HOPGOOD THEATRE

Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (14:16): My question to the Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts. What action has the government taken to revive regional theatre, and how will the recently renamed Noarlunga theatre fit into future plans?

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:16): I thank the honourable member for his question; I understand his great interest in theatre. The 492-seat Noarlunga College theatre was built in the early 1980s as a teaching resource for the former Noarlunga TAFE campus. The theatre is a wonderful asset to the southern suburbs and Fleurieu Peninsula but, unfortunately, has been underutilised since the development of facilities for TAFE students at the Adelaide Centre for the Arts in Light Square. The government recognised that the Noarlunga theatre could be used more productively and, as a result, has announced that Country Arts SA will occupy and manage the theatre under a 10-year lease arrangement with the Department of Further Education, Employment, Science and Technology; and I thank the minister responsible for that area for entering into the lease.

A yearly grant of $80,000 has been provided to Country Arts SA, in addition to funding that has been transferred from TAFE, essentially for the running costs. As part of the relaunching of the theatre, the Premier last week officially renamed it the Hopgood Theatre, in recognition of services to the community undertaken by the Hon. Dr Don Hopgood AO and his late wife Raelene Hopgood; and I know the member for Fisher advocated something along those lines. As many members would be aware, Don Hopgood served as a member of state parliament for 23 years from 1970, including seven years as deputy premier from 1985 and service in a wide range of ministerial portfolios. I am pleased to say that he was also the first member for Mawson.

Don Hopgood is a lay preacher and a former moderator of the Uniting Church in South Australia. He is a former chair of the Waterproofing Adelaide Strategy Advisory Committee. He is deputy chair of the Playford Memorial Trust and a very keen musician, being a member of the Onkaparinga City Concert Band. He has made significant contributions to jazz music as a talented trumpeter and through his considerable research and documentation of the history of jazz in South Australia. He is also a member of the Onkaparinga City Concert Band, as I have said. In fact, as a member of the then Noarlunga city concert band, he and his wife, I think, appeared at the opening of the theatre in the early 1980s. Raelene Hopgood was also a very keen musician. She was the librarian-treasurer for the Noarlunga city concert band, which was the first community group to make use of the theatre.

The late Olive Reader, who was involved in the arts across the Southern Fleurieu Peninsula and played a vital role in the ongoing support of this theatre as part of the Southern Stars arts organisation, was also honoured with the naming of the Olive Reader Green Room.

There are several advantages as a result of the transfer of the Hopgood Theatre to Country Arts SA. Country Arts SA already operates the network of government-owned regional theatres that were built in Mount Gambier, Whyalla, Renmark and Port Pirie in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and over the past five years the government has spent over $2.5 million upgrading the four theatres. In the current financial year, approximately $300,000 has been set aside for capital maintenance works at the Hopgood Theatre. Each theatre seats around 500 people and offers a comprehensive arts and entertainment program. It is a measure of the success of Country Arts SA's efforts that each theatre sells over 30,000 tickets a year and is regarded as a major arts and cultural asset within its community. I am referring there to the existing theatres, not the Hopgood Theatre, of course.

In fact, in the 2007-08 financial year, total sales across the four theatres was 130,820 tickets to events which included the Windmill Performing Arts Company, the Dancers Company of the Australian Ballet and Taikoz. In 2009, plans are in place to tour such companies as Bell Shakespeare and the Australian String Quartet, to name just a couple. It is a commitment of this government, and I know of the former government, to ensure that people in regional South Australia have access to a wide range of arts experiences. The theatres are also hired to commercial theatre promoters about 60 to 80 times a year, so there is other activity, as well.

The state government was keen to see the same level of professional activity and sense of community ownership at the Hopgood Theatre for the benefit of the communities in the southern suburbs and across the Fleurieu Peninsula. I congratulate—

Mr Hanna: We should have parliament there one day.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: A good idea. I congratulate Country Arts SA's board of trustees on embracing the government's proposal to expand their theatre network to incorporate the southern suburbs and Fleurieu Peninsula, and I wish them well in their endeavours to build strong audiences at the Hopgood Theatre.