House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1) 52 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Duke of Edinburgh's Award DUKE OF EDINBURGH'S AWARD The Hon. S.W. KEY House of Assembly Ashford DUKE OF EDINBURGH'S AWARD The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (14:44): My question is directed to the Minister for Youth. Minister, could you update the house on how the government is supporting young, disadvantaged and vulnerable South Australians to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award program? Ms Chapman House of Assembly Ms Chapman: Not in Port Augusta, she's not! The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. G. PORTOLESI House of Assembly Hartley Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation Minister for Multicultural Affairs Minister for Youth Minister for Volunteers Minister Assisting the Premier in Social Inclusion The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers, Minister Assisting the Premier in Social Inclusion) (14:44): I am delighted to inform the house of the remarkable achievements of 21 young South Australians who were very recently (on Thursday 26 May) presented with the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards by His Excellency the Governor. Members in this place would be familiar with the Duke's program, which is a personal challenge for its young participants, allowing them to gain very important life skills, increase their self-confidence, develop connections with their communities and gain SACE credits. The Gold Award is a wonderful achievement, there is no question about that, and it was this year in particular for one young man, James Wagner, who is the first Duke of Edinburgh Awards participant to achieve the honour from the Reach Your Dreams program. The Reach Your Dreams program is important because it facilitates young disadvantaged and vulnerable South Australians to participate in the Duke's Award. We do this by providing organisations with a grant of up to about $400 per individual to assist them in competing for this award. I would just like to take a couple of minutes to outline the achievements of this young man. James, who is about 18 years old, undertook a very diverse and ambitious program to achieve his Gold Award. It included being a peer group mentor at Operation Flinders, a team member of the Curramulka, Minlaton, Stansbury (CMS) Crows football team on the Yorke Peninsula, a participant in the One and All youth tall ships sailing development program, school leadership roles and involvement in the Kokoda Youth Leadership Challenge. This would be an amazing achievement for anyone, let alone someone as young as James, and I am sure members would join me in congratulating him and, in fact, all of the 21 participants on their achievements.