Mr Speaker, over the coming month or so the beautiful trees here in our nation’s Bush Capital will turn yellow and orange and red and we all know what that means – the Budget is in the air.  

This will be my first budget as a Member in this place and so my focus has been and will be on the things that matter most to my community of Bradfield.  

My pre-budget submission to the Treasurer asked for many things. And the process of laying out, in black and white, the funding that so many organisations and community groups in Bradfield need, I realised – with pride and no small amount of humility – just how many good people we have, doing such important work for others.  

Here’s who they are, what they do and what they need.  

Let’s start with mental health – an area of so much need and with so many grassroots organisations stepping up to meet the crisis.  

The organisation Empowering Parents in Crisis, or EPIC, is a peer-led organisation that has provided over 1,700 connections with parents caring for young people aged 12-25 experiencing mental health issues, school disengagement, and high-risk behaviours. The model is built on lived experience, community connection, and practical training to empower families to act early and effectively.  

The 2023 Senate Inquiry into School Refusal recognised the urgent need for a fully funded peer parent support network, highlighting the value of lived experience in helping families navigate complex challenges. EPIC’s work directly responds to this recommendation, offering scalable, community-based support that strengthens families and improves outcomes for young people.  

EPIC is seeking $600,000 over 2 years to enable it to expand this vital work. 

Next, the Ku-ring-gai Youth Development Service or KYDS (with a “Y”): an initiative of Lindfield Rotary club and Kuring Gai council – a community organisation delivering structured, evidence-based interventions for young people experiencing mental illness.  

75% of mental health difficulties emerge before the age of 25 and young people have some of the highest rates of psychological distress and suicide risk. KYDS Counselling provides early, preventative and recovery-orientated support, reducing the risk of more severe illness and improving educational, social and wellbeing outcomes. 

KYDS acts as a clinical bridge addressing gaps in access for the missing middle, those not eligible for headspace and who are less critical than those needing acute care. 

KYDS needs only $500k per annum to deliver 2,325 sessions to vulnerable young people and their families. This will benefit over 230 young people and over 2,300 community members. 

And there would be an economic return to the community of over $3m, in the form of increased school attendance and completion rates, and a reduction in acute care and emergency services.  

And then there is the sporting community.  

• Ku-ring-gai Council 

• Lindfield Rugby and Junior Rugby and  

• Lindfield District Cricket Club  

have a joint proposal for upgrades to their existing clubhouse at Soldiers Memorial Park, including the provision of changerooms for girls and women and access for people living with disability. 

This is to support the rapid increase in female participation in both cricket and rugby; and to provide compliant, ambulant and disabled access points for the elderly and less able-bodied members of the local community. $1.5m from the federal government will see the project completed.  

And then there’s the Kuring Gai council’s endeavour, on behalf of our community to test natural turf alongside synthetic turf for our local playfields, particularly for soccer – or more correctly football – so that our area’s most popular sport can be played all year around.  

Covid showed us just how important year round team sport was to supporting personal physical and mental health and community cohesion. $2m will see the council able to test a properly delivered natural turf playfield over a number of seasons so that this and future councils can make informed, empirical decisions about how best to deliver critical community infrastructure into the future.  

Still on sport, the Willoughby Squash and Racquet Club need just $250,000 to part-fund the installation and maintenance of temporary indoor racquet sport courts while a new, purpose-built centre is developed.  

Moving from sport to social services.  

Transitional Community Housing is a registered charity which supports high risk, high need groups – women over 55 and women with dependent children who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness, exiting women's shelters or specialist homelessness services, or referred from housing services.  

Tenants include First Nations people, those experiencing domestic and family violence, people with mental health issues and disabilities, essential workers and people with reduced access to services as a result of their immigration status. 

The need is great, and the service TCH provides is incredible.  

They’re asking for $500k over two years to support 50 women and 75 children to access affordable and secure transitional housing for up to 2 years.  

On to the arts, and the beloved Zenith Theatre, which plays a critical role supporting the local community performing arts sector. The Zenith offers opportunities for multicultural and amateur organisations that do not have the funds or patronage to access larger venues or showcase to the broader community.  

The theatre is seeking $2.5m to undertake a major upgrade to revitalise the venue with new facilities and enhance the audience experience, attracting varied productions and increasing visitors to Chatswood’s cultural precinct. 

Mr Speaker, it’s an honour to have these organisations in Bradfield, to know them, to work with them, and to be able to represent them in the federal budget process.  
 

I urge the government to grant these funding requests.