MONTEVERGINE FESTA

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (15:35): It is with great pleasure that I take this opportunity to congratulate the work of the Holy Mary of Montevergine Association on an absolutely fantastic 55^th anniversary Festa celebration on the weekend. For those who have not had the opportunity to take part in an Italian Festa—and, of course, Montevergine is the biggest and the best—let me tell you a bit about my day.

On Sunday morning, I was pleased—given that I was ever so slightly late arriving at the St Francis of Assisi Newton church to catch the bus up to Hectorville—that Bartolomeo Baldi, who is one of the excellent volunteer bus drivers with the Montevergine Association, was happy to hold up his bus for me and the member for Norwood so that we could arrive at the start of the procession with all the other pilgrims, worshippers and special invited guests. On that point, I congratulate Mr Baldi and all the other volunteer bus drivers.

It was great to be joined in the procession by the Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education and several of his large brood of children; the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, of course, in whose electorate the procession started; the Hon. Carmel Zollo, who has a longstanding connection with this group; as well as the member for Norwood, Steven Marshall, who, along with me, were very proud to walk in the procession, which attracts a very large number of people every year. They said that last year they had worked out that 10,000 people had come to Newton at some point during the day for the Festa celebrations, and I would be surprised if this year's 55^th anniversary celebrations did not match that.

It was great to see people like Teresa Dall'Acqua Leonardi, John Di Fede and Silvio Iadarolla who have given so much to the Italian community over so many years, and, of course, Joseph Scalzi from the Carabinieri Association. I make particular note of Domenico Zollo, who is the President and chairman of the Holy Mary of Montevergine Association's committee and who has been so for 12 years, and his fine secretary, Nicola Porcaro. This was his 12^th Festa, and Domenico not only put on a great show of organising a wonderful Festa but also managed to do so on his birthday; so, happy birthday to Domenico.

The mass taken by Father Felice was excellent, as always, and was a great opportunity for those of us who are still working on our Italian. The rest of the day was taken up by the beautiful pasta, pizza, dolce, zeppole, and gelati of the Festa. I mentioned Domenico Zollo before, but his wife, Immacolata Zollo, stood all day, from 10am until about 10pm (when I left) on the souvenir stall, which raises a great deal of money for the work the association conducts in the community. Of course, she is one of many volunteers, but as the leader of that souvenir stall I give credit to her.

The performers throughout the afternoon and evening were excellent, as always, and it was good that the Premier was able to visit Morialta, along with the new Acting Italian Consul, Orietta Borgia. Of course we hope that the Italian government will extend her term, or confirm a new permanent consul for South Australia, because the upheaval in the Italian community at the possibility that we may be without an Italian consul has been very sad. We were grateful for the three years that Dottore Tommaso Coniglio served our community. He is a very good fellow who is now back in Italy and progressing his career through the Italian ministry of foreign affairs; hopefully, Orietta Borgia will become his permanent replacement.

It was great to see Isobel Redmond, Leader of the Opposition, come along to the Montevergine Festa. She learnt how to make zeppole and gave a fantastic speech to those gathered in attendance. She walked around for a good couple of hours with me, my fiancée, Chelsey Potter, and the member for Norwood, Steven Marshall, meeting many of our constituents.

Finally, I should also acknowledge that 10-year-old Georgie Marshall, the daughter of the member for Norwood, was no doubt the youngest who sat on the stage at the Montevergine Festa in the official party before the fireworks ended at 10 o'clock. She put up a magnificent performance of being incredibly disciplined and well behaved. Sometimes the family members of parliamentarians have different lives from those of their peers; so, I congratulate Georgie on being delightful company for us all throughout the evening. I congratulate the festa committee of the Holy Mary of Montevergine Association for a fantastic 55^th anniversary.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Morialta, thank you. I would like to just interject here. As former language teacher and a non-Italian speaker I am very impressed by your Italian accent and by the clear effort that you are making with that excellent language.

Mr GARDNER: Grazie mille.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No—thank you! Oh, what a charmer! Member for Florey.