Page 3386 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 19 October 2022
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
and are working much harder. It is really, really sad when they move on. We do not just lose their skills; we lose the people; we lose the friendship. We lose all that shared work with somebody who shares our values.
I want to mention four of those really special people tonight. Helen from the Conservation Council is moving on, and I would like to echo the words of my colleagues Rebecca and Shane. Helen has done an absolutely marvellous job. She has pulled together so many different groups and so many different personalities in the environmental movement. I am really sorry that she is leaving us, but I am really, really excited about where she is going. The divestment movement will be so much richer for having Helen with them.
I also want to mention Ian Ross. Ian has been the CEO of Pedal Power. I have known Pedal Power for a couple of decades, as a member, as a volunteer and as a participant in events. I have actually known Ian my whole life. We are family friends. Our dads used to go on fishing trips together. It has been really lovely. It was really nice coming into this job and seeing some familiar faces, which is what happens in Canberra. You realise that people move in the same circles.
Ian did a marvellous job at Pedal Power. He took a whole lot of passion and enthusiasm for community inclusion, disability advocacy and climate advocacy, along with his own passion for cycling, and he really helped raise the profile of cycling, which was great. Like everybody at Pedal Power, of course he rides everywhere and his family rides everywhere. I realise, as I am saying this, that we have never been for a ride, and I wonder whether we might have time now. It seems ridiculous after knowing somebody for 45 years, when you are both cyclists, but maybe we will go for a ride.
I also want to mention somebody else who is stepping down from Pedal Power: Kate. Kate did a fantastic job on advocacy. She was so delightful to work with. It was great to meet her and to work with her. She had such an amazing commitment and grasp of detail. You spend an awful lot of time, when you are talking about cycling and active travel, talking about footpaths and bollards and lanes. Actually, the detail really matters—different line items in the budget. She was really, really good at that and so patient at explaining it all to us. I am really grateful that we had a woman like that working in that field.
I also want to mention Glen Hyde. Glen has been the chair of our Belconnen Community Council. Everyone in here knows what community councils do, but I think a lot of people out in Canberra do not know what those councils do. Glen, like most of the chairs, loves his area. He loves Belconnen. He reads DAs, he reads government strategies, he assembles really careful agendas for the monthly meetings, he gathers people together, he talks to the media, he gives interviews, he runs sausage sizzles and he learns everybody’s name. He basically does our job, but he does not get paid to do it. That is what chairs of community councils are doing. They are really advocating for their community and they are doing a lot of that detail, which is often dull but it is really important work. They are connecting all of the people and all of the different interests together.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video