I rise to inform the House of the great service that the Pine Rivers Community Assisted Transport Service, CATS, provides to the people of Pine Rivers. CATS is a volunteer based community organisation funded by Home and Community Care and is delivered by Moreton Bay Regional Council. The volunteers at CATS provide a door-to-door transport service specifically for HACC funded eligible people who are unable to access other forms of public transport for health and accessibility reasons.

The volunteers at Pine Rivers CATS provide transport for clients in both their own vehicles and vehicles owned by the organisation. As well as providing transport, volunteers also provide social support by way of help with shopping and accessing facilities. All CATS clients must be eligible for HACC services and live within the Pine Rivers district.

I acknowledge the great work of the 77 volunteers of the CATS service and thank them for their contribution, as not only do they provide transport services but they are also trained in workplace health and safety, duty of care, safe driving and fatigue management. Without the generous giving of their own time, services such as the community assisted transport service would not be as functional. Interestingly, they have volunteers from across the age spectrum-from teenagers to people in their eighties and everywhere in between. I think this is a wonderful endorsement of the enjoyment that volunteers get from their interaction with other local residents that they are helping.

CATS is also assisted significantly by the Moreton Bay Regional Council, and it is this partnership of state and local government with community organisations that ensures the needs of local Pine Rivers people are met. Recently the state government recognised the great work of Vicky Smout, CATS service coordinator, and her team by providing them with additional funding of $279,000. This funding was provided to improve HACC services at the organisation and was deeply appreciated and welcomed by the Pine Rivers community. The funding will go a significant way to ensuring that CATS continues to provide its services to people in genuine need of assistance in the Pine Rivers electorate. Again I thank its volunteers for the wonderful work that they do.