Page 1156 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 8 April 2008
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wife, my daughter, their Arabic-Christian friend, along with their Yemeni-Jewish friend in one nicely cross-cultured photograph. That was quite a nice little event. All in all, congratulations to that community for a very impressive and very active function on Sunday at Forrest. I wish them all the best.
Veterans community—wreath-laying ceremony
MS PORTER (Ginninderra) (6.10): I was pleased this morning to have the opportunity to represent the Chief Minister at the annual veterans community aged care wreath-laying ceremony at the western court of the War Memorial. Mr Seselja also attended this ceremony. This event has been initiated by the Australian War Memorial and the Department of Veterans Affairs in order to give veterans and war widows and widowers an opportunity to attend a ceremony as they may not be able to attend the actual Anzac ceremony on the day.
It is a chance for them to pay their respects and remember this very significant day in our history. Of course, the day and the service will have different personal meanings for each of those who gathered together today to lay wreaths, reflect on all wars and conflicts and on our peacekeepers. As I watched the sometimes very frail and elderly proudly lay their wreaths, I remembered my own father’s war service in the British armed forces—he served on many fronts in the Second World War—and my mother’s service in the women’s forces back in Britain. Whatever we feel about the futility of war—and surely by now we all know its futility and its great cost to humanity—we must pause and remember those who, in serving their country, died or who were injured and those who lost loved ones or friends.
I was pleased to see residents from the following aged care facilities attend on the day: Ginninderra Gardens Hostel, Page; Goodwin at Ainslie, Farrar and Monash; Linton RSL Veterans Retirement Village, Yass; Mirinjani Nursing Home, Weston; Morshead Home for Veterans and Aged Persons, Lyneham; Mountain View Aged Persons Hostel, Narrabundah; Queanbeyan Legacy Village, Queanbeyan; St Andrews Retirement Village, Hughes; St Nicholas Home for the Aged, Kingston; and Villaggio Sant’Antonio Aged Care Home, Page.
I would like to acknowledge and thank the organisers of the day and the young people from Campbell high school who were on hand to assist those that needed their assistance during the ceremony and during the very pleasant morning tea that followed.
Environment—Switch to green expo
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella) (6.13): I would like to speak briefly in the adjournment debate tonight about a function that occurred at the National Convention Centre over Friday and Saturday—the switch to green expo. It was a conference and expo targeting the move towards a carbon-neutral capital and was initiated by the United Nations Association of Australia here in the ACT. We had a couple of our Assembly colleagues attend, too—Dr Deb Foskey and Simon Corbell. I thank them for their contribution to the conference.
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