Hopgood Theatre

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (15:27): I rise today to talk about a matter of huge importance to my local community and our broader southern community. The Hopgood Theatre has long been a much-loved, integral and crucial arts community and social hub. The theatre is rightly named after Dr Don Hopgood, a former local member for our area and former deputy premier, and his late wife, Raelene, for their considerable service to our community, our state and the arts.

Our beautiful state has a rich and diverse arts sector. The arts have played such a strong role in our history, and the Hopgood Theatre and the art that is brought to life within its walls must play an innovative, strong and creative role in our future. The arts play a significant role in all our lives and in the fabric of our community. The arts bring us together, allow us to explore bold ideas, pique our curiosity and create excitement. The arts give voice to emotion and experience, enable us to examine and shift our attitudes on the issues we confront, and they open our minds and fill our hearts.

Performance is a platform for people from every background and of differing abilities, ages, cultures and gender. It includes all and explores all, and the Hopgood is an exemplar of doing just that. For more than three decades, the Hopgood has brought local people and visitors together through the arts and in so many other ways. It is a fully equipped, multipurpose arts centre and year after year it accommodates a diverse range of events.

It is truly shocking for me to let the house know that the Hopgood is now at risk of losing its funding, state government funding, which had been consistent to this point and has enabled the Hopgood to house more than 100 community groups every year and host tens of thousands of community members for a plethora of events which have shaped individual memories and added to the rich fabric of life in our southern community. Should this cruel funding cut proceed, it will speak volumes about those opposite and about what and whom they do and do not value.

Our community is outraged that this valuable institution at the heart of our community is threatened. But, make no mistake, our community is rallying and they are deeply determined to save Hopgood so that generations to come can continue to perform, to gather and to create life-lasting memories there. So many groups use the theatre to support their activities, from Christies Beach High School and countless other schools for their graduations, to the council for citizenship ceremonies, to groups like the True Heights Dance Company, who performed there just a few weeks ago.

One of their young performers, Jenna Turner, said of this experience, 'Performing at Hopgood Theatre gives me a chance to build my confidence in dancing and to be with my friends.' Her mother, Kate, added, 'We really need to keep our theatre in the south. It would be such a devastating loss to our local community and would mean ticket prices for our families will rise.' These experiences are what our community will fight for until those opposite value our southern community, value the arts and value what our Hopgood Theatre means to so many.

Pages and pages of our petition are being returned to my electorate office. We cannot print them fast enough. People who love the arts, who love gathering at the theatre, who have watched their loved ones tread the boards, and those who simply can see how unjust this cut in funding would be, are clamouring for information about our community meeting next Thursday at 7pm. I hope to see the members opposite whose communities use the theatre attend to see for themselves how angry their constituents are.

I am so proud of our community's resolve, and together with my fellow southern MPs and our shadow arts minister we will fight alongside them for as long as it takes for Hopgood to be saved. Together, we will send a message to this out-of-touch government, a message that the arts matter, that our community venue matters and that every single person who performs, or speaks there or cheers on a loved one, matters.

I pass on my thanks to Harry Dewar and others from the Save the Hopgood group for their determination and hard work so far. He and others have led the charge, and I am certain they will continue to do so with us and thousands of members of our community by their side every step of the way. We cannot and will not sit by and let this happen, and the government should take notice of the growing momentum and voice from the south to save our Hopgood.

I urge the government to commit to ongoing funding and lease arrangements to ensure that the Hopgood can continue in the long term for the benefit of our community. I thank every community member for what they have created at our Hopgood for the past three decades, and I look forward to working with our community to create more memories for the future.