Community Health Onkaparinga

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (15:28): I rise today to speak about the work of Community Health Onkaparinga, an important community group located in Christie Downs in our southern suburbs. This group focuses on engaging all community members and bringing them together to build their health and wellbeing in many different and often very creative ways. Amongst many other activities, they bring local people together through their renowned Wednesday night community dinners designed to include all community members and create social connection over healthy food.

Their creative and compassionate staff, Richard Schirmer and Elizabeth Becker, and their many, many generous volunteers understand how to nurture and empower community members to take charge of their physical, emotional and mental wellbeing. They are a much-loved presence also at many of the events in the south, particularly those focused on how we can work collectively as a local community to support our most vulnerable community members. They are masters at understanding how to collaborate and work well with so many other groups in our community.

Community Health Onkaparinga is currently doing incredible work at the coalface of our collective fight against the scourge of domestic violence, work that gives all community members an avenue to be active in this fight at the local level.

Community Health Onkaparinga, in partnership with Southern Domestic Violence Service, run an innovative project, Food for Freedom, which brings good nutritious food to women and children who are fleeing domestic violence. Food for Freedom takes healthy meals to women and children in crisis accommodation in our southern community several times a week. With crisis accommodation sometimes being motel rooms or quite basic, the work that they are doing is incredibly important and makes a real difference at what is generally the most difficult time for a woman who has gone through domestic violence and had to flee her home.

Women and children in these scenarios are unlikely to have access to cooking facilities and most often will have fled from violence with not much in the way of possessions. Kitchen equipment is certainly not a priority. Domestic violence victims who find themselves in these kinds of situations often have no choice but to accept a poor diet. There are often extreme limitations around finances and transportation. Additionally, women in crisis, for safety reasons, are often not able to move unrestricted in the community and, even if they are able to, may, sadly, be afraid to do so.

These factors combine to create a scenario where women and children are often left eating food which is not nutritious, is fast and easy, or can be prepared with limited kitchen facilities. Clearly, if this continues for any extended period of time, it will have negative health effects on the family.

I was proud to start collecting food for Community Health Onkaparinga's Food for Freedom program at my office just before Christmas and continue to do so. I am proud to be a supporter and invited community members to donate also. As always, I was inspired by the many local community members who took the time and used their resources to donate. Our community makes such a difference when we work together to support fellow community members when they most need that support. If any of my fellow parliamentarians would like to donate, I am sure their contributions would be most welcome.

At this point, the program aims to meet 50 per cent of the nutritional needs of women and children in crisis accommodation: a gigantic target that many people are involved in ensuring is achieved each and every week. As my colleagues know, I will always stand up alongside and for those who experience domestic violence and will advocate for organisations that are involved in assisting them or helping to prevent horrific occurrences of it in our community. I believe it is incredibly important for all of us to take personal ownership over this issue and do whatever we can to ensure we are supporting those who experience it.

As mentioned, Community Health Onkaparinga, through Food for Freedom, delivers fresh nutritious meals up to three times a week to women in crisis scenarios. They are doing crucial work that I have pleasure in recognising and acknowledging on behalf of our community. I am proud to advocate for their work here and in all other forums, and would like to place on the record my sincere thanks and support for Community Health Onkaparinga and Southern Domestic Violence Service, not just for the work they do through Food for Freedom, but for the work they do each and every day to make a difference in our beautiful southern community.

While putting on record my thanks for their incredibly important work, I would also like to thank Amy Feldman for her work on this speech during her work experience in my office. Thank you, Amy. Thank you for being such an extraordinary young woman, who impresses me in so many different ways through your cleverness, kindness and compassion, your grasp of issues and how they affect people, and your willingness to work on them. Thank you also for your incredible public speaking ability, which I saw through the Rostrum Voice of Youth in this house.

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