Page 1634 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 10 May 2017
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
members, and I am very keen to get out into the electorate once again between now and the next sitting week.
Wear Orange Wednesday
MRS JONES (Murrumbidgee) (6.49): I rise this evening to speak about Wear Orange Wednesday, which today celebrates and shows support for state emergency service volunteers all over Australia.
The ACT SES is a volunteer emergency service organisation which gives immediate assistance to the community during emergencies and disasters, in particular undertaking planning and response operations for storms and floods. It also assists ambulance, fire and police services in dealing with a range of incidents and emergencies and helps the ACT community prepare for flood and storm events through its community education and engagement programs. It is a true reflection of the Australian attitude to help out a mate in need.
Approximately 250 people in the ACT and 40,000 Australia wide are members of the SES, willingly giving up their personal time to assist others in times of disaster. We cannot thank them enough for their sacrifice. I encourage everyone to get involved by taking a photo of yourself wearing orange today and uploading it to your social media account with the hashtag #thankyouses.
Membership of the ACT SES is open to men and women with a reasonable degree of physical fitness and a passion to do the right thing within their community. The SES accepts members from the age of 16 with parental consent and from 18 for general membership.
Once again, thank you SES volunteers for your service. I encourage everyone to get involved with the SES and put on their best orange today.
Project Booyah
MRS KIKKERT (Ginninderra) (6.50): I wish to say a few words in support of the Canberra Police Community Youth Club, PCYC, especially project Booyah. Project Booyah is an established leadership and mentor program that was initially developed by the Queensland police service five years ago. An independent review by Griffith University last year found that participation in the program significantly reduces criminal attitudes whilst increasing self-esteem and improving family relationships.
Thanks to a grant from the federal Liberal government, the Canberra PCYC is now able to make project Booyah available for at-risk young people aged 14 to 17 years in the ACT region. It was my privilege to attend the launch of this program on 8 December last year, when Senator Zed Seselja formally announced the Australian government’s financial support.
On that day I got to meet the first cohort of young people who would participate in this important program, designed to address disengagement from family, community and education. Over the course of the next 20 weeks, these young people experienced
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video