Colton Electorate

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (15:24): I want to take this opportunity to speak about some of the wonderful work that several local community groups have undertaken in the electorate of Colton over the last few months. In every electorate across the state, we have many local community groups and sporting clubs that work hard to give back to the community. I am certainly fortunate enough, and we in the western suburbs are fortunate enough, to have several community groups that do this and I wanted to take the opportunity to recognise a couple of them that I have recently had the opportunity and pleasure of visiting over the past couple of months.

A group that is relatively new to the electorate of Colton is the Henley Dunes Care Group. This group was formed by Lisa Redman and Bernadette Cranwell in May earlier this year for the purpose of revegetating the fragile sand dunes between Henley Square and the Torrens Outlet. The sole purpose of this group is to help stabilise the dunes, reduce erosion and educate the community on how we can better protect the sensitive dune network. The group currently operates with support from several volunteers in the community and also the City of Charles Sturt, the Western Adelaide Coastal Residents' Association, Friends of the Tennyson Dunes, Trees For Life and Landcare South Australia.

The first planting day for the group was held at 10am on Sunday 24 June where over 200 native plants were planted by locals to revegetate the dunes. I joined 20 other volunteers on that day over a couple of hours. We planted our way along the dunes. We were also joined by volunteers of the Our Coast, Our Mission team who cleaned up nearly five large bags of rubbish which had been discarded carelessly by people visiting the beach. I enjoyed the morning. It was great to get out there in the sun. It was still a little chilly at that stage but great to do just a little bit to help stabilise the very fragile dune network that we have along our coast.

However, the following weekend on 1 July there was a second planting day which was very well attended. More volunteers turned up and it was a testament to the Henley Dunes Care Group and the valuable work that they are coordinating. It was also a great pleasure to see the Mayor of Charles Sturt, Angela Evans, also come along on that day and help out. The Henley Dunes Care Group are continuing their revegetation and care work and are always looking for extra hands to come along and help out. There is absolutely no experience necessary. It is a great way to get out into the fresh air and do your bit to help protect our precious dunes.

I would urge members of my community to get on Facebook and follow the Henley Dunes Care Group Facebook page and get along to their next care day. I would also like to congratulate, on behalf of the community, Lisa Redman and Bernadette Cranwell on their hard work so far. They are doing an excellent job with over 1,000 plants having been planted and it is going to go a long way in re-establishing and stabilising the dunes.

More recently, I also had the opportunity to attend the Fulham United Football Club senior presentation night where I was able to present the club with their Active Club grant certificate. The Fulham United Football Club was established in 1970 and I am advised that it is South Australia's second largest football club with over 450 registered players. The presentation night was held at the Adelaide Pavilion on South Terrace. I had a great time there taking the opportunity to hear about the successful season that the club had and to congratulate the major award winners on the night.

As I have said before, sporting clubs like these cannot run on their own. It takes a lot of hard work, commitment and many voluntary hours and support to sustain a successful local club. From what I have seen, the Fulham United Football Club are very fortunate to have a fantastic volunteer base and membership base and are well supported by the community. President Arthur Labrosciano and the rest of the committee certainly have the club heading in a very positive direction.

I urge people in my community who may have children who are interested in taking up soccer to get in touch with the club. They are now currently accepting junior boys' and junior girls' registrations. I would also like to take this opportunity to again congratulate the club on their season. Both their teams remained in their respective divisions, which was a fantastic result, taking a step up to Premier 1 for the men's team. I look forward to getting along to a few more games next season. I am proud to have so many of these wonderful sporting groups and community groups within the Colton electorate and look forward to continuing to support them in my role as their local MP.