Wednesday, 30 October 2024

 Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (10:03): Recently I had the great privilege to join the Keysborough CFA legends for their annual awards night dinner. It has been 80 years of service for the Keysborough CFA since the Brewer family were so instrumental in donating land and establishing this site some eight decades ago. While the paddocks have changed over time – we have a wonderful, thriving Keysborough community with tens of thousands of residents across Keysborough and Keysborough South and a thriving industrial estate just out on the Keysborough side and to Braeside to the west and then into Dandenong South – and the complexity of their service has changed, the volunteer values and support have not. They are a wonderful group of people who put themselves in harm’s way to support our community in terms of need. I want to give a big shout-out to Stewie Matulis, who is their captain and was recognised for 20 years service; Wayne Aumann, who remarkably had 40 years of service; Ian Robinson and Jamie Atkin, who were recognised for 15 years of service; Emmanuel Vella, for 10 years of service; and Shandelle Ross, who is an extraordinary leader, for five years of service, and she also took out the Brewer Award on the evening.

We are really excited about a plan to upgrade Keysborough CFA that is getting traction in our local community. We want to make sure the first-class facilities meet the first-class volunteerism in our community going forward. I want to give a big shout-out to their team and the work that they do on behalf of our community to keep us safe. Going into a heavy fire season, we wish them all the best in serving our community.