Motions

National Volunteer Week

Debate resumed.

Ms MICHAELS (Enfield) (12:20): I stand in support of the motion moved by the member for Hurtle Vale:

That this house—

(a) recognises National Volunteer Week 2019 from 20 to 26 May;

(b) acknowledges the valuable contribution that volunteers make to the economic and social wellbeing of local communities; and

(c) calls upon all South Australians to thank and show their appreciation to all volunteers in our community.

I also wish to acknowledge the wonderful work and valuable contribution of volunteers in our community, and I particularly want to acknowledge the wonderful volunteers in the electorate of Enfield. We have a number of fantastic groups that make a wonderful contribution to our community.

I particularly want to acknowledge a number of sporting groups that I have had the opportunity of visiting in the last month or so. I want to thank their coaches, their committee members, the barbecue chefs and a number of other volunteers who help around the various clubs, in particular the Broadview Football Club, the Kilburn Football and Cricket Club, the Ghan soccer club, the Enfield Tennis Club, the Enfield Harriers Athletics Club and of course the Little Athletics club—and they have a number of wonderful volunteers at Little Athletics.

I want to thank all the other sporting clubs that I will no doubt visit in the next few months with various presentations, particularly those that I have built a very good connection with already. I want to thank various other volunteers in my local electorate. We have fantastic church volunteers, school helpers, mums and dads who go to canteens and do reading at classes, RSL volunteers and a number of Neighbourhood Watch groups in my electorate as well, and they do wonderful work.

I want to particularly mention the Kilburn Community Centre and, in particular, a group of people there who run the Experience Cafe. The Experience Cafe won an Australia Day award in January. It is set up as a cafe to train people, so volunteers go there and get trained as baristas, chefs and waiters or waitresses, and it gives them an opportunity to learn skills to make them job ready. The fact that that cafe exists and is aimed at breaking the cycle of unemployment through volunteering I think is a fantastic thing for them to achieve. I want to thank Sophie, who is down there leading that group, and all the volunteers who are involved in the Experience Cafe.

I have personally been volunteering for many years in a number of organisations, mostly as a director or committee member, using my legal skills, in a number of not-for-profits. One I want to mention is Fearless Theatre, who do wonderful work teaching theatre to our youth, in particular migrants. Our last program was actually at the Cavan youth detention centre, and it was a huge success. That is a fantastic organisation, and I want to thank everyone else who volunteers with that organisation.

I am also a proud ambassador for Catherine House. Catherine House does fantastic work in providing accommodation and, more importantly, support services for women who find themselves homeless. Unfortunately, that organisation will be significantly impacted by the mental health funding cuts that will be announced in the 18 June budget by the Marshall Liberal government. However, there are a number of fantastic volunteers helping through Catherine House, and I am glad to be a part of that.

I stand here wholeheartedly supporting the motion by the member for Hurtle Vale. I wish to thank all the volunteers in my local community and more broadly. I support the motion.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE (Chaffey—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (12:25): I rise to support this very worthwhile motion. As they say, if you want to get a volunteer job done, ask a busy volunteer. That really does speak mountains about what volunteers are about. I can attest to volunteering over a number of years as a young fellow in my sporting clubs and with my kids, volunteering, coaching and working behind the bar as part of the support team.

Obviously, we know that volunteers are the backbone of all communities, whether they be metropolitan or regional. Volunteers are the fabric of what regional communities are, and regional communities rely on them. Volunteers almost breathe life support into many areas of our regional communities. By and large, we are small pockets of people who rely on the goodwill and generosity of those volunteers and the skills they learn and create along their journey. They are mentors, they are generous with their time and they are normally respected and given the title of 'good Samaritan'. As a regional person, it is no more evident.

I do not like to put values on what volunteering hours mean to society because volunteers do not do it for the money. Volunteers do it because they care. Volunteers do it because they want to and because they are part of a progressive community. I acknowledge we have a group of volunteers in the gallery today. They are here to be acknowledged, to have some form of acknowledgement for the kudos that they present to their communities or to their groups.

We know that, particularly in the regions, many sporting groups and sporting clubs would not exist without the goodwill of volunteers. The reason all our large service clubs—Lions, Rotary, Apex, and I do not want to exclude any—are so successful is because of the goodwill and volunteering. There are community clubs. I have to mention the Men's Sheds. They are a great institution. Men's Sheds are more of a modern-day institution, and they are very successful.

They are not just there to volunteer their time: they are there to provide a service, whether it is helping in communities or being a sounding board and listening to issues, such as health concerns and mental health concerns of many. Some people are just lonely and need a group of people to come along and listen to them, or they need to be a part of a group of people so that they can contribute to their communities.

We know that hospitals rely on volunteers and schools rely on volunteers. The hospitality industry, particularly in regional community events, relies on the goodwill of those volunteers. Many of our commemorative events—whether it be ANZAC Day, Australia Day, Easter or just a gathering of the community—are surrounded by volunteers that make these events as good as they are, as great as they are and as memorable as they are.

Of course, we have to acknowledge the Fishwatch volunteers, who keep an eye on our oceans, making sure that they are there to help people who need advice or information so that people do the right thing and comply. We know environmental groups are keeping an eye on our environment, in regard not only to clean-ups and walking the roads but also cleaning up the waterways and some of our beautiful environmental assets. They are there cleaning up. Not only do they clean up but they do bird counts, fish counts and tree monitoring. They do all sorts of things that keep an eye on some of our environmental groups.

Of course, we cannot forget the sausage sizzlers, the people at our supermarkets, Bunnings hardware stores and sporting clubs, who give up their time to cook sausages to raise money for charity, sporting groups or community groups. We have to acknowledge the great work that volunteers do for charity because charities rely on volunteers to be successful. There are many volunteers in the great electorate of Chaffey, and I want to acknowledge some of them. There are a number of them: young, middle aged and some very elderly, but they are all there making a contribution to the electorate.

David Lodge was awarded the Premier's Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Volunteer Service. This certificate rewards and recognises excellence and the significant achievements of volunteers. David was also awarded for his service to the South Australian Ambulance Service. Great work by David. Samantha Hauptman is a young woman who has dedicated many years of her life to volunteering and yet she is only 20 years of age. She is an outstanding Riverlander and was presented the 2019 Seven News Young Achiever Award in South Australia. She was a semifinalist in the Santos Regional Service Award, which recognises rural and regional young achievers who are helping to reshape and inspire their community. Samantha was also nominated for her volunteer work at the Renmark general hospital and her involvement in local medical research. Great work by Samantha.

John Pick is one of the Riverland's stalwarts, particularly in volunteering. He is a schoolteacher, but he volunteers countless hours at the Renmark Tintra Lawn Tennis Club. He was recently awarded the Volunteer Achievement Award at the Australian Tennis Awards. For over 25 years, John has devoted his time to a variety of roles within the Riverland Lawn Tennis Association and the Tintra Lawn Tennis Club would not be what it is today without the efforts of John. It makes him a very deserving winner of the Volunteer Achievement Award. John was also awarded a win after putting his own teaching career on hold and volunteering countless hours to ensure that children are given the opportunity of his tennis coaching skills. My children have received coaching from John. He is an outstanding community person. Thank you, John.

Christopher Ylia was recently recognised for 40 years of volunteering with the SES. Ian Jennings was recognised for 10 years of volunteering with the SES. Lesley Baldock and Allan 'Red' Johns, were both recently recognised for five years of volunteering with the SES. Beverley Gartery has been a long-time committed Riverlander volunteering for over 45 years at the Renmark Meals on Wheels. I know Bev personally and she is a great lady giving countless hours of her time to volunteering.

Helen Cenko is the 2019 Renmark Paringa Citizen of the Year. She is a life member of the Renmark Netball Club and the Renmark Tintra Lawn Tennis Club. Helen has volunteered for 15 years at Meals on Wheels, and the list goes on. She really is an outstanding contributor. Ellen Traeger received the Order of Australia Medal 2019. She volunteered as secretary of the Riverland seniors tennis. She was also a volunteer, co-founding the Caroline Bristow Wig Library in 2014. She has chaired the pastoral support program as well as information centres and many of the local sporting clubs.

Kym Manning, Berri Barmera Citizen of the Year 2019, has volunteered many hours to community work. William Gillett is 2019 Loxton Young Citizen of the Year. Great work by William. Howard Hendrick received the Order of Australia Medal 2019, and he volunteered at St Albert's Catholic School. He is a returned serviceman, a pilot, who has done outstanding work—a true representative.

Lorraine Fielke has also done great work as Loxton Citizen of the Year 2019. Celeste Newbery is the 2019 Renmark Paringa Young Citizen of the Year. Margaret Thiel has contributed 50 years of active volunteer work with the Ramco Football Club. Well done, Margaret. How could I forget Rosemary Gower? Rosemary has committed 20 years-plus to the Riverland Country Music Festival. Richard Coote, Coach of the Year, is an outstanding mentor. There are many more volunteers, too many to talk about. I thank all our volunteers for the great work they do, their dedication and community service.

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (12:35): Those who volunteer in our community give something of themselves that is precious. They give their time, hours of it. Some give dozens, others give hundreds of hours of their time over months and years of their lives. They give each and every hour freely, often making personal sacrifices to do so. It is important to acknowledge the generosity of our volunteers and their value to our community. I support the motion moved today by the member for Hurtle Vale:

That this house—

(a) recognises National Volunteer Week 2019 from 20 to 26 May;

(b) acknowledges the valuable contribution that volunteers make to the economic and social wellbeing of local communities; and

(c) calls upon all South Australians to thank and show their appreciation to all volunteers in our community.

I acknowledge those in my electorate of Torrens who give so generously of their time in a voluntary capacity. Of course, I will only be able to mention a handful because of time constraints today, but I will acknowledge them as future opportunities arise.

To begin, I acknowledge all those who volunteer in our schools in classrooms, libraries, on working bees and in supporting sports teams and the many other jobs that they carry out; the parents who serve on our school governing councils at Dernancourt R-7, Hillcrest Primary, Klemzig Primary, Hampstead Primary, Vale Park Primary, Wandana Primary, Avenues College B-12, and Wiltja; also, the parent committees at Gilles Plains Children's Centre, Klemzig, Hampstead and Holden Hill kindergartens; and our Catholic and Independent schools, namely Kildare College, St Paul's College, St Pius X School, St Martin's, Pinnacle College, and Heritage College.

I acknowledge the Northfield Meals on Wheels team, some of whom have been preparing and delivering meals in our community for decades. I have volunteered with these amazing people, many in their 70s and 80s, who volunteer regularly on a weekly basis. I also acknowledge the many dedicated parents, grandparents and other members of our community who coach and umpire our local sports teams; those at Gaza Sports and Community Club, North Eastern MetroStars Soccer Club, North Adelaide Rockets Basketball Club, Adelaide City Football Club, Greenacres Tennis Club, North Eastern Knights Cricket Club, Northgate Community and Sports Club, Windsor Calisthenics, Eastern Districts Netball, Adelaide Warriors Cricket Club, Mega Courts Indoor Sports, and Matt Owens Tennis School; and all who volunteer in their clubs, canteens, on their committees, cooking barbecues and fundraising.

Thank you also to the North East Community House where the volunteers provide a range of programs and services to the community such as weekly Hi-noon lunches, regular bus trips, craft activities, computer club, yoga, tai chi and exercise programs for seniors. Thank you to Wandana Community Centre where respecting people from a diversity of backgrounds, cultures and genders is high on their agenda. The centre encourages personal growth and lifelong learning.

The Lions Club of Gilles Plains' motto is 'We serve.' The Gilles Plains Lions Club, of which I am a member, shares a desire to make our community better. They fundraise, sponsor two children through World Vision in Tanzania and Sri Lanka, and are also life members of the Australian Cranio-Maxillo Facial Foundation, having sponsored a child from Malaysia for a full facial reconstruction. The Gilles Plains and Hampstead RSL has a long history of serving our defence community and provides meals and recreational activities for returned service members and their families, as well as other community members.

The many volunteers at Technology for Ageing and Disability (TADSA) use their skills creating, modifying or repairing devices where there is no other solution readily available, and aim to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. They also provide the Freedom Wheels program, where bicycles are modified for children with a disability who are unable to ride a regular bicycle.

Our Neighbourhood Watch programs include the Klemzig Neighbourhood Watch, Windsor Gardens, Dernancourt and Walkerville. These organisations bring neighbours and police together to resolve local issues, help create connected community, reduce crime and build safer streets. We have Dernancourt Community Garden, which is a unique community sharing a passion for gardening and the environment and growing some of the best vegetables—and I have to say some of the largest vegetables and fruit—I have come across.

Vale Park Our Patch is a community-based volunteer native revegetation and environmental education project along the banks of the River Torrens. Since 2000, Vale Park Our Patch has planted more than 30,000 locally native plants of at least 200 different species. They also develop educational biodiversity resources for Vale Park Primary School. Hillcrest Scouts are helping young people develop lifelong skills, grow in confidence and gain valuable leadership and team skills.

Then there is Holden Hill Community Centre, where the Holden Hill Men's Shed operates, solely run by volunteers who give their time to make everyone feel welcome and safe, often inviting new people to have a cuppa and a chat. Men's Sheds—and I have to say ours also includes days when women participate and hold their own classes—are so important in our communities to support people coming together to share activities and common interests, often helping support men's mental health.

The Molinara Social and Sport Club is a place where families can meet and where the traditions and customs of Molinara can be taught to their children. There is always something happening at the Molinara club, including pizza and pasta nights, New Year's Eve dinners, concerts, Mother's Day dances and other activities, and they are working very hard to encourage young people to continue.

We have the Nimble Fingers craft group, who meet at the Greenacres library and have been doing so for more than two decades. These ladies volunteer their time to knit, crochet and sew. They make clothing and cards, and they spend quality time together. They donate the things that they make to women and children fleeing domestic violence situations.

Then there is the Enfield Horticultural Society, who have made me their very proud patron and are bringing together members of our community who have a love of gardening. They really are amazing green thumbs. Their autumn and spring shows are not to be missed, nor are the tea, coffee and cakes that they serve. I never walk away without purchasing a selection of plants for my garden, usually those that are hardy and need very little attention.

We have the Northgate Oakden Residents Association (NORA), which provides a voice for local residents, and the North East Community Assistance Project (NECAP), which provides financial and material support to families and individuals in hardship. They also operate a volunteer-run low-cost op shop with clothes, furniture and household goods.

There are many more organisations in my electorate of Torrens, but because today time does not permit and I know that there are others who want to speak, I will address and acknowledge those when the opportunity arises.

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (12:43): It gives me great pleasure to rise in support of this wonderful motion from the member for Hurtle Vale that shines a deserving spotlight on the vital contribution volunteers make to the economic and social wellbeing of communities, most especially in regional communities, where residents particularly rely on the help of each other for services more populated areas take for granted.

Last night, I had the great pleasure of hosting a dinner here in Parliament House for 17 of my fellow members of the Kadina Apex club. They are all proactive members of the community who give up their free time to assist individuals and groups in the Copper Coast. It is with great pleasure that I can be part of that wonderful group that does so much for our local area.

At the recent Kernewek Lowender, which is an event I talked about in here recently—another major event on Yorke Peninsula run by volunteers—we were kept busy dismantling and setting up stages, shifting chairs at events and marshalling for the cavalcade of over 500 cars and motorcycles. The support the club gives at multiple events is particularly noteworthy, that being just one example.

Apex also upgrades local playgrounds and last year constructed a tree-climbing feature in the Kadina town square. That has been an immense hit with the local kids in the area, who spend a great deal of time climbing up and down that wonderful new playground in our local town square. It was a tremendous fundraising effort by the Apex club to make that sizeable playground a reality for the local area and to continue to upgrade our local town square, which is becoming quite the focal point in the Kadina CBD.

The Apex club also awards incentive scholarships to local young people to help them study and raises money for other deserving causes. Last year, the president of the club, Adam May, led the charge to raise over $15,000 worth of hay to send over to drought-affected farmers in New South Wales. They drove a big flatbed truck all the way to New South Wales full of locally sourced hay funded by donations from local people. It really was a tremendous effort to help support farmers doing it tough in some difficult times.

Another major project that has been running for a number of years and is supported by the Apex club of Kadina is the Copper Coast Retreat. This was another mammoth job to tackle, but it is all running smoothly. The Copper Coast Retreat is a facility that helps people suffering cancer to have a free holiday at Wallaroo on the beachfront or to have somewhere to stay when they are doing tough. They have now built three of these wonderful retreat villas.

They are partially funded by the Apex Outback Postie Bike Ride, an initiative set up by the Apex club. This year, it crossed over the $1 million mark in funds raised over 10 or 11 Postie Bike Ride events. It is a three-day ride up and around the Flinders Ranges on quite a number of old postie bikes, which do not necessarily have the suspension or the gears one would normally expect would be required for a ride up and around the Flinders Ranges.

Nonetheless, they spend three days riding up around there, and each person raises as much money as they can. It costs a minimum of $500 per rider in order to qualify to be part of the Postie Bike Ride. I have to make special mention of Andrew Venning, a local Kadina Apex club member. In his 10 years of the Postie Bike Ride he has raised in excess of $100,000 by himself. It is truly a mammoth effort.

The Copper Coast Retreat is a wonderful initiative that is really appreciated by those who are doing it tough with cancer and cancer treatment. They need all the support they can get. It is a wonderful project that the Kadina Apex club has been involved in. They do a wonderful job, and it was wonderful to host them here for dinner last night, and I know that they send unanimous and strong compliments to the chef for the food they were served. It really went over well. So well done to all Apexians in the Narungga electorate and across the state, as well as to all community groups, such as Lions and Rotary. The value of your contribution cannot be measured.

National Volunteer Week is a good opportunity to thank our hardworking volunteers. Last week, I was pleased to join a morning tea gathering of volunteers hosted at Minlaton by the Yorke Peninsula Council. The Yorke Peninsula Council invites all volunteers from around the council area for morning tea and coffee as a way of saying thank you for the contribution they make. Representatives from the coast guard, ambulance volunteers, progress associations and a whole raft of different volunteer groups were there, and I was pleased to be able to join them, to have a chat and say thank you for all the work they do, so thank you to the YP Council for inviting me along.

I also got the opportunity to attend a volunteers thankyou event at the SOS Copper Coast at the Kadina youth centre. I had the great honour of presenting a Premier's Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Volunteer Service to SOS Copper Coast Chair, David Boots, who has done so much for the cause of preventing suicide, as have the other volunteer committee members in the Copper Coast Suicide Prevention Network and all equally committed volunteers associated with the SOS Yorkes Suicide Prevention Network.

These networks are achieving great things to highlight the services and help available to local people and families struggling with mental health issues. They are teams of volunteers who provide on-the-ground support for the sadly rising number of people impacted by suicide. It was wonderful to present David Boots with that certificate, as he has done so much for that area.

So many services across the electorate could not be provided to rural communities without volunteers who care for the people who live in their town and district and who sacrifice many hours of personal home time to try to make the world they live in a better place for fellow community members. I presented David with his award at the Kadina Youth Centre, a centre that SOS Copper Coast members have worked hard advocating for, raising funds for and creating from the ground up.

It officially opened last year, and I am told that it is going from strength to strength, with increasing numbers of youth using the centre every week. It is obviously filling a needs gap and changing the lives of young people on the Copper Coast. As I mentioned earlier, David is indeed a special volunteer who combines his hours of service for SOS Copper Coast with paid employment as a teacher and a considerable commitment of hours as a regional coordinator for volunteer ambulance services—another substantial and critical role, particularly in regional South Australia.

Moonta National Trust branch members were also recognised during National Volunteer Week with a Premier's Certificate for Outstanding Volunteer Service. I congratulate Peter Ferguson, Barbara Bagshaw and Stephen Stock, who received their certificates at a volunteers' barbecue at Moonta on 23 May. Mr Ferguson has been a volunteer with the branch for 47 years, Mrs Bagshaw for 45 years and Mr Stock for 42 years—all incredible terms of service to the Moonta National Trust. Mr Stock has been chairperson of the committee since 2004 and deservedly received an OAM last year for his volunteer service to the Moonta community. What an outstanding effort by all these people, further demonstrating care for the community they live in and which is a better place because of their amazing contributions.

Friends of Innes and Troubridge Island also received recognition during a visit a couple of weeks ago to Innes National Park from the Minister for Environment and Water, the Hon. David Speirs, for the hard work they do in protecting the natural and cultural heritage on Yorke Peninsula. It was pleasing to join the minister in the hall at Stenhouse Bay to celebrate the work that the Friends of Innes National Park do and to meet the great volunteers who have propagated and planted thousands and thousands of plants, making previously ugly areas a beautiful part of the natural landscape. It was wonderful to join the minister there and I thank him very much for the time he spent down south.

There are more than 5,000 volunteers across SA who do so much work as friends of parks group members, legwork that is impossible to do without volunteers. On behalf of the Narungga electorate, with all its amazing natural beauty, I thank you all and reassure you that your efforts are appreciated.

There are volunteers across all sectors: firefighters; ambulance crews; nursing home visitors; people who man museums and visitor information centres; drivers of health buses; people who raise money for the disadvantaged and work in charity organisations; those who board our sea rescue vessels; those who are first on the scene at car accidents; progress associations who advocate for projects and see them through; and coaches, administrators, timekeepers and scorers across all our sporting clubs. I pay tribute to you all to mark 2019 National Volunteer Week and commend this wonderful motion to the house.

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (12:52): It is always great to get up and be in furious agreement, and especially in furious agreement when it comes to some of the country members opposite. That is in no way to undervalue the voluntary efforts that occur the city, but voluntary efforts in country South Australia take on an incredibly special role. As the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development said, they form part of the fabric of country communities. When you get into some of the smaller communities especially, it is not just a case of volunteering but a case of having to do those things that are taken for granted in larger communities, a whole raft of roles that we do not expect people in larger communities or the city to undertake.

Volunteering is incredibly important across a whole range of areas, including health, education, emergency services and various service clubs, such as Lions, Rotary, Apex and others, and sporting organisations. Without voluntary effort, many sporting organisations in country communities and in the city would not exist. I am very mindful that in my community of Whyalla we have a number of football clubs coming up for their 100^th anniversary. That is 100 years of voluntary effort that has gone into those sporting organisations.

Friends of the parks and Landcare groups have been mentioned, and they perform an incredibly important activity. Men's Sheds are a more recent innovation that play an important role in a number of country communities. We have organisations like the RSL in country communities and in the city who depend upon voluntary effort, as do organisations like Legacy. When you have a vast electorate, it is very hard to start picking out people because there are a lot of people you could pick out in an electorate greater in land mass than Germany, so I will give some concrete examples.

Last week, I was in the community of Kimba. It was a cold day and it was raining, but it was actually great to see the rain. I was there for the opening of the palliative care rooms at the hospital in Kimba. It is a measure of the changing times because those rooms were where the surgery used to take place, but that does not happen in those hospitals these days.

The community got together, along with the staff of the hospital, and the voluntary effort that went in has produced something that the community can be proud of. It is a difficult thing when it comes to palliative care, but they now have a really good space for the community. They were able to get some federal government money, but without that community effort and without that voluntary effort they would not have done so.

I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Cowell, partly on constituency work but partly to get in and support another great voluntary effort. One of the local farmers Francis Beinke died of leukaemia, and the community got together, especially the Beinke family—there are probably more Beinkes in Cowell than there are Smiths; they are an incredibly impressive family—to organise a fundraiser. All the effort put in by the Cowell community, and by Whyalla and other places, to raise money for leukaemia was something to behold.

Darryl Durdin of Whyalla Scaffolding came down with a work crew to do the scaffolding and build the stage at no cost. The Beinkes gathered from far and wide. Some people might know of the Beinkes, who are an incredibly talented family. They had multiple rock groups on that night, and covered some other genres as well, and the musicians were nearly all Beinkes and their extended family. As a result of that night, over $16,000 was raised in Cowell for the Leukaemia Foundation.

As the local member, it is always great to go to an event like that and to do your bit in terms of promotion and other support. Even though in some respects it was a sad occasion, out of that sad occasion the voluntary work that went in was fantastic. It is never a hard job to be in a good community at the Commercial Hotel, which was packed, to drink and listen to exceptional music. That is an example of the sort of thing that happens very readily in regional communities.

We had a debate on drugs here earlier today, and I want to mention Karen Harrison of Whyalla, who started the Whyalla Ripples Support Group. She started the Ripples group in Whyalla because her daughter got caught up with ice, but fortunately she came through to the other end. That has been a fantastic support group in Whyalla. They have held forums attended by over a thousand people and they do all sorts of things in the community. But, importantly, they assist people to get through some incredibly difficult times, whether it is parents, grandparents or extended family members who have been exposed to the ice epidemic in regional communities. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 12:59 to 14:00.