CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Ms MASCARENHAS (Swan) (10:40): There is a particular feeling of joy when you're on a bike and you have the wind in your hair. When I do school drop-off, I do it on a bike. It used to be on a cargo bike, but now my daughter, Felicity, is riding without training wheels.

It's interesting because I love the joy of riding a bike, and I don't want to imagine the day when I can no longer ride a bike. This is why an organisation called Cycling Without Age exists. It's for people who can no longer ride on their own or who have never been able to ride a bike.

Recently, I rode on one of their trishaw bikes along the Swan River in my electorate of Swan. We rode to the Matagarup Bridge, with the Boorloo Bridge in our sights. A guy called Chook was my pilot—before he retired, he was a youth worker.

Volunteering with Cycling Without Age gives him a way to stay connected with his community. He told me about taking out seniors who had lived in aged care for seven years and had never once visited a park right next door. Now, each week when they go down, they are looking forward to that ride.

Riding in carriage with me was Simon Hemmings, Chair of Cycling Without Age. Simon told me about people in aged care who often don't have the opportunity to go outside further than their aged-care facility—not because they don't want to, but because mobility limits, and there are stretched resources. The story that really stuck with me was about a woman who hadn't spoken for more than three months in her aged-care facility.

She went out on the amazing cycle rickshaw, and she spontaneously started singing. What was interesting was the person riding the bike didn't realise that she had not spoken in three months. This is the joy that happens when you get to connect people that ride these amazing tricycle rickshaws with people that want to get out.

This isn't just about older Australians who benefit; it's also about people with disabilities. Simon told me about one girl who was very apprehensive about bikes the very first time. She was unsure if she wanted to get on at all.

Now she's the first one out the door, running up to her teachers every day when it's time for the cycle rickshaws to come, asking to go for a ride. Here in Swan they've built something bigger still. They've also partnered with Boronia Pre-release Centre for Women in my electorate, where women are preparing for release and they volunteer to take Bentley aged-care residents out on bike rides.

It's a partnership that benefits everyone. Cycling Without Age started in Copenhagen in 2012, and now it's in 42 countries. Swan is so lucky to have it right here on our doorstep.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Sharkie ): In accordance with standing order 193, the time for member's constituency statements has concluded.