Tuesday, 8 September 2026


Adjournment

Rotary Club of Manningham City


Matthew GUY

Rotary Club of Manningham City

 Matthew GUY (Bulleen) (19:03): (1821) My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Veterans, and it relates to an issue concerning the Rotary Club of Manningham City and its annual school Anzac Day service. For 35 years the Rotary Club of Manningham City has organised an important school Anzac Day service, bringing together around 700 local students each year to commemorate and learn about the sacrifice of our service men and women. Each year the club applies for the Victoria Remembers grant program to assist with student and teacher transport and the audio facilities required for the service, which is held at the Templestowe cenotaph. The club applied to the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing and asked for its application to be accepted, given its 35-year history of delivering this community event, but it was unaware that for 2027 the application deadline had been brought forward from September to July. The response was that applications lodged after the closing date could not be accepted. I understand the importance of grant deadlines, but surely there is room for some form of common sense and discretion when a longstanding community organisation has missed a deadline because of a change to the timing of the grant, rather than through any lack of commitment to the program. This is not a new event or a new applicant; it is a community organisation that has delivered the same important service in Manningham for 35 years and that has brought hundreds of young Victorians together each year to commemorate Anzac Day. I ask the minister to reconsider this specific case and grant the Rotary Club of Manningham City its application for the 2027 Victoria Remembers grant, which would then facilitate the school Anzac Day service in 2027, as it has for the last 35 years.