Ms JODIE HARRISON (Charlestown)— The Queen's Birthday Honours recognised 992 outstanding and inspirational Australians in 2022 for meritorious, distinguished and conspicuous service, including Janelle Shakespeare of Whitebridge.

Janelle received a medal in the Order of Australia for service to medical research organisations. Along with Lorraine Gardner, Janelle founded Hunter Children's Research Foundation in 1996.

HCRF raises funds for important research into children's terminal and debilitating illnesses and is affiliated with the Hunter Medical Research Institute and HNEkidshealth – Children, Young People and Families. Now in its twenty-seventh year, HCRF has raised over $2.3 million which has funded research grants and fellowships to Hunter-based researchers, in areas like asthma, cancer, cystic fibrosis, diabetes and sleep disorders.

With her husband Jeff, Janelle started the JSA Group in 1976, and has helped it to become an enormous success in the years since. Janelle has been a longstanding Rotarian and is the recipient of the Paul Harris Fellow International Rotarian Award.

Through HCRF and her business achievements, Janelle has made an extraordinary mark on our local community. Congratulations Janelle Shakespeare OAM.

A Community Recognition Notice is an opportunity for an MP to submit a short statement praising the work of an individual or group in the local community. If you have any ideas about people I can recognise with a Community Recognition Notice, please email and let me know!