Kaurna Electorate

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (15:30): Today, I would particularly like to note some of the anniversaries of community groups in the Kaurna electorate that have happened over the past couple of months. It has been great to see a number of anniversaries going back and celebrating some hard work that has happened across these clubs. I will start from the oldest and go to the youngest.

This year is the 100^th anniversary of the Port Noarlunga Primary School, which is a very popular and well-regarded primary school in my electorate. It is also where the state aquatics program is run. Many members of the house may have partaken of this in their primary school days. This school has recently had significant upgrades funded by this government, improving a lot of the facilities, classrooms and offices, and it was opened by the member for Wright when she was the education minister. It is a very popular place for people to send their children. It is having its 100^th anniversary this year and will have a celebration day with an associated fete on 22 October. I will be happy to take part in that.

We have also seen the 50^th anniversary of the Rotary Club of Noarlunga, which has provided huge support for the community in my electorate and across the south over those 50 years. We recently had a celebration for its contribution to the southern suburbs. It is a small club with not a huge number of members, but they all punch above their weight in contributing. I always credit them with the huge amount of work that they do with schoolchildren in the area, particularly people at Christies Beach High School, connecting them with a range of different Rotary programs and sponsoring them to go to different programs both across the state and around the country.

Some of those students were at the celebration day and able to talk about the impact Rotary had had in helping them with their development. I particularly pay credit to the current President, Mark Simpson, as well as some of the previous presidents I have had the pleasure of working with, Alan Nelson, Dini Wyatt, Sue Curtis and others who were there. I had the pleasure of being with the member for Reynell and the local mayor at that celebration. As well as their contribution to a range of the international programs Rotary runs, I am sure there are many more years that the club will continue to pay dividends for the southern suburbs.

I was also recently at the 30^th anniversary of the Aldinga Bay Bowling Club, a very proud bowling club that plays in the Southern and South Coast League of Bowls Clubs. Luckily for me, I have no other bowling club in that league, so I can be very supportive of that club. They are called the Dolphins, for anyone who is not aware. Full credit goes to a number of the people who put on a fantastic day to celebrate that anniversary, including the President, Carol Huxtable, as well as people on the committee and other members, such as Liz Watton, Sandra Rudman, Ron Dearing, Margaret Smith, Ric Griffith and many others who were there.

I had the pleasure of being there with Amanda Rishworth, the member for Kingston, as well as councillors Hazel Wainwright and Gail Kilby and, of course, the mayor. They gave me the honour of the first bowl of the season, which is always a high-pressure moment for a local MP.

An honourable member: How did you go?

Mr PICTON: Straight into the gutter, but I got the second bowl as well—

An honourable member: It was too strong.

Mr PICTON: It was too strong, but the second bowl was very good and they credited me. The green was a little bit faster than I was expecting but, once I corrected myself, it was all fine. The fourth anniversary I would like to pay tribute to is that of the Seaford Ecumenical Mission, which turned 20 years old this year. This is a very unique institution in South Australia, if not across the world, that brings together five Christian churches under the one roof. The Lutheran Church, the Catholic Church, the Church of Christ, the Anglican Church and the Uniting Church all come together at Seaford to use the same facilities, and the facilities are also used by the local health services.

We had a great celebration day, paying tribute to the work that has been done over those 20 years, not just the worshipping and the community connections that were made in that building but also a lot of the work that those parishioners do out in the community. There are events such as community dinners, where people can buy dinner at a very low cost, and there is also an op shop and other facilities provided. There is some doubt about the future of this facility, and I call upon all of those churches to work together to ensure that that service can continue in the future because I think it is a great credit to the community.