National Volunteer Week

Mr BOYER (Wright) (15:26): I rise to speak about volunteers. More specifically, many members in this place will know that last week was National Volunteer Week, which is a very special occasion when we all get a chance to acknowledge the work that volunteers do in our areas. I think as members of this place we are privileged in the sense that we get to see in great detail and up close just how important volunteers are to a range of community groups in our areas. There are a few in particular in the seat of Wright and the surrounds I would like to mention today.

National Volunteer Week kicked off for me with a morning tea for volunteers at The Heights School. I should acknowledge that we have the member for Florey in the chamber at the moment, who has long been a very strong supporter of The Heights School in many regards, including the observatory and Pedal Prix, I think, as well.

Ms Bedford: And my children went there.

Mr BOYER: Her children went there as well, she reminds me. I am certainly reminded every time I go to The Heights of how popular the member for Florey is there, and I am doing my best to offer the same kind of support and advocacy that the member for Florey gave them over all those years.

There are a few special things that The Heights School does that are actually quite different from things that are done in other schools around South Australia. One that came into very close focus for us last week was a Stargazing Live event that was held at The Heights School, which has an observatory on site, in conjunction with the Astronomical Society of South Australia, the Australian National University and the ABC.

I was fortunate enough to go along with my eldest daughter, Evelyn, who is four years of age. She was very excited. The staff there took us into the observatory, and it was pretty magical to watch the look on my daughter's face when the roof automatically moved back and the big telescope was there. She had a chance to look at the moon through the telescope. It really brought home to me how important something like this is at our educational institutions and our high schools. It provides kids who go to our public high schools opportunities that they would not ordinarily have.

The stargazing event, for those who did not see it in the media, was a huge success. It was organised in an attempt to break a Guinness World Record for the most people continually watching the moon through a telescope for a period of 10 minutes. The previous record, I am informed, was 7,960 people at the same time watching the moon through a telescope. The exact number this time has not been confirmed yet, but it has been confirmed that it is a new world record because there were over 40,000 people this time, around Australia, all watching the moon through a telescope at the same time. I thought it was fantastic.

There was a range of people with different skill sets and experience levels in terms of astronomy. There were some very large telescopes with people who are professionals in this matter right down to some very small, cheap telescopes that people had brought along to give their children an opportunity to use one for the first time. Earlier, I briefly mentioned Pedal Prix. The Heights School competes in the Pedal Prix super series as well—

Mr Pederick: Hear, hear!

Mr BOYER: Exactly right—and I know from my own personal experience because my brother competed in the Murray Bridge race many years ago when he was in high school and we travelled across with my parents from Portland to participate. It was a fantastic thing, but like all great things that happen at our schools the extracurricular activities require volunteers to make them happen, just like the observatory does. It is the same with Pedal Prix. It involves parents and supporters putting in a lot of hours of their own time, outside work hours and on weekends, to take kids along and to do all the work that it takes to get these amazing vehicles up to scratch to compete in events such as the one that occurs at Murray Bridge.

There were also a couple of Biggest Morning Teas that were held last week that I was fortunate enough to go to, to raise money for the Cancer Council. I would like to mention one that I was particularly impressed with, and that was at the Surrey Downs Primary School. An amazing spread of food was put on, and there was a huge turnout of teachers, staff, governing council members and parents and they raised an enormous amount of money. It also gave us all an opportunity to go along and see how the construction on the STEM laboratory is going, which the previous government funded, which will be fantastic for the school. It should be open later this year, along with a couple of projects out of Fund My Neighbourhood that the school was also successful in getting, which is recycled water for their oval and a new nature play space as well.