HANSARD EXTRACT
| Statements by Members: KU
Starting Points |
| 19
September 2007 |
Mr HAYES
(Werriwa) (9.42 a.m.)—Since
becoming the member for Werriwa I have had the distinct pleasure of
working with a range of different groups that do nothing other than
help serve our community. On Saturday night I attended KU Children’s
Services charity night for KU Starting Points—Macarthur. Starting
Points is an organisation that services communities from
Liverpool
through to the
Southern Highlands. It provides child care and respite care for
families with children with disabilities that range from mild to
severe. When I see the work that is undertaken by this organisation
I think our communities are very fortunate to have the committed
professionals, such as Dr Freelander and other paediatricians in our
area, and the various volunteers who act in these programs.
KU Starting Points was formed by KU Kindergartens and Macquarie
University some 13 years ago. At the moment the organisation is
involved with 50 to 60 kids whose disabilities range from mild to
severe and include down syndrome, autism and Asperger’s syndrome.
Their families have received the benefits of this organisation.
Those benefits are not just child care. This organisation goes about
setting up various support groups for families, including fathers
groups and mothers groups. In other words, it is out there catering
for the interests of the families, including the siblings of the
kids with disabilities. I would not necessarily say this is a unique
organisation but it is certainly staffed by very good and
conscientious people, such as Lorraine Brown, who is the CEO. By the
way, Noelene Brown is the patron. The organisation serves the
community in south-west
Sydney,
which, unfortunately, has an overrepresentation of people with
disabilities.
As a member of parliament, I feel that it is incumbent on me and my
colleagues to do as much as we can to support people who dedicate so
much time and effort to looking after their communities. We are
indebted to them for their efforts and to the
professionals—paediatricians, psychologists, counsellors and speech
therapists—for their assistance. All these people give a significant
amount of their time, and their motivation is to serve the
community. I have great respect for this organisation. (Time
expired)
Return
to Speeches Menu.
