HERMITAGE FIRE STATION

Mr KENYON (Newland) (15:43): I will be very brief. I want to bring to the attention of the house an event that occurred on Saturday in the new area of my electorate which has become part of Newland for the first time at Hermitage. The renovations to the CFS station were opened. It was a well-attended affair from a relatively small community up there. The most important part of it was that it was a true community event, because the renovations were funded largely by the community after an extensive and longstanding fundraising effort.

It is worth bringing to the attention of the house when a community goes to such lengths and puts in so much effort over so much time to provide for itself, which it has done. The new facilities are excellent. They are air-conditioned, and they allow a good number of people to be there on stand-by in comfort, which happened a number of times over the summer.

The shed has been extended to accommodate all their trucks, which is a handy thing so that they are not backing trucks into each other trying to put them all into the shed, and it allows for more equipment storage and the like. I would particularly like to congratulate Peter Goodwin for his efforts and the fundraising committee as well. It has been long time coming but it is an excellent result and the community is to be congratulated on its efforts.