Latrobe Valley Enterprises
Page 6211
21 November 2017
COUNCIL Members statements HARRIET SHING

Ms SHING (Eastern Victoria) (12:30:16) — It is a great pleasure to express my sincerest congratulations and warmest wishes to Latrobe Valley Enterprises (LVE), which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. This is the brainchild of a group of community leaders who in 1967 realised the importance of providing employment opportunities to local people with a disability. What we see some 50 years later is a growth in the organisation in the way in which it can provide opportunities for people in communities throughout the Latrobe Valley region to participate in work, find friendships and networks and have good social engagement through what they do. We have also seen 85 supported employees and 17 mainstream employees become part of the team, with Gippsland and Australia benefiting from the work that Latrobe Valley Enterprises contributes.

I would like to say a special congratulations to the following people: Ann Vokes, May Sennett, Greg Forte, Frank Sutherland, Max Williamson, Rod Cooper, Jan Tulloch, Geoff Perry, Renato Monacella, Grant Williams, Jody Kane, Terry Fitzgerald, who is the current chair of the LVE board, and Guy Webb, the current CEO of the organisation. We have a magnificent social enterprise which has a magnificent capacity to be able to assist people with a disability to participate in paid employment into the future. It has been such a pleasure to get to know the people who work within and for Latrobe Valley Enterprises in the last few years. I congratulate them and wish them every success for the next 50 years.