My Diary  

Great to be part of the Wagga Lake Run this morning. A huge well done to everyone who took part, and thanks to the committee — Paul MacDonald, Loren and Phil Roy — for their efforts in making the event such a success.

It was an honour to commemorate Remembrance Day with serving Defence members Private Conrada Maniago and Seaman Monica Collie at the RSL poppy appeal at parliament today.

The Harvest Riverina launch on Friday night was a wonderful celebration of our region’s food, wine, music and people.

What a pleasure it was to join students and teachers from Snowy Valleys schools this week as part of the inaugural Snowy Valleys Heroes Competition.

It was a pleasure to meet teaching practitioners and school leaders from across the school sector when Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) visited parliament this week.

What a great privilege it was to host dozens of dedicated volunteers in parliament this week to celebrate Can Assist’s 70th anniversary of helping country people in their fight with cancer.

Congratulations to the Murrumbidgee Turf Club on hosting a wonderful community day.

I was proud to join hundreds of community preschool educators at a powerful protest rally in Sydney today.

It was great to host the Annual Parliament Motorcycle safety awareness ride.

It was a privilege to be on the first official trip of the Ladysmith Tourist Railway across the Tumbarumba road in more than 20 years!

It was a pleasure to attend the Spirit of the Land Festival on Friday night and present awards at this year’s art show opening. Congratulations to David Fenwick, winner of Best Small Sculpture, and Jobe Cunningham, who took out the Youth Artist Under 12 award — both incredible talents!

It was great to drop by the Wagga Mental Health Expo at the PCYC today — with more than 60 local providers coming together to support our community’s wellbeing.

What a pleasure it was to join the team from the Riverina Regional Library and the Lockhart community to celebrate the arrival at Lockhart today of the brand-new mobile library service packed with the latest books, DVDs audio books and other services.

This week I had the pleasure of joining the Ride4Life team as they passed through Wagga Wagga on their incredible journey.

Today I joined the official launch of Albury Wodonga Foodshare in Wagga Wagga, hosted at the Carevan Centre. It was a privilege to stand alongside Mark Lucy and Katrina Pawley from Foodshare, Carol Parkinson and Ana Suarez from Vinnies, Lisa Smith from Argyle, David Brennan from Carevan, and Wagga Mayor Clr Dallas Tout.

In Batlow last Thursday for the Re-Alliance workshop on community benefits from renewable energy projects, followed by the Big Map exercise at Batlow Technology High School — a valuable initiative in preparing the community for disasters.

It was an honour to attend Wagga’s first Aboriginal Justice Conference last Friday. Congratulations to Simone Jolley, Edwina Crawford and Kim Hamer and to Legal Aid and the Aboriginal Services unit of DCJ.

It was an honour to attend the Kildare Catholic College Year 12 graduation ceremony on Friday night. I was pleased to present awards to Mackenzie Edwards (Kildare All Rounder Award), Gerard Curtis (Notre Dame Science Award), and Madeleine Gaiter (Sister Alexis Horsley Award for best overall performance in the trial HSC).

I had a great day at the Henty Machinery Field Days, one of Australia’s premier showcases for agriculture and innovation.

It was great to join Committee4Wagga at their Welcome to Wagga event, welcoming new arrivals from different countries.

I was honoured to attend the dedication of a bench seat in recognition of HMAS Wagga.

I was pleased to attend a tour of the Save Sight Institute at Sydney Eye Hospital, a leading centre for eye health that brings together research, patient care and specialist training.

I was pleased to join the NSW Parliamentary Lions Club for a special lunch to welcome the International President of Lions, A.P. Singh, and his partner in service, Sangeeta Jatia.

It was a privilege to join Premier Christopher Minns and Mayor Rick Firman OAM at the official opening of the new REROC offices last week.

I had the pleasure of attending the Wagga Show Society dinner to celebrate this year’s award nominees. It was a wonderful evening recognising the outstanding contributions of young people in our community.

King Mahabali, the mythic figure honoured each year at the OAM festival, is remembered as a symbol of great strength and an even greater heart — the true spirit of the celebration.

It was a pleasure to welcome Premier Chris Minns to Wagga today as part of the Daily Telegraph’s Bush Summit at Charles Sturt University.

Today was a red-letter day for the future of housing in Wagga, with the finishing touches being added to 12 new social homes for 19 people in North Parade, opposite the Duke of Kent Oval.

An exciting milestone was reached in Wagga’s transport future today when the Minister for Regional Transport, Jenny Aitchison, came to town to turn the first sod on the Marshalls Creek Bridge redevelopment.

Thank you to Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig for joining me on an inspection of the Gobba Bridge site, as I continue to work with the government to get work started on planning for the duplication of the bridge.