By Casey Neill
Lee Tarlamis says his older brother’s cancer battle inspired him to spend his life helping those less fortunate.
His service culminated in a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, announced on Monday 11 June.
The Noble Park man and former state Upper House MP received the nod for service to the people and Parliament of Victoria
“I’m extremely humbled. It’s not something that I’d expected,” he said.
“I didn’t do it to get acknowledgement.
“It was about wanting to provide assistance and help to people.
“It’s a view that I formed very early on.”
Mr Tarlamis said his brother fought cancer for two years before dying at age 17.
“The trouble and the stress that the family went through, I saw how positive he was throughout those two years,” he said.
“It instilled in me that as tough as I think I have things, there are always people out there who are doing it a lot worse than me.
“That’s why I got involved in the local community.”
Initially that was through the Keysborough Learning Centre.
“The centre loaned me a computer for me to do my school work,” he said.
“I wanted to repay the favour so I was volunteering time with them.”
There he met then-politician Eddie Micallef and became his electorate officer.
“That’s how I got into the politics world,” Mr Tarlamis said.
“That opened up a lot of opportunities to provide assistance to community groups.”
He never intended to run for parliament, but “one thing lead to another which lead to another” and he was a South Eastern Metropolitan Region MP from 2010 to 2014.
“That was such an honour as well, when you consider the fact that very few people get to hold that position and represent that large number of people,” he said.
Mr Tarlamis was a Springvale Benevolent Society volunteer from 2002 to 2012, a Noble Park Community Action Forum member for many years, a founding Springvale Multicultural Men’s Shed committee member, and more.
He’s now a senior advisor to Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings.
The world of politics is not where he thought he’d end up.
The Tarlamis family moved from Oakleigh to Keysborough when he was eight months old.
He went to Wallarano Primary School in Noble Park and to Chandler Secondary College, where Keysborough College’s Acacia campus now stands.
Mr Tarlamis went on to study an associate diploma of business.
“I grew up working with dad in the family businesses,” he said.
“I thought it would be logical that I would go into the business world and maybe into management or something like that.
“I really enjoyed the community stuff.
“Politics became that vehicle to do it.”
