At the Rotary Melbourne meeting on 20 March 24 we witnessed the presentation of a Paul Harris Fellow Award to Richard Parker.
Citation
Richard Parker was inducted on 26 March 2008 with the classification “Infrastructure Projects” having previously been a member from 1 July 1995 to 28 June 2000 and a member of the Rotary Club of Adelaide from 1 July 1992 to 30 November 1994 and is a member of the Kew North Balwyn group.
Richard grew up in Adelaide and gained an Economics Degree from the University of Adelaide. He moved to Melbourne via Papua New Guinea and completed a Town Planning Diploma at the University of Melbourne. After a MSc at the London School of Economics, he was appointed as the general manager of the new Victorian Urban Land Authority. In 1989 he returned to Adelaide to head the South Australian Housing Trust. Early in the Kennett Government years, he became New Chief Executive of the newly formed Melbourne City Link Authority. Following the completion of the City Link project, he became general manager operations of the Transport Ticketing Authority. In 2000, his contribution to management of State infrastructure projects was recognised with a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia.
Richard rowed in the Adelaide University and South Australia Kings Cup crews, and in the mid 90s returned to the sport at Masters level. Richard picked up a bronze medal at the World Masters Games in 2002 and continues to row regularly.
Richard and his wife Trish have three grown children. The family gathers regularly at their weekend farming property at Romsey, where Richard and Trish breed Wiltipoll sheep.
In 2000-2001 Richard was Director, Administration, for President Peter Dakin. He has also been an Around the Bay rider for many years, which supports fundraising for the Smith Family. As a Senior Executive or CEO in State Government agencies for more than two decades he volunteered to mentor Senior Police in the Rotary Victoria Police Mentoring Program thereby sharing his professional knowledge and experience with future leaders in our community.
Ending homelessness is one of the club’s key strategic objectives. Richard took over homelessness management for the Club after the Community Welfare Committee (CWC) committed to early intervention programs. Working with existing service providers and corporate members the CWC initiated a project to address the specific needs of young people. Since 2013 the organisations have combined to develop several programs. The Rotary Youth Homelessness project, led by Rotary Melbourne provided our members and corporate members with the opportunity to work with our partners, other specialist providers and local authorities to come together to develop solutions which can prevent young people entering homelessness.
Richard was involved in the establishment of RIMERN (Rotary Inner Melbourne Emergency Relief Network) in 2021, a multi club Rotary project providing donated furniture, appliances & home wares to welfare agency clients who have experienced homelessness, domestic violence, incarceration, refugee displacement and other crises.
Today Richard is our conduit to Launch Housing, one of the largest inner Melbourne agencies providing housing for crisis and homeless persons, liaising, fostering and finding ways we can support their work. A founding member of the Make a House a Home (MAHAH) Project for Launch Housing he has assembled a team of Club volunteers to regularly meet to shop a range of small household goods to supply to newly homed clients all funded by the Club. The joy of receiving these goods is often reported by the agency.
With efficient and purposeful actions Richard, you have made a difference to the lives of many, not just our disadvantaged but also to our future leaders through your mentoring. We thank you for your service above self and take pride in naming you today a Paul Harris Fellow.
