FEDERATION CHAMBER - CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS: MR DAVID GRAHAM, BMX SPORTS WESTERN AUSTRALIA, CITY OF ROCKINGHAM PIONEERS' LUNCHEON - 21 OCT 2019

21 October 2019

 About a month ago I wrote to a Mr David Graham in my electorate congratulating him on his 90th birthday. To my surprise and delight he was kind enough to invite me around for morning tea in his house in Medina, so I went along and had a great old chinwag with David and his lovely daughter Lynne. It was a pleasure to chat with David and to share some stories about how the community in which I was born and grew up has changed over the years. He has lived in Medina for a very long time. I was born in Calista, the nearby suburb, also a very long time ago. David, like my dad, worked at the BP refinery and recalls giving my dad a lift home once from the CBD down to Shoalwater Bay after a Red Cross donors lunch in the city—so it's a small world, over many decades. I'd like to thank David and Lynne for the kind invitation to come over to their home and to enjoy some lamingtons and a lovely morning tea. Happy birthday, David, and many more years to come.

Later that day, I also went to the official opening of the WA BMX championships at the Southern Districts BMX club, also in Medina. I'd like to thank BMX Sports WA for inviting me along, particularly President Warren Edwardes and the whole BMX WA board; my state colleague Pierre Yang, MLC; Kwinana mayor Carol Adams; and those councillors from the City of Kwinana that came along. It was an amazing day, with 500 people packed around the outside of a great BMX track. People came from far and wide across what is a massive state, from Mandurah and Busselton in the south, all the way up to Port Hedland and Geraldton in the north. I hope you had a great weekend of competition. I even enjoyed the minicross, which is a group of fearless two- and three-year-olds—would you believe it?—going across a bike track. The boys and girls were having a real whale of a time, increasing their coordination and having good fun. They went round that track again and again—there was no stopping them. Congratulations to everyone that participated.

Also, when I was last in the electorate, I went to the City of Rockingham Pioneers' Luncheon. This is a celebratory lunch that pays tribute to those long-serving and long-term residents of the City of Rockingham that have been in the district for 50 years or more and have contributed to the community that we call home. I want to acknowledge the City of Rockingham for putting on this great event that acknowledges longstanding citizens of the city. My mum, Diana Morris, is a pioneer of Rockingham; along with her friend Fay Winter; old family friends Pearl Warner and Dr Bob Warner, who has served the community for many, many decades; and Lori Smith and Nola Smith. I want to thank them and all the pioneers of the city of Rockingham for the contribution they have made to our great community over so long. They enjoyed the lunch and got to reminisce about old times. It was a pleasure to be there, along with the Premier, Mark McGowan. Thanks to all those pioneers that make our city what it is.