Emma King
Danny PEARSON (Essendon – Minister for Government Services, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC, Minister for Consumer Affairs) (09:37): I rise to acknowledge the contribution that Emma King has made as CEO of the Victorian Council of Social Service and before then the CEO of Early Learning Association Australia and the CEO of Kindergarten Parents Victoria. I got to know Emma when I was chair of Kindergarten Parents Victoria, which subsequently became Early Learning Association Australia. Emma is one of those incredible individuals. She has got exceptional stakeholder skills, she has got a really great strategic brain and she is incredibly good with detail. I look at the trajectory she was on in terms of having a real focus on the first thousand days of a child’s life that she brought to bear at ELAA and at KPB, and it stood her incredibly well in relation to VCOSS. Having watched Emma’s journey at VCOSS over the last 10-odd years, I see she has made a profound difference to the way in which the state is. She has made it a better state, a safer state and a fairer state through her tireless advocacy and her commitment to the underprivileged and those who are discriminated against. Emma, you should be so incredibly proud of everything you have achieved, and it is just sensational to see.