Casey individuals and groups are celebrating after their contribution to the community was recognised at the 2022 Casey Australia Day Awards.
The council held an online ceremony on the eve of Australia Day to announce the recipients of this year’s awards and acknowledge the finalists across the five categories.
Kanu Aggarwal was named the 2022 Casey Citizen of the Year, John Hardie the Casey Senior Citizen of the Year, Flynn Collier the Casey Young Citizen of the Year and the winner of the Casey Local Hero of the Year was awarded to Kay Taranto.
Not-for-profit organisations Palliative Care South East and Victoria SES Narre Warren Unit were the joint 2022 Casey Community Groups of the Year.
The award acknowledged both organisations for their work in supporting Casey residents with life-limiting illness and for emergency response efforts during fire, floods and storms respectively.
There were also five special mentions awarded with Kerrigan La-Brooy and Mudita Gupta awarded Highly Commended in the Citizen of the Year category for their great contributions in emergency food relief and grief counselling respectively, to the Casey community.
Dr Hakim Gassiep was awarded Highly Commended in the Senior Citizen of the Year category for his work advocating for affordable healthcare.
Riley Mears was awarded Highly Commended in the Young Citizen of the Year category for his legal support for disadvantaged residents and Lindiwe Ndebele was awarded Highly Commended in the Local Hero of the Year category for her work in emergency food relief support in the community.
City of Casey chair of administrators Noelene Duff PSM congratulated all the nominees for the well-deserved recognition.
“On Australia Day each year we honour those persons and community organisations who contribute huge amounts of energy, time and effort to maintaining and growing Casey as the great place to live, work and play that it is,” she said.
“Today, we celebrate and congratulate our 2022 Casey Citizens of the Year, along with all the nominees for these important awards.
“Thank you for the contribution you all make to our community.
“You give us all pause for thought as to what it means to be Australian, and we commend you on the investment of passion and talent that you have selflessly given, not only to the Casey community, but also to the people of our great nation.”
