebrate Gungahlin festival last year that there were so many more local businesses and stalls. It was great to be able to talk to stall owners from Cookies Cycles in Franklin, Alena Sarri from Aquatots swim school in Forde and DOGUE Gungahlin dog grooming service and store located in Franklin.
As the minister looking after the healthy weight initiatives I was pleased to see many local sporting and health groups holding stalls. In particular I would like to mention the presence of the Gungahlin Jets football club, GDance Academy and the Gungahlin Wildcats gridiron club, to name a few.
Gungahlin’s multiculturalism was on full show throughout the festival. There was a Bollywood dance, a Chinese dance and singing performance and a Latin dancing showcase. On top of this there was a plethora of cultural cuisines on offer. While I enjoyed a delicious Italian meatball sub from Dave at Neighbourhood Food, my kids feasted on chicken tikka and rice from Tikka Stand and chorizo sausages from the Colombian food stall. It was probably lucky that there was a 20-minute wait for chips on a stick, and I encouraged my kids not to spend their time waiting for one.
The ACT government had a strong presence at the festival. This provided members of the wider Gungahlin region with the opportunity to interact with their two local MLAs, Mr Hinder and me, and of course the Chief Minister, and speak to ACT government department representatives. It was fantastic to see how large and prominent the ACT government stall was, providing residents with information on all aspects of government operations and activities—land development, roadworks, and the transport Canberra agency, including ACTION buses and light rail. We also had information on the new mattress recycling initiative and on road updates, and there were representatives of the child and family centre. We had a strong and welcoming presence. It was great to see Kenny Koala, the ACT Policing mascot, who was also a big hit at the festival.
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