Frank Gabriel has a vision to make Brimbank a leafy green “City of Pines” in the next 10 years. The Deer Park resident talks to Esther Lauaki about his plans and passions.
What is your connection to Brimbank?
I am a humble loving husband, family man, migrant from Philippines, active resident of Deer Park after St Albans with my wife and three children. We all love to call Brimbank home.
How long have you lived in the area?
I have lived in Brimbank for 18 years.
What are you passionate about?
I was a servant by choice to our elderly and intellectually challenged segment of our community as RN1 nurse for 15 years. I’m passionate about people, sports and mental health.
What hats do you wear in the Brimbank community?
I organised the Kororoit Creek Bring a Yellow Bin Plastic Recovery Movement. I founded and co-organised several Brimbank sports groups including baseball, basketball, chess and billiards. Today, one of my priorities is ensuring the planting of a million pine trees by 2030, tocatapult the local economy by making Brimbank the pines city of Australia.
What’s the quirkiest thing about you?
I was a national baseball champion in the Philippines in 1981, provincial quiz bee history and culture champion in 1981, was accepted in the Philippine Military Academy in 1987, became a registered nurse in 1992 and am now an entrepreneurial-environmentalist.
What do you love about Brimbank?
I love Brimbank because we care about the environment and we will leave the best legacy for the next generation to enjoy.
What would you like to see improved?
We need to be doing something different from the rest. Our progress depends on our educated visions and innovations. I would also like to see emergency workshops to speed-up generating micro-businesses with 50 per cent women representation and workout programs for senior citizens for discounted rates. I want to see two multicultural sports gymnasiums in the most densely populated areas that cater for basketball, Vietnamese board games and billiards. I would love more mental health nurses and a post-COVID multicultural community caucus to focus on economic recovery.
