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Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES [5.49 p.m.]: I bring to the attention of the House the fact that the Reverend Dr Sir Alan Walker, former Superintendent of Wesley Mission of Sydney and former Director of World Evangelism for the World Methodist Council, died in a Sydney nursing home on 29 January. He was 91 years of age.

Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES [2.24 p.m.]: On behalf of the Christian Democratic Party and as the most junior member of this Chamber I wish honourable members who are leaving every blessing in their future.

Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES [10.09 p.m.]: All honourable members are aware of the personal costs being paid by rural and regional families and individuals, businesses and farms due to the drought. Such natural disasters can have far-reaching consequences long after the rains have come or the floods have subsided. My wife and I have been travelling to many rural and regional areas to meet with local families and farmers who are economically disadvantaged and who have been unable to fund the cost of fodder or feed.

Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES: On Friday, 26th October 2007, I met with a group of Aboriginal leaders in La Perouse and the past President of Sydney Rotary Gerry Rihs to present a cheque for $160,000 to enable the HIPPY programme to continue. HIPPY is an acronym, which stands for the Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters. This is an innovative Aboriginal-run early-childhood enrichment project in La Perouse oversighted by the Brotherhood of St Laurence based in Melbourne.

Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES: For fifty years I have served people who lack the basic requirements of life. At the start of my ministry, my wife and I spent 8 years among the slums of Melbourne. There, in every street were people without adequate housing, food, clothing, employment and health care. The last twenty seven years of my ministry was as Superintendent of Wesley Mission, during which time Wesley Mission became the largest carer of people in Australia providing daily support to people without adequate housing, food, clothing, employment and health care.

Reverend the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes: From an early age I was deeply moved by the plight of persecuted Christians in China under the Communist regime, which came to power in 1948. As a teenager, I prayed for them and was not able to do much more than that until 1997 and 1998. Then, with help from the Bible League, my wife and I joined a group that smuggled thousands of Bibles into China for the underground Christian church. Although border guards caught some members of our group, we got through and travelled by train the length and breadth of China, delivering Bibles to persecuted Christians. A number of my books have been published in Chinese and more than 1.5 million have been sold in China.

Last month I had the joy of hosting Pastor Stephen Lungu from African Enterprise when he spoke at one of my monthly Christian Focus on Society meetings held in the New South Wales Parliamentary Theatrette. Many honourable members would not be aware of this speaker’s incredible background. Stephen is one of the most influential evangelists in the world today. He speaks to thousands of people across the globe on a regular basis. I use this forum to briefly shed some light on some of his struggles and magnificent victories, and to pay homage to this great man of God.

Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES: As members may know, Saturday 26 May was the National Day of Thanksgiving. This was an important day because Australians were called on to think about, and give thanks for, people who make their lives special, people such as those involved in the aforementioned Police Force, the Fire Brigades, the Rural Fire Brigades and others. The two words “thank you” can be some of the most neglected words in our daily lives.

Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES: Reverend Vernon Kenneth Turner, OAM, was born in Adelaide in 1917 where he attended Adelaide High School until his family moved to Sydney in 1931. He died yesterday. Before leaving Adelaide, Vernon Turner frequented all of Adelaide’s radio stations after school. At the age of seven he built his first microphone from a wooden Beecham’s pillbox and some mica and carbon granules.

Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES: I knew Harold Spencer Cottee, AM, for more than 30 years. He had been the joint managing director of Cottee’s General Foods and a director of many of Cottee’s subsidiary companies. In 1961 his late father, Harold W. Cottee, OBE, set up a citrus orchard-fruit block of 500 acres on virgin land at Paringa, in South Australia’s riverland. Upon Harold W. Cottee’s death in 1973, this property and the company Sunlush Pty Ltd were left to Wesley Mission Sydney, which is when I came into the picture.