CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS
Ms O'NEIL (Hotham—Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness and Minister for Cities) (09:45): I rise to pay tribute to the mighty Oakleigh Krushers and Oakleigh Dragons, two incredible football clubs in my electorate that are doing so much for life and family and community around south-east Melbourne. Not only are these brilliant clubs but they are victorious clubs in this footy season that's just coming to an end.
I want to congratulate the Oakleigh Amateur Football Club's under-19 men's development squad, who brought home the cup to the Krusherdome last Sunday. It was an amazing achievement. A premiership is never only about what happens on grand final day, but it's always a sweet victory when we win.
I want to congratulate 'Big John' McLaughlin, the coach of this amazing side. They have had a great season and this is such a well-deserved result—and I say that for all the Krushers teams that did so amazingly well. I was really lucky on the weekend to go down to the home ground for the Oakleigh Dragons junior club presentation day.
It was amazing to see the way the community wraps around these young people who are starting off their journey in sports. I spoke to so many parents who are doing the hard work of running their kids to and from extracurricular activities. And I can tell you, as a mum of three kids, it's not always easy.
You get home from work, and the last thing you feel like doing is getting your kids out the door again to go to footy training. But these parents are doing it for their beautiful kids to make sure they get that activity, they get those skills and they get that support and engagement in a team, and I really want to pay tribute to them. Can I also acknowledge, from the Krushers, Tayla Bethune, Craig Robinson, James Podesta, Chris Grant, Craig Holton and the whole club committee, and, from the Dragons, the amazing and completely inspirational Justine Leopold, Ross Black and Carlie Harrison.
I also want to acknowledge the president of the Krushers, Pat Heverin. Pat Heverin is a really old friend of mine. He's a great mate, and he is the heart and soul of this club.
He just shows up season after season. Every MP here knows there are these amazing people in our communities that keep these organisations afloat. They keep them on foot, they keep them energised.
Pat is absolutely doing that in my community. I can't wait to celebrate with you all next week; I think we've got Krushers presentation night. Up the Krushers!
Carn the Dragons! I'm super pumped. I forgot to mention I'm also their No. 1 ticket holder, so you can see where my enthusiasm comes from.
Across Hotham, the Mid-Autumn Festival is being celebrated by our Chinese- and Vietnamese-Australian community. This is such a special time of year in my community, and I want to thank president Liming Cao, Jane Wu and the entire committee for having me at the amazing celebration I attended at the Clayton Mandarin club. It was a really joyful celebration of Mandarin culture.
I loved the tai chi demonstration, I loved the dancing, I loved the singing, and it was just a really nice reminder for me of what a beautiful multicultural community I get to live in.