Many members of this house attended a range of Australia Day ceremonies in late
January. I had the pleasure of attending functions at Portarlington, Geelong and
Ballarat, but I want to mention particularly the community awards at the
Ballarat ceremony and the importance of local communities recognising issues in
their communities and actively working to resolve them. I was particularly
impressed with the Ballarat community’s highlighting of and working on
homelessness at a number of levels and also its acknowledgement of the key
leaders who work so tirelessly in the field.
Mr Craig Schepis received the Ballarat citizen of the year
award for his work with indigenous communities and in providing accommodation
for homeless youth. The Ballarat Courier reports Mr Schepis as saying on the
night:
- We don’t do what we do for this type of accolade …
- When you see that glimmer of hope in someone’s eyes, it’s an amazing feat
from being on the streets to making something of themselves and you know you’ve
contributed.
The community event of the year award went to the University of
Ballarat’s accommodation services Christmas in July charity appeal dinners. The
dinners raised more than $3000 in cash and non-perishable food items, which were
donated to the 3BA Christmas in July appeal. I congratulate all the award
winners and the community of Ballarat as a whole for identifying and actively
tackling the issue of homelessness in their community.