SUSTAINABILITY AND COMMUNITY GRANTS PROGRAM

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (15:18): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier advise the house of the exceptional community response to the recently launched Sustainability and Community Grants Program?

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (15:18): I am pleased to advise the house that the state government, in partnership with the Conservation Council of South Australia, launched a new grants program, the Sustainability and Community Grants Program, on 21 April. This exciting community-focused initiative was developed to encourage local groups and communities to get involved in addressing climate change and living more sustainably. It is being managed by the Conservation Council of South Australia and funded by the South Australian government.

The Sustainability and Community Grants Program provides nearly $180,000 for small grants of up to $10,000. These grants have been made available through a competitive process to projects that will engage communities in combating and coping with the negative impacts of climate change and lead to lasting behavioural change. The government has made an ongoing commitment to tackling climate change, a commitment that has been legislated through our state's climate change act, broken down into specific goals and targets through our greenhouse strategy and tracked through our strategic plan.

The grants program and other community-focused programs, such as our previous Black Balloons campaign, are part of a much larger climate change effort but have local focus. The Sustainability and Community Grants program was created with the hope of inspiring community groups and non-government organisations to come up with innovative initiatives with real and lasting results for both their communities and the environment.

The response to the program has been, can I say, amazing. More than 90 applications were received from groups that ranged from community-based environmental groups to migrant and refugee associations, and regional community associations in the South-East, the Murraylands, Kangaroo Island, Port Augusta and Yorke Peninsula. Many of those who applied had not previously been involved in climate change or sustainability activities. This new interest alone is a wonderful result.

A total of 28 community applicants representing a diverse range of proposals were chosen to receive funding by an independent panel. Some of the successful applicants included:

the Bicycle Institute of South Australia, which will support a project for repairing and recycling old bicycles for those in need;

the Murraylands Migrant Resource Centre, which will support the creation of a community garden and hold four sustainability workshops for migrant and refugee communities;

the Vietnamese Women's Association, which will hold six sustainability seminars, promote sustainability on Vietnamese radio and conduct audits of 50 households;

the Parent Advisory Group Extraordinaire, which will establish a worm farm, chicken house, composter and vegetable garden in an early childhood centre in Port Augusta;

the Woodville Bowling Club, which will adopt energy-efficient measures across their complex;

KneeHIGH Puppeteers, which will develop an interactive display to demonstrate alternative energy and water recycling to young people at community events;

the Mount Pleasant Natural Resource Centre, which plans a retrofit of its existing building and turning it into a community demonstration; and

the South Gambier Football Club, which will establish a recycling station.

Successful applicants were announced at the conservation council's annual Jill Hudson Award for Environmental Protection held at Zoos South Australia's Santos Conservation Centre on 17 June. We are very pleased to be partnering with Conservation SA and to be helping communities to become more resilient.