It was a great pleasure to be invited to the CNA Multicultural Services New South Wales 10th anniversary event. CNA provides support for our Italian community in Werriwa. There are over 10,000 Australian Italians in our community, who have been working and volunteering for more than 60 years.

Established 10 years ago by Maria Giovanni and Marco Testa, CNA provides support to older Italian Australians, Italian pension information and language schools for everyone from children to adults. It also publishes the weekly newspaper Allora. On its website, CNA state that they aspire to be recognised as a leading organisation for services to the Italian and multicultural community in Sydney's south-west. I can say wholeheartedly that CNA and its volunteers do this and much further every day in our community. The 10th anniversary lunch also commemorated the life of Mr Franco Baldi, who passed away from motor neuron disease earlier this year. Professor Rowe from Macquarie University was a keynote speaker. He is an eminent researcher of MND and explores causes and treatments. All money raised at the event by the generous audience went towards funding treatment and causes. There are 3,000 people living with MND in Australia, and one in 200 are diagnosed every year. It is a dreadful disease with devastating consequences not only for those diagnosed with it but also for their loved ones, carers and family. Every fundraising dollar will help chip away at the mysteries, and provide hope and practical help for those impacted. Thank you to the board and volunteers of CNA for all your support of our community, for the lunch and for supporting this research.

I take the opportunity to recognise the wonderful community organisation Ladies Like To Lunch. Ladies Like To Lunch is a not-for-profit organisation that supports women affected by cancer in Sydney's south-west communities. Recently, it was my pleasure to attend the 2025 pink ribbon luncheon. It was great occasion, raising more than $150,000. A big shout-out to Antoinette Sulfaro, the founding director, who was inspired by her own family's experience and committed herself to working tirelessly in our community to help women on their cancer journeys. As a reminder, if you have that text message that says you should go and have that mammogram, make sure you make the appointment as soon as possible. Detection early is the best way of helping you stay around with your family.

Link to Hansard: Full Speech