Wills Electorate: Queen’s Birthday Honours

15/06/2020

Peter Khalil: I acknowledge and congratulate members of our community in Wills recognised on the Queen’s Birthday honours list this year. Dr Peter Tregear OAM was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to music education and to professional organisations. Peter has an impressive record as a scholar, performer, teacher and academic leader. Marcus Westbury OAM was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the contemporary arts. Marcus is the CEO of Contemporary Arts Precincts, and he has been a writer, media maker, festival director and founder of many arts events and community projects across Australia.

Professor Marcia Langton AO was awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to tertiary education and as an advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Marcia is one of our nation’s leading Indigenous voices. Her research, writing and advocacy over many decades drives us always towards justice for Indigenous Australians.

Mimi Tamburrino OAM was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the community of Moreland and to the Australian Labor Party. I know Mimi very well. Over the last 40 years she has been a remarkable servant to the public and a stalwart of the Labor Party. She has worked for John Walton; the Hon. Gareth Evans; three members of Wills: myself, my predecessors the Hon. Kelvin Thomson and, most notably, a former great, Prime Minister the Hon. Bob Hawke. When the rigours of leading the nation pulled Bob away from the local electorate, he said that Mimi was the de facto member for Wills and no-one knows the electorate quite like her. It is a diverse and wonderful electorate, and I thank and congratulate and give great gratitude for the people who have served our community and Australia.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): You have Marcus Westbury on loan from Newcastle, so I associate myself with your comments.