Tuesday, 16 May 2023

 Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (14:24): It is volunteer week, and as shadow parliamentary secretary for volunteers I would like to give a great big shout-out and acknowledge and celebrate the wonderful efforts of our volunteers right across Victoria – the safety, the health and the wellbeing volunteers, the restoration of the environment volunteers. ‘Volunteerism weaving us together’ is the theme for this year. They support every fabric of our society. The list of volunteers who give their time both formally and informally is almost endless, but to name a few there are: the SES, the CFA, St John Ambulance, our sporting clubs, our theatrical societies, Meals on Wheels, canteen volunteers, the op shop people, Lifeline, the Red Cross, the RSL welfare officers, JPs, neighbourhood houses, the spontaneous volunteers that assist in times of crisis, those volunteers who quietly cuddle newborn premmie babies, Landcare, Coastcare, ‘friends of’ and habitat restorers, youth mentors and disability volunteers. Thank you, one and all.

As we celebrate National Volunteer Week I just would like to highlight the L2P program across my electorate and also the one of which I am chair, the amazing Latrobe Berry Street team: Catherine Simpson, Courtney Pulis, Liz Renehan and the fantastic Acting Senior Sergeant Andy Milbourne. Last week 500 students came to the Latrobe Valley and really assessed a simulation of what it is to have a crash and how to avoid that in the future.