Thursday, 4 December 2025

 Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (09:50): I would like to put on the record today the wonderful work that our neighbourhood houses do right across our electorates and in particular the electorate of Polwarth. Our wonderful neighbourhood houses in Colac, in Cobden, in Simpson, Apollo Bay, Deans Marsh, Winchelsea, Torquay and right across the electorate provide an essential service, often to some of the most vulnerable people. More recently our neighbourhood houses have really focused on providing cheap, low-cost food or free food for desperate families. They provide wonderful services helping those that are digitally disconnected and have struggled to fill in forms and applications. They are a wonderful service, and I will be joining my colleagues with a petition today to the minister pleading for a resumption of fair and decent funding for these wonderful organisations.