SALISBURY AUSTRALIA DAY FAMILY PICNIC

Ms BETTISON (Ramsay) (15:39): I rise today to share with the house a fabulous Australia Day event: the Salisbury Australia Day family picnic held on Saturday 26 January. This is a long-term tradition in the Salisbury area, and I can say it was with great joy that I was able to share it with my constituents and the wider Salisbury community. It is held at Carisbrooke Reserve, and presented by the Rotary Club of Salisbury and the Parafield Gardens Community Club. It is a tradition that the Rotary Club provides a free breakfast barbeque, and might I say, they do quite a good fried egg and bacon sandwich.

The key part about the family picnic is the emphasis on family. For a start, it was an alcohol-free family event, and a free community bus was available on the hour to and from the Salisbury Interchange. There was a focus on face painting and sandpit play—which, I have to say, was the most popular event; there was a great big pile of sand with some buckets and spades, and you would think we had brought the beach to Salisbury. In addition, there were rides and the baby animal zoo (which was actually quite popular).

While we were there to have fun, there were formalities; of course, we had the traditional flag-raising ceremony and, most importantly, the announcement of the City of Salisbury Australia Day Awards. I would like to congratulate the Citizen of the Year, Alan Peucker, who used his decade-long time as principal of Mawson Lakes School to maximise the use of information communication technology in learning, which was incorporated into the planning of Mawson Lakes primary school.

We also heard from the Young Citizen of the Year, Crystal Vas. Crystal has been a member of the Salisbury Youth Council for the past four years, is considered to be a person of outstanding leadership skills, and was noted particularly for her contribution to the 'Make time to report crime' campaign, which focused on safety for young people at the Salisbury Interchange. The other formality on the day was a citizenship ceremony, of which we have many in Salisbury—this is probably the third one in four months. We had 120 people become Australian citizens on Australia Day.

I particularly enjoy citizenship ceremonies, mainly because you get to look at the diversity of new people coming to Australia. We celebrated with new citizens from as far afield as the United Kingdom, India, Afghanistan, China, Cambodia, the Philippines and Bhutan. In the City of Salisbury, 27.5 per cent of people (which is just under 36,000) were born overseas but, most significantly, 20 per cent of these people have arrived in Australia within the last five years. What we are seeing is a real enrichment of our population in Salisbury, and a growing diversity among the constituents that I represent.

One of the best parts of the family fun day is the entertainment provided. I must say that it is like old times with the Salisbury City Band and the Para Hills Band, who play many classics from through the ages. We saw people joining in, along with friends and family. We had entertainment from East (a Cold Chisel tribute band), and the Burundian Drummers. If you ever see the Burundian Drummers, it is something you will never forget; they are very entertaining. It is wonderful that entire family groups of Burundians can participate. Traditionally, the men play the drums, but we also have dancing, which involves women and children as well.

Also performing on the day were the Old Gum Tree-O, Jordan Ruru—who I saw graduate from Salisbury High School last year, and who is an absolutely fantastic singer; I am sure we will see her on Australian Idol, X Factor, or one of those other fantastic shows in the near future—and the band Kinman Karma. As we know, these types of family events only happen when other people provide sponsorship, and I would really like to thank the City of Salisbury, Salisbury Town Centre Association, Parafield Airport, Bendigo Bank, O'Brien & Co Accountants and the Old Spot Hotel for their wonderful contributions to what was a really fabulous day.