Mitchell Electorate

Mr WINGARD (Mitchell) (15:30): I rise today to speak about the weekend in my community. It is interesting that we are here today talking about the electricity crisis and the jobs crisis created by this state Labor government. Funnily enough, that was the key topic at the supermarket where I started my weekend on Saturday morning.

The electricity crisis in South Australia, and the debacle this state Labor government has got us into, was a very hot topic indeed. We have seen the glossy brochure the Premier and his colleagues are carrying around, and that brochure is really an admission that, after 15 years of this state Labor government, they have created an absolute mess for all South Australians, including of course on 28 September last year when, as we remember, we became known as the blackout state.

In relation to our jobs crisis, people were coming up to me and asking, 'Where are the jobs in South Australia?' They were pleading for jobs, in fact. Again, under this state Labor government we have had more than two years of being at the bottom of the table, if you like. We have had the highest unemployment rate in the nation on trend for more than two years, and it was quite sad to hear people talking about that. We do need change in this state, and the state Liberal team is the team to take us forward.

Over the weekend, there were a couple of school fetes in my electorate; one was at Christ the King, where Liz Keogh is the principal. She does a wonderful job with the school community as well. I must say that the school fetes in my local area are very much part of the school community, and the families and people associated who do all the work putting them together need to be commended. Westminster also had its fair and Grant Bock, who is the acting principal, helped rally the troops. That is a wonderful school community, and they are doing great things in their local area.

After that, I went to the netball at St Joseph's Netball Club where my daughter plays and where they had a sausage sizzle. I offered to help, but they had it all under control. They also had an Easter raffle. I did actually help with the sausage sizzle: I ate more than my share, so I was putting back in that respect. The St Joseph's Netball Club does a wonderful job in our community, and all the players out there do an absolutely sterling job.

Sunday was also a great day. We had the 17^th annual Teddy Bears Picnic, which was held at Bowker Street Oval for the very first time. It was hosted by the Brighton Kiwanis, who do a marvellous job. I was there with my colleague the member for Bright and we had a great time. He brought along a friend with his teddy bears, and the kids were out having a wonderful time. I had the opportunity to meet a couple of kids, Lachlan and Hayden, and we were playing a bit of football. People said that a football is not really a teddy bear, but these two young boys probably took their football to bed much like I did, so in effect their football was their teddy bear for the day.

We had a great time at Bowker Street Oval—a wonderful reserve that is used by all the community—raising money by gold coin donation for HeartKids. The Kiwanis are doing lots of wonderful work and putting into our community. Some awards were given out (some of which the member for Bright and I had the opportunity to judge) for the most loved teddy, the most senior teddy, the best dressed teddy, the smallest teddy and the best non-teddy, and the one that really stood out was the most senior teddy. A lot of the young children had their teddies with them and we were calculating their age—some teddy bears were as old as eight years old or seven years old and one was nine years old. When we accumulated all the ages, we could not beat the eventual winner, Marjorie Trott, whose teddy was 86 years old.

Marjorie got this teddy when she was three years old, and it is now 86 years old, which is absolutely fantastic, so no-one got within a bull's roar of Marjorie. She won the prize for the most senior teddy, and she was elated when her son came to pick her up. She had wanted to come to this event for a number of years, so when she got the flyer in her letterbox she thought, 'I'm going to go this year because I reckon I've got the most senior teddy covered,' and she certainly did. Congratulations to her—it was great to see her there. There were also plenty of other fun activities and all in all it was a great day. It is wonderful being out in the community being involved in those projects.

From there, we went to the aquatic centre for the Australian Age Diving Championships. Ken Rose is in charge of Diving SA in South Australia. It was great to see more than 160 youngsters from all over Australia and New Zealand competing, and some of them were nine and 10 years of age. Watching them going off the three-metre diving board and the springboards, what they could do made your mind boggle and your jaw drop. It was great to be part of this fantastic initiative, and we wish the kids all the best. I know they really enjoyed being at the aquatic centre and being a part of the Australian Age Diving Championships here in South Australia.