Black Electorate

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (15:27): It is a great pleasure to rise at the end of the parliamentary sitting year to make some comments on the challenging year it has been, and in particular to thank the many people within the community that I represent down in the southern suburbs for rallying together in the chaos, uncertainty and really significant social and economic difficulties that 2020 has brought to Australia and to our state. In many ways, it has been heartening. It has been encouraging to see community come together, to support one another, to check in on neighbours and to look out for each other in these very difficult times.

Who would have thought when we entered 2020 that we would be hit by those devastating bushfires in the Adelaide Hills and on Kangaroo Island in particular, then have it backed up by the incredible challenge that would be wrought by the arrival of COVID-19. But we are getting through it. The challenges are being responded to, and it has been great to see not only the government but business and community get alongside one another, form partnerships and push forward as 2020 has progressed.

I want to mention a few groups, people and organisations within my community that have really stepped up this year. In particular, I want to thank our schools and their leadership for getting together, supporting parents and students through the uncertainty and keeping our schools keeping on in this time. I have great schools in my electorate, such as Hallett Cove School R-12. I want to thank Tony Hall, who has been the acting principal there for the past couple of years.

There is also Hallett Cove East Primary School, with Anne Rathjen as the principal, and Hallett Cove South Primary School, with Chris Tippett. Also in my electorate is Woodend Primary School with Principal Steve Freeman, and Sheidow Park Primary School with Jenny-Marie Gorman. Seacliff Primary School is down the hill, led by Principal Steven Wallis, and there is also Seaview Downs Primary School with Sam Winters.

I particularly want to thank Pauline Glover, Chair of the Governing Council at Seaview Downs Primary School for the work she has undertaken to support that school community as well. We have great governing council chairs throughout my electorate but Pauline really does go above and beyond. Also along Seacombe Road is Seaview High School and Penny Tranter is the principal there. They have kept those schools going and I am incredibly thankful as the local representative for how our schools have responded and the challenges they have met during 2020.

There are many other clubs, sporting clubs and community organisations I want to pay tribute to for keeping going in 2020. We have our tennis clubs at Southbank, Hallett Cove Beach and O'Halloran Hill. We have The Cove Football Club (soccer) and The Cove Cobras, the AFL club. We have The Cove BMX Club, the Seacliff Recreation Centre, the Seacliff Surf Life Saving Club, the Brighton Surf Life Saving Club and the clubs around the Brighton sporting precinct—football, cricket, lacrosse and rugby as well.

There are many clubs, and I do not have time to mention them all today, that have all been wrought with uncertainty during 2020, but our clubs make our community what it is. I see organisations like the Hallett Cove Lions Club, and local Rotary and Probus clubs step up and look for ways to support the community, not just hunker down, disappear and use 2020 as a reason to have a year off but quite the opposite. Instead, they look for how they can network and how they can reach out to the more vulnerable and connect across our community.

I have seen the 5049 Coastal Community, the residents' group that looks after the Marino/Kingston Park/Seacliff area, step up to the challenge as well. Then, of course, there is the role played by our great local churches within and around my electorate. They have looked for opportunities to respond to the challenges of 2020.

It has been a year like no other. We have all learnt about each other, and we have learnt about ourselves, but I hope that we are stronger and that we can identify the silver linings. I want to again say thank you to everyone within the electorate of Black for all they have done to sustain our community's resilience in this time. I want to finish up by thanking my electorate staff, Jana Kranixsfeld, Ben Freeman, Rachel Koch and Terrence Donaldson for the work they do to support our community; and wish everyone a very merry Christmas and hopefully a brighter year in 2021.

Time expired.