CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Ms O'NEIL (Hotham—Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness and Minister for Cities) (16:02): I was recently very fortunate to celebrate the merger of South East Community Links, Monash-Oakleigh Community Support and Information Service and Mount Waverley community support and information service. These are three organisations now joined as one that do remarkable things in my local community.

When my constituents are at the absolute toughest moment, often they will pick up the phone and call these fantastic organisations. Whether it's young people in distress, our amazing migrant communities who have relied on these organisations over decades, or survivors of family violence, they can pick up the phone and call these places, and there is a warm, beautiful voice at the other end and real advice for them about how to solve that important problem that they're confronting.

This was a little bit of an emotional event for me and a really special moment because I actually started my work in volunteering in one of these organisations and eventually got to be the chair of the board of one of these fantastic organisations. I got to see firsthand there the incredible contribution that volunteers are making in running and pushing these services.

I want to thank the South East Community Links board for its leadership and its support for this important merger. I want to thank the legendary volunteers from MOCSIS and MWCIS, and presidents Kathy Hosie, Chris Brassington, Karen Oakley, Liz Grant and Joy Graves. I am so proud of the stalwart dedication you have shown for these organisations.

You sustained them. You kept them healthy and strong, and now we're in a position where we've got a much bigger organisation able to provide better services to our local community. Change like this is really hard.

Some of these volunteers had been on the board of these separate organisations for decades, and I want to acknowledge the bravery and the leadership that it took to make this happen. My community is ultimately going to benefit greatly from that decision. I want to celebrate today an extraordinary young Australian from my community, Haftu Strintzos.

Haftu spent part of his childhood in Tigray, Ethiopia. He came to Australia as a child and grew up in Oakleigh with his adopted mother, my dear friend Maria Strintzos. A teacher at Oakleigh South Primary School encouraged him to join Oakleigh little aths.

He did that and then went on to join Glenhuntly little aths. I acknowledge the fabulous support these clubs provide to local athletes in my electorate. This year, Haftu became the first Australian man in 20 years to win the Gold Coast Marathon, setting a new Australian and Oceania record with an extraordinary time of two hours, six minutes and 20 seconds.

This is so much more than a sporting achievement in my local community. Haftu was a young boy who came to Australia seeking a better future. Oakleigh is so proud of you, Haftu.

It means so much to us to see you achieve this fantastic thing. Thanks for doing us proud. We can't wait to see what's next.