Eastern Adelaide Domestic Violence Service

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (15:12): I have no doubt that many, if not all, members in this place are regular attendees of quiz nights. I suspect many have organised quiz nights themselves, often for very good causes, but there are at times particularly deserving causes that you really cannot help but jump at the opportunity when they come by.

For a number of years, the member for Morialta has been organising an annual quiz night to raise funds for the Eastern Adelaide Domestic Violence Service. As someone who has attended several of these quiz nights in the past, I know that they are always highly enjoyable and, importantly, effective fundraising events for the EADVS. I was thrilled when, earlier this year, the member for Morialta approached me to ask whether I would be interested in joining him to co-host this year's event.

The EADVS is a crisis accommodation service that also provides domestic and family violence counselling and support services; educational programs and support groups for women and children; information and referral services for health, legal, financial, accommodation and immigration matters; assistance for women from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-English-speaking backgrounds; and access for women with disabilities.

As a number of members, including me, discussed yesterday, the prevalence of domestic violence in our community is unacceptably high and there are a number of measures that can be taken to reduce and eradicate it. One such measure is ensuring that community organisations that provide services to those affected by domestic violence are as well resourced as possible so that they can continue to provide their invaluable services to those who need them most.

The EADVS and its staff and volunteers do so much very good work throughout the eastern and north-eastern suburbs, so it was an absolute pleasure to help organise the quiz night that was held on 26 October at Sfera's Park Suites and Convention Centre in Modbury. The response from the local community in support of the event was overwhelming. We received so many donations for silent auction items and raffle prizes that I will not have enough time to list them all here today, but I wish to acknowledge and thank the many businesses and groups that made a donation to show their support for this event, from restaurants and cafes to wineries and hotels, podiatrists, pharmacies, nurseries, hairdressers, local clubs and many more.

I would like to thank the City of Tea Tree Gully for its donation of some Waterworld passes, as well as my parliamentary colleagues: the Speaker, the Hon. John Dawkins from the other place and the member for Florey. It was also great to have from the other place the Minister for Human Services, the Hon. Michelle Lensink, and the Hon. Tammy Franks from the Greens attend on the night, as well as the member for King and the member for Florey. I would particularly like to thank the social affairs editor from The Advertiser, Lauren Novak, for being a very entertaining and capable quiz master on the evening.

They all joined nearly 300 people who came along to show their support for EADVS by generously contributing to the nearly $8,000 that was raised for the service. I understand that this year's quiz night was one of the larger fundraising events for the EADVS and I am incredibly proud to have played a part in it. I am looking forward to visiting the EADVS soon to see how the money being raised is making a positive difference.

Of course, an event such as this cannot be successful without the hard work of a number of people, so in addition to the member for Morialta I would also like to acknowledge the staff from both of our offices, particularly my office manager, who spent many hours, including many hours of her own time, stressing over the quiz night and doing a lot of work to ensure that it would be the success that it was.