ADJOURNMENT
Mr BURNS (Macnamara) (16:49): I rise to speak about a local community institution that is one of the real pride and gems of our community, especially in St Kilda. The St Kilda PCYC has served our community for 78 years, and its story is absolutely magical. It started out in 1947, when a lady by the name of Olive Johnston decided that, after watching a group of young local boys steal apricots from her garden, she should instead invite them into her home, put on a whole series of games and outdoor activities and even feed them supper.
So on 22 September 1947 the very first meeting of the St Kilda boys club was held, and there were 14 young local boys who came to that. Olive Johnston was pretty magic, and, within three weeks, over 50 young people turned up to her home to participate in her club and probably to get a decent meal as well. It evolved.
Girls started coming too. When no longer able to cater it inside her own home, she went to church halls and then the St Kilda Town Hall. Then, after a local butcher donated a site for the PCYC, it eventually settled into its home on Inkerman Street in St Kilda, only about five minutes from my home.
The thing that is so wonderful about the PCYC—and I noticed it the very first time I walked in there—is the welcoming and community focused vibe that's felt as soon as you go through the doors. It's a bit grungy. It's a bit earthy.
It's a bit colourful inside the PCYC, but that's what we love about it. You go through the main gym and come out into this beautiful area. There are some young people doing training that is much, much harder than I can possibly compete with.
During the day, you also have this incredible group of people, the Parkinson's boxing club, who come in and use the boxing facility there. Part of the experience of having tremors is that boxing really helps and it's a really therapeutic way of engaging and also really fun. Twenty-two teams from St Kilda Primary School use the basketball court upstairs.
It's not a full-sized basketball court; it's the PCYC basketball court, and it's absolutely magnificent. It's got beautiful artwork that was done by local community members, including local First Nations people. In the back, there's a music room.
When I first walked into the PCYC, the local program manager was showing me all the different music facilities and recording facilities young people could use. It's got a gym. It's got sports equipment.
It's got a home for people to come in and use. It's also right next to public housing. The St Kilda PCYC is magic.
A group of local people have also been compiling statements about what it means to them. I will read out one of them. It says: I found the St Kilda PCYC in 2014, as a recovering addict.
I had been trying to turn my life around but kept slipping as I didn't have a positive community to turn to, only other addicts and criminals … Within 6 months of living in the house and the support of a community like PCYC, I managed to stay clean and land myself a job on reception thanks to a supportive gym manager. I stayed in this job for 6 years, as I turned my life around.
That is what the power of the PCYC is all about. Unfortunately, the future of the PCYC is in doubt. The board made a decision to close the PCYC and sell off the gym equipment only a few months ago.
The community was really hurt by this, and I don't believe that every effort was made to save the PCYC. I then had a meeting with the board. I thank the chair and the deputy chair of the board for engaging with me constructively and agreeing to halt the sale of the PCYC.
No gym equipment has been sold and, thus far, we are working to try and keep the PCYC open. The board's job is also to articulate and outline a way for the community to get involved, because there is so much good community will, and it is now incumbent on the board and organisers of the PCYC to do everything in their power to engage and bring together all the people who love the PCYC in an open and transparent manner in order to save it.
That is my intention. I will work as hard as I possibly can to navigate all of the different machinations of government to see what we can do to support them across all different levels of government. My team will continue to work with them.
But it is essential that we save the St Kilda PCYC because Olive Johnston would want that, and that's what needs to happen for our community of St Kilda as well.