Posted by Shauna KINNEY on Aug 07, 2018
Ben Morton, Federal MP for Tangney talks about starting in politics at the age of 12 years old. He shared his story of how the youth of his home town came together to solve serious local issues. He's added a couple more decades of experience.
 
Ben Morton had breakfast with the Applecross Rotary this morning. He shared a moving story of his early start into leadership, at the age of 12. Shortly after getting involved in his school politics, he and his peers were confronted with youth suicide issues amongst their classmates. He talked about how the young people pulled together with larger government support to address the serious social issue.
 
The heartfelt share explained how Ben's career moved him from New South Wales into Western Australia. He shared that with experience he's felt passion for his time in Canberra and cherishes his time with his wife and young kids when he is in WA.
 
We had a great conversation about the "sport of question time" and the real goal of representing a local electorate through committee work. Ben shared insights into how the committee members from opposite sides of the political spectrum could listen to differences and come to productive agreements. He worried a little about the polarisation of our public opinion and encourages us all to listen to all sides of the story.
 

New Members and Old Members

We were honoured to have potential Rotarian, Andrew Bower, a local commercial and property lawyer join us this morning. Our oldest member, Bruce James, inspired us.
 
Above: Kenn Williams, Bruce James, Andrew Bower
 
Bruce James and Tony Haeusler confirmed our accounting for the morning breakfast fees. Kenn Williams asked us to fill in the Rotary Working With Children form for this fiscal year.
 
Chris Dawson updated us on the cargo containers for the plastics recycling. UWA has provided a facility, so we have been asked if we can redirect the co-donation of funds from Aquinas College and Applecross Rotary to components and equipment needed to run the operation.
 
Chris Whelan, Chris Dawson, Lorri Brazier, and Mal Taylor updated us on the strong interest from stallholders for the Jacaranda Festival. In particular, we are in need of volunteers to help set up, operate, and tear down at the November event.
 

Breakfast Photos

See the photo album from our breakfast meeting at:
 

Who Are Our Members?

Over the next several months we are updating our membership database. Members will receive an email from Ray Philp asking us to check our contact details. There will also be a new section of bios and our Club pages will get a refresh.
 
If you'd like to meet our members (or become a valuable participant in our community), get to know us. Join us at breakfast or an event. Feel free to contact Kenn Williams on 0428 472 619 or any of our members:

https://applecrossrotary.org/page/club-officers-2