I'm going to put on my Special Envoy for the Arts hat for a moment, alongside being the member for Macquarie. I recently had the privilege of officiating at the naming of a room in one of our oldest buildings, the Richmond School of Arts. The school of arts was officially opened by Premier Sir Henry Parkes in 1866, and it has hosted an array of events over the years, including lectures and classes, dinners, plays, concerts, dances and flower shows. It's used today mainly by artists, visual artists, and performers of all types, young and old.

The site's managed by a volunteer committee, and Margaret Thorne is one of the longest serving volunteers on the committee. And now, when the nervous performers get ready to go on stage, the green room they're in is called the Margaret Thorne Green Room.

Margaret joined the school of arts committee back in 1977, and she was elected the first female president in 1981. She stayed on as president until 2021 and is still involved as a volunteer with the school of arts. Among her many achievements was the incredible refurbishment over many decades of this beautiful facility, and installing a fully equipped kitchen, which the community loves having there, not to mention air conditioning and an audiovisual system. So she has made a huge contribution, and her name will now live on for many generations.

I was also privileged to be able to hand over life membership to Katrina Roberts, the treasurer of the Richmond School of Arts committee. That's a position she has held continually for the last 15 years. There have been many changes in that time, including the move from manual accounting systems to computer based systems, electronic banking and all sorts of partnerships, and I know she's the one who does a lot of the hard yards of grant application writing. Congratulations to both Margaret and Katrina and all the volunteers at the Richmond School of Arts.