Community Compassion

Ms LUETHEN (King) (17:58): I want to kick off 2020 highlighting local stories of kindness. Over the Christmas period, we have all seen great generosity, kindness and compassion demonstrated by South Australians: firstly, the community's outstanding support of the SA Bushfire Appeal set up by the South Australian government to raise funds for people directly affected by bushfires in Cudlee Creek and on Kangaroo Island. It is clear that financial donations are the best way to help disaster-affected communities recover, as people can buy exactly what they want and they can spend locally.

I take this moment to extend my sincere thoughts to those families impacted. Every contribution, no matter how big or small, can make a difference to those most affected by this tragedy. Every dollar donated directly to the SA Bushfire Appeal goes to those affected by the fires, with the government absorbing all administration costs. Thank you to every person who has donated to support our fellow South Australians through many activities taking place.

I have attended many local events on behalf of constituents in King to fundraise for bushfire recovery, including a recent Salisbury CFS fundraiser held in Salisbury, the sale of sunflowers by Hilltop Fresh Flowers and the United Sikhs of South Australia bushfire relief fundraiser. I am looking forward to the upcoming fundraising event organised by the One Tree Hill Soccer Club and the Tea Tree Gully Soccer Club, which will be held at One Tree Hill on 29 February—actually, it could be at Tilley reserve. This event will funnel proceeds to the local One Tree Hill and Tea Tree Gully CFS centres. Local fundraising for CFS helps our CFS volunteers to continue to fight for our community and helps money flow to the CFS volunteers who have themselves been directly impacted while they have been out volunteering their services to help us.

As you know, our local community is kind and compassionate, and I am so very proud that they always stand up and have their say. This is also a reminder that the South Australian government has a YourSAy community consultation activity open until late March, where we are encouraging community members to have their say on how we can better prepare for our bushfires in the future. People can visit the YourSAy website to contribute feedback online, and there will also be important face-to-face consultation sessions taking place in April this year.

Another local activity of kindness and generosity, which does not relate to bushfires but addresses an important need in the local area, is a brand-new initiative organised by Golden Grove resident and local teacher Joss Adele. Joss is one of the driving forces behind the formal wear drive for those who cannot afford to buy expensive outfits for school formals. Her successful new initiative is called With Love Formal Wear. This superb venture calls out for donations of formal wear, which is then given free of charge to young people who are in the care of the state, foster parents and kinship carers. This initiative enables children to feel proud and special and enables them to celebrate their end of year just like their friends.

With Love Formal Wear is wrapping love and kindness around these young people who, through no fault of their own, may be doing it tough. Hopefully, this initiative will remind each of these young people that they are just as important to us as every other child. These young people deserve to fully participate and to achieve whatever they set their mind to so that they, too, can reach their full potential. To the With Love Formal Wear team—Sarah Bisbal, Joss and Rose Adele and Christie Bower—as well as everyone who has donated, I applaud your incredible and kind work.

Another local star is Martin Roantree from Floors 2 Go. He led a fundraising activity at Sfera's on Saturday night, raising over $40,000 to build an outdoor play area for children at the Women's and Children's Hospital. This followed an activity where a large group of local tradies had also donated their time and materials to upgrade the classroom at the Women's and Children's—a great result for all attending school in hospital. Our own local hero, Allegra Barnes, attested that this was a very important initiative.

The kindness in our local area is all I have time to talk about today. However, I also want to say to everyone: please support those affected by the bushfires—ongoing and the recovery—and help them out.