Kadina Football Club

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (15:22): I rise today to talk about the recent SANFL game held at the Kadina football oval as part of the Indigenous Round. It was played on Sunday 15 July in front of a crowd of about 2,000—over 2,000 people came through the gates at the Kadina Football Club. As members of this place would be aware, the Adelaide Crows SANFL team plays one game per year in the regions, as they do not have a home ground to host teams. Fortunately, this year, we were able to secure that game in Kadina. During my time on the Kadina Football Club committee, we were lobbying to host that game but, alas, the moons did not align and we had to wait until this year, a year after I left that committee.

I congratulate the president of the Kadina Football Club, Neville Hibbard; the secretary, Dean Flowers; and the entire committee on securing that game at the Kadina Football Club. They deserve many accolades for getting that game there, and they also deserve congratulations for the presentation of the oval and the clubrooms. Both came up a treat on the day, and there were many compliments from the visiting clubs about the quality of our facilities and the practicalities of our change rooms, which are relatively new as well.

I also say a special thankyou to the manager of the tinny bar on the hill at Kadina Football Club, Jack Campaign, who serviced what must have been one of the most significant crowds that has ever visited the Kadina Football Club. I made sure I popped up there to see how that service was tracking, and it was quite efficient and I was well serviced while up there. Well done to Jack looking after all those people.

At the game, we also had a wonderful lunch, which was organised by Mathew East and Tom Rosewarne from the footy club committee. Just over 130 people attended the lunch and enjoyed a Q&A session with the coach of the Port Adelaide Magpies, Matthew Lokan, local lad and Crows ruckman Sam Jacobs and Crows coach, Don Pyke.

I offer my thanks to the two clubs for the access they provided those people at the lunch. It was a remarkable and earnest open dialogue between those three gentlemen who answered all questions honestly and openly to the people in attendance, with perhaps only one exception being the Crows' pre-season camp which they were still a bit guarded about. Don and Sam were a little bit guarded about that.

It was an extraordinary job by the volunteers of the Kadina Football Club who produced a number of breakfasts for the media staff and outside-of-town ground staff who got there in the morning, then 130 two-course lunches for the people who attended that lunch, and then they followed that up with lasagne for every player to eat after they finished playing and before they set off home. To Nat Bruce, Roylene Schild and everyone else who volunteered in that capacity, I say thank you.

It was fitting that the game was hosted in Kadina this year because the brand-new Copper Coast Sport and Leisure Centre has recently been completed and will be officially opened by the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Michael McCormack, tomorrow afternoon. I am very thankful that at this stage the member for Playford, the Opposition Whip, has granted me a pair to attend that important community event, so I say thank you to him.

I also think it is worth acknowledging the former minister for sport and recreation, the member for Mawson, and the former minister for education, the member for Port Adelaide, for the contributions that their respective departments made towards the cost of this project. It is just over a $10 million project to get this new facility up and running and the state government, through various outlets, contributed almost $3 million which the community is very thankful for. I am looking forward to getting to that important community event tomorrow and running through the opening with the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia.

The President of the Yorke Valley Basketball Association, Mike Newton, has had this vision for a while and got the ball rolling with a meeting some years ago with the Copper Coast Council. Mayor Paul Thomas has been providing wonderful support for the project ever since. Dean Angus, the former principal of Kadina Memorial High School, also got on board early and the Kadina Memorial High School ended up contributing half a million dollars towards the cost of the project. Thanks to the fine work of some of these local people, we now have an enviable facility which hosts a number of sports in our local community.

We have a state-of-the-art gym with a weight room, group exercise room and cardio room, which is well used by the local people who like to keep fit. We have a pool for fitness and hydrotherapy, newly sealed tennis courts and, in my opinion, the crown jewel of the facility, the new basketball stadium complete with four well-lit spring-loaded basketball courts, which I can personally attest to being of a wonderful standard after having played basketball this past winter and intermittently this summer. I am looking forward to getting to the event tomorrow night. I want to congratulate everyone involved in the new $10 million facility at the Copper Coast, as well as the people involved in the SANFL game held during the Indigenous Round at Kadina Oval a few weekends ago.