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Oatley Electorate Community Events

Hansard ID: HANSARD-1323879322-105548

Hansard session: Fifty-Seventh Parliament, First Session (57-1)


Oatley Electorate Community Events

Mr MARK COURE (Oatley) (19:13:10):

I highlight a few recent community events in my electorate of Oatley. Earlier this month I had the privilege of attending the Club Grandviews Women's Bowls charity day. This year the club was raising funds for the cochlear implant program conducted by the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children in memory of former club patron Betty Moses, who sadly passed away late last year. Betty was a well-respected and much-loved bowling member who benefited from cochlear implants. Moving forward, the ladies have informed me that they will be joining with men's bowls to host a barefoot bowls day to raise funds for leukaemia research in memory of one of the club's members, Sandra McCartney, who unfortunately lost her battle with cancer on 1 April. At each Club Grandviews event I have had the privilege of undertaking the important role of barrel duty—believe it or not. This is a role I look forward to each time and would like to thank Grandviews for its continued support of such important charities. I congratulate all the members of Club Grandviews Bowls on their hugely fruitful charity day and wish them many years of continued success.

I also had a chance to support the Kareela Lady Golfers Trivia Night, which was held in the Sutherland shire earlier this month. The trivia night was held in aid of the Australian Lions Children's Mobility Foundation. The event was a great success. The foundation empowers children who cannot walk unassisted to reach their potential by funding walking devices that get kids out of their wheelchairs and onto their feet so they are able to walk, explore, play, work and socialise. This makes them stronger and healthier physically, emotionally and mentally. The foundation's ongoing goal is to provide a walker to every child in Australia who needs one. I thank the Kareela lady golfers for their organisation of the night, including the arrangement of raffle prizes, and wish them many more years of successful events. I encourage anyone in my electorate, those who enjoy golf and those who might not, to support this great organisation so that it can continue its amazing fundraising activities.

Earlier this month I also had the honour of attending the St George Lions Club appreciation night. The St George Lions Club is my local Lions club, of which I have been a member for more than 12 years. At the event we were privileged to hear about the recent charity golf day that the Lions organised when more than $14,000 was raised to support three significant Lions projects. Of that, $5,000 was generously donated to the CEO of Club Rivers, Stuart Jamieson, who has always supported local community projects, including the annual Share the Dignity Campaign that my office runs.

The golf day held at Beverley Park Golf Club raised money to benefit the Spinal Cord Fellowship, which supports StepAhead Australia in funding Australian scientists and clinicians to study the latest techniques that are being researched for the repair of spinal cord injury. The second project was the Lions Kids Cancer Genome Project. Lions committed $4 million to fund the whole genome sequencing of 400 children with high-risk cancers in Australia over three years. Finally, the event also sponsored the Lions Australia Operation Smile, which provides reconstructive surgery to children and young adults born with facial deformities in developing countries such as Papua New Guinea. I congratulate the Lions on their amazing achievement.

While on the subject of Lions clubs, this month I had the privilege of attending the annual Lugarno Lions appreciation night. The theme for the night was "The role your gut microbiome plays in preventing diabetes". The guest speaker for the night was Professor Emad El-Omar, Director of the Microbiome Research Centre from St George Hospital, representing the St George and Sutherland Medical Research Foundation. This foundation is at the cutting edge of finding links between gut microbes and many of today's diseases and is a world leader in the study of host genetics of gastric cancers. These diseases include gastrointestinal and liver cancer, bowel disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes and arthritis, along with other diseases caused by inflammation.

The Australian Lions N3 Diabetes Foundation has contributed more than $8 million to promote awareness of the dangers of diabetes. Currently about 10 per cent of the population in Australia are affected by diabetes, which is a leading cause of heart attacks, blindness, kidney failure and limb amputations. I am proud to be associated with the Lions Club of Lugarno, whose members committed on the night to continue being regular supporters through screening and education. On behalf of all members of this House, I congratulate the Lions Club of Lugarno on its fantastic night.