Fund My Neighbourhood

Ms DIGANCE (Elder) (15:38): Today, I rise to speak on the community-based statewide Fund My Neighbourhood project, which in my experience was welcomed by all those I spoke with from right across South Australia. They viewed it as a great opportunity to have their projects funded in their local communities, and if this time they missed out they viewed it as a really good community awareness raising exercise so they could garner future support when seeking funding.

I am delighted today to highlight the eight successful projects within the electorate of Elder and the surrounding areas, all with the focal point of supporting and building community, a function I am extremely passionate about. The projects are as follows. First is a basketball court upgrade at Trinity Baptist Church in Colonel Light Gardens. Trinity Baptist Church is an amazing community hub that caters for all ages, and there are basketball courts there that are used freely by the community during daylight hours. Many hundreds of different people from the surrounding suburbs use these courts daily. The resurfacing of these courts will make this a safer place for people of all ages to remain fit and active, playing all sorts of sports, including basketball.

Recently, I was pleased when doorknocking in the area to drop by when a holiday program was underway with well over 100 children in attendance, enjoying both indoor and outdoor fun supplied by a group of committed volunteer adults. Another project is in Hawthorn at the Westbourne Park Uniting Church in Sussex Street. They called their project Crafty Chairs, which is an innovative way to get support for freestanding chairs to replace the non-stackable pews that are presently in place. Currently, about 260 people from the local and broader community attend the Thursday craft activities at the Westbourne Park Uniting Church. They decided that having stackable chairs, 200 of them in fact, would free up the space and be able to help them make different configurations in this area to facilitate the building of community and enjoying each other's company while doing craft.

Another really well-supported project was Mortlock Oval BBQ Community Space in Colonel Light Gardens. Local resident, Jim, was an absolutely passionate proponent of this project, ensuring that the community got behind the fact that they needed a barbecue area, picnic benches, lighting and toilet facilities. Jim letterboxed the area tirelessly and extensively and made sure there were many conversations on this particular project. Mortlock Oval is a beautiful open space, a great playground and bike track. It is next door to Colonel Light Gardens Primary School where children use this oval constantly. It is well frequented by people from all over the area, not just those local to Colonel Light Gardens. Ultimately, when people get there with their families, they are searching for toilet facilities, so this will be welcome in the area.

Kaz, another amazing local person, spearheaded a campaign for the Edwardstown Primary School to gain funding for a Nature Play playground on the grounds of the Edwardstown Primary School. She tirelessly walked the suburb, letterboxing while walking with her baby in the pusher. She promoted this amazing project and was successful in gaining the funding to make sure that they get the funding for the water play, sandpit, large rocks and everything else needed for a Nature Play playground. Well done to Kaz. What an amazing community person.

Hawthorn was another winner at Price Memorial Oval where the project was called Project Fun. The locals got behind this project to make sure that playgrounds and park spaces will be transformed to engage the play space for outdoor fun and to encourage children to stay active, be active, engage and enjoy the social activity. Well done to those local residents of Hawthorn who got behind this particular project.

Finally, three last things: Hawthorn Bowling Club gained funding for shade, shelter and irrigation with the shade to encourage older people to stay engaged in sport; St Mary's Food Bank, sponsored by Edwardstown Baptist Church, gained extra funding to provide the support they needed to ensure those in need in the local area receive food and goods, as the bank builds a designated place to give out their goods to those who need it; and also we will see toilets at Avenue Road playground and skate park in Cumberland Park which is a really well-used park by all ages of the community. Congratulations to all projects that were awarded funding, and I look forward to working with all of you to see these ventures come to fruition, enriching our community.