Royal Society for the Blind

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:22): This morning, it was my pleasure to co-host with the member for Morphett a morning tea for the Royal Society for the Blind (RSB), and I thank Andrew Daly for his invitation to visit the Black Road facilities of the Royal Society which led me to this invitation. I would also like to thank all the MPs and MLCs who attended to meet the dogs in training and the RSB personnel: David Matthews was handling Lily, a male German Shepherd (I do not know why he is called Lily; maybe it means female, who knows?) who is 22 months of age; Daisy Holt handled Iden, a male labrador golden retriever cross who is two years old; and Chris Muldoon handled Xion, a male golden retriever who is 12 weeks of age. I would also like to thank Diana Swanson and her team.

The Royal Society for the Blind is responsible for many great services for the vision impaired, and I had the experience of walking an obstacle course with a trained guide dog recently, and their value, if ever I had doubted it, was totally reinforced. A guide dog costs about $25,000 to train, and they are in much demand because of the independence they give their owners. The Royal Society is to be congratulated on the wide range of help they provide, and I call on all members to get behind their fundraising activities.

One of the groups that uses the Black Road facilities is the Blind Bowlers Association. It has been my honour to be the patron of the South Australian Blind Bowling Association for many years. We will be hosting the national championships in 2015 at the Salisbury Bowling Club, and I put on record my thanks to the Salisbury Bowling Club for their assistance over many years. It will be a great event, so I urge all here to get behind blind bowling in South Australia. Just as walking blindfolded with a dog is a valuable insight to a life with vision impairment, so too is watching blind bowlers in action. The South Australian Parliamentary Bowlers might be interested in getting involved and perhaps even supporting blind bowlers financially.

Our South Australian team did very well in this year's nationals in Perth. Brian Cameron and Kath Murrell won gold in the B2 mixed pairs. Neil Cundey and Marilyn Koch won silver in the B2 mixed pairs. Neil Cundey and Brian Cameron won bronze in the B2 men's pairs. Mary Nichols won bronze in the B3 ladies single. Martyn Lovejoy and Graham McLean, who was from Western Australia, won bronze in the B4 men's pairs.

So well done to everybody mentioned and all other competitors who were not able to win awards during the tournament. Thanks also to Doreen Smith, the team manager, and all the directors who make bowling and other sports possible for the vision impaired. It cannot be done without someone who is sighted to give them a hand.

I would also like to report on an event I attended for the Minister for Sport and Recreation on 14 June. The Eye 2 Eye Gala Ball at the Stamford Grand, Glenelg, is the Blind Sporting Council’s main fundraiser. President Bradley Jansen and his hardworking board are assisted by many sponsors, the major sponsors on the night being Workskil, the Stamford Grand, Foodland Pasadena and Munno Para, and the wonderful Fox Creek winery. Entertainment was provided by the Borderers, great musicians and contributors to the South Australian community. The wines of the evening were introduced by Paul Rogers from Fox Creek, and their involvement in community activities is legendary in South Australia.

Presentations on the night—the Workskil Australia Perpetual Trophy for 2014 was presented by Nicole Dwyer, CEO of Workskil, and I had the pleasure to award the 2014 Hall of Fame trophy to winner, Dennis Lorenzo, so congratulations to him.

The major auction on the night, and there was a silent auction as well, was carried out by Victor Velgush, principal of the Refined Real Estate group. I would also like to give a special thanks to Rajini Vasan, the CEO of the Blind Sporting Council, and her staff and volunteers. They did a marvellous job and they are very enthusiastic and dedicated.

The Blind Sporting Council exists to finance recreation, sport and associated projects to ensure blind and vision-impaired people of all ages have opportunities to fulfil their dreams. Their charity partners are the Royal Society for the Blind, Guide Dogs South Australia and Northern Territory, the Epilepsy Centre, Euride Cycling Excellence, Youthinc and BSA.

It is marvellous to be able to support blind sporting people. As I said earlier, until you try to put yourself in their shoes, you do not realise the difficulties that they have and the extra costs that they incur to take part in sport. It is through events such as the Eye 2 Eye Ball, run by the Blind Sporting Council, that those funds can be raised. It is not possible just with raffles and going to the same community people all the time to fund the necessary expenditure to enable blind and vision-impaired people to travel interstate to give them the wide sporting experiences that they deserve. I commend everybody involved in the Blind Sporting Council and blind sports groups in South Australia and urge members to get behind them.