Hallett Cove Football Club

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (15:15): It is good to be able to come back to the house today to provide an update about something that is particularly important to my community—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader will be quiet.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —and that is of course, as mentioned in my last grieve on Tuesday, the future of the Hallett Cove Football Club. Members would be aware that the club was threatened with the termination of its lease, something that I was strongly opposed to. I did feel that the City of Marion had gone overboard with its approach to dealing with the challenges that club was facing because, while we cannot condone bad behaviour in our clubs, and we need to get alongside clubs to help them overcome these challenges, the approach the City of Marion took to announce the termination of that lease with only a few weeks notice has created and did create a substantial amount of trauma in the community I represent.

This is a club that spans generations, with grandparents volunteering and with parents and children playing across its various teams. It was very upsetting to see the way that the council's decision, and the way that the council handled that decision in the days and weeks that followed, had an impact on the broader community. It was great to see, though, the way in which the spirit of community rallied within that club, with 6,000 people signing a petition, which was presented to the council a few weeks ago, to ask that the club's lease not be terminated. We saw people from all walks of life across the community get together, provide mentoring and support to the leadership and the management committee in that club, get alongside it and try to outline what they would do to improve their standards to develop their culture and to move towards a new future for the club and an ongoing future in their old clubrooms at Hallett Cove.

So many people were involved in the campaign to keep the club at its premises. I do want to mention a number of them: Craig Warman, President of the Southern Football League; Lisa Faraci, Community Infrastructure and Planning Manager, SANFL; Andrew English, Deputy Chair of the South Adelaide Football Club; Corey Wingard, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing was involved; and, of course, City of Marion councillors as well. I should mention the councillors who got alongside the club: councillors Ian Crossland and Tim Gard from Coastal Ward and councillors Matt Shilling and Maggie Duncan from Southern Hills Ward.

I also want to make special mention of Councillor Bruce Hull, and that is a big thing for me because Councillor Hull and I have rarely seen eye to eye during my time on Marion council and since then, but I have been so impressed by the way Councillor Hull spoke out against what he saw as an injustice and asked pertinent questions in the council meetings—those that were held in public, and I am sure those that were held behind closed doors as well. By asking those pertinent questions he really challenged the council's administration and his fellow elected members and the mayor to review this decision. I also want to make mention of Adrian Skull, the chief executive who has been involved in providing support as well.

This club is made up of volunteers. This club is made up of people who see this as a key part of their lives, a part of our community. Volunteers want to be running water on game days, cooking the barbecue and working behind the bar. They do not necessarily have the skills, understanding or desire to be involved in HR and culture change issues. I have said all along that it is so important, so critical, that the City of Marion get alongside that club and provide it with the resources, the support, the insight and the knowledge to improve the culture, if there are certain elements that need to be improved, and move to the future.

I mentioned in my last grieve the women's football team and their recent premiership, a great result for the Cobras. I want to share a statement that a friend of mine who plays in that team put on Facebook. She said:

This club has brought a lot of good in my life when things have not been so good. The club values that I have seen are support, respect, discipline and passion. The club has worked tirelessly on changing the culture surrounding [women's] footy to be one of empowerment, strength and resilience!

This is the Cove Cobras that I know and the spirit which I as their local member of parliament have seen exemplified, particularly in recent weeks. I look forward to working alongside this club. The council has reversed its decision and given them 12 months, and I look forward to working with them now and into the future.