House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1) 52 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Grievance Debate Harmony Day HARMONY DAY Mr ODENWALDER House of Assembly Little Para Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (15:48): On the weekend, I had the great opportunity to represent the Premier at the City of Salisbury's Harmony Day celebrations and the official launch of the city's Salisbury Link: Coming Together Through Sport project, which aims to support newly arrived families to engage in recreational and sporting activities and provide support to local sporting clubs to break down the barriers to participation in their club's activities. It was a rainy day on Sunday and crowds were light on at first but the city's multicultural community eventually came out in force. The day started in particularly stirring fashion with cultural displays of drumming and dancing from the city's growing Sierra Leone community. It was very impressive. As I said, the new Salisbury Link program is an initiative aimed at linking northern migrants with sporting clubs to help them better connect with others in the community. The City of Salisbury has become home to more than 2,000 settlement arrivals; that is, people intending to settle in Australia, over the last six or seven years. The number of settlement arrivals to the City of Salisbury is only expected to grow due to the area being a target settlement area for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. The City of Salisbury clearly recognises sport as an integral part of its cultural identity and social infrastructure. Sport provides children in the north, and especially teenagers, an opportunity to improve their health and fitness, to achieve some degree of independence, to mix with people of similar ages and abilities and to develop long-lasting friendships. For young people who have arrived in the northern suburbs from overseas and whose first language is not English, sport can also provide an opportunity to integrate into mainstream Australian society. The program, funded by the federal government's Diversity and Social Cohesion Program, has paired over 100 migrants with seven clubs across the city; and earlier this year organised 'come and try days' where these migrants, largely from African countries like Sierra Leone, Sudan and Burundi, and also from Bhutan, were introduced to the various clubs and sports. These clubs, which should be recognised for their commitment to multiculturalism in our community, include the Ingle Farm Little Athletics Club, the Salisbury Karate Club, the Salisbury West Tigers Netball Club, the Salisbury Amateur Athletics Club, the Redbacks Basketball Club, the Para Hills Bowling Club and the Parafield Gardens Soccer and Sports Club. Over the coming three months these local clubs will be welcoming more families from new and emerging communities to try their particular sport. I commend the City of Salisbury; mayor Gillian Aldridge; Paul Zimny, the city sports development officer; Corey MacLean, Salisbury Link project officer; Linda Weiss, youth policy and project officer; Steve Davidson, cultural liaison officer; and Julie Fyfe, social development policy officer. It was also good to see the support lent to the City of Salisbury by other organisations like St John and particularly, and as usual, by the local SAPOL local service area. Senior Sergeant Mick Schooley, who is something of an institution in the north and who I know well, braved the weather to spend the day cooking a free barbecue for everyone involved. He spoke to me with his usual passion and enthusiasm about the LSA's blue light discos and the midnight basketball program, which is a great program and one which I know is actively supported by the member for Taylor. The midnight basketball program is so successful that there is now a waiting list to participate. The local police and the City of Salisbury have worked closely together over the years. It is a healthy relationship and it is good to see them working together to reach out to new arrivals. I also make the observation that in my own local community in the City of Playford, and from my association with several soccer clubs in the north in particular, I am really pleased that many clubs have made their own efforts to attract and integrate young new arrivals. Their addition to these teams, including of course the Playford City Patriots under 12s federation side, has been a real bonus. It is a commonplace observation that sport is a great vehicle for integration and breaking down barriers between communities. I know that this government has a similar commitment to the City of Salisbury in involving new arrivals in grassroots sport, both by way of direct grants to programs and by providing training and support for clubs and organisations to include people from multicultural backgrounds.