Australia Day Awards

Ms LUETHEN (King) (15:30): Today, I would like to acknowledge in this chamber the contribution made by a number of special people in my community whose contribution to the King electorate and the broader community was acknowledged at the recent Australia Day award ceremonies in 2021. These awards are an opportunity for the community to nominate and acknowledge the outstanding contribution a number of individuals and groups have made in our community. The people who won the awards were certainly well deserving.

I would like to start off with congratulations to David George, who has been named as our 2021 Outstanding Citizen of the Year in the City of Tea Tree Gully. Mr George has dedicated his life to community service and helping others. He received the award at the City of Tea Tree Gully Citizenship and Australia Day Award Ceremony. Mr George was the first principal of Golden Grove High School, where he played a crucial role in establishing one of our wonderful local high schools, developing young people and establishing a unit for children with disabilities that still operates today.

At 80 years old, Mr George still leads a maintenance project group to maintain a local church facility and nearby community service centre. He and his wife also lead a group of about 20 people to connect seniors who otherwise might be at risk of isolation. I am delighted to run into Mr George year after year at every year 12 graduation at Golden Grove High School.

Also a finalist in this category was much-loved community member John Adams, who is the President of the South Australian Districts Netball Association. John brings much-needed passion and skills to his role and has helped the Golden Grove courts develop year after year into a top sporting facility where over 26 clubs play with in excess of 4,000 netball players. We see 395,000 visits to the court each calendar year. John's leadership is greatly valued. Sue Jackson and Andy O'Donohue were recognised for their amazing contribution to BlazeAid. What a tough choice for the City of Tea Tree Gully councillors to make.

The Outstanding Community Group of the Year Award went to the Kiwanis Club of Modbury. Amongst many other wonderful projects, the group has helped maintain and repair bikes and wheelchairs for students with disabilities at Modbury Special School for several years now. Their involvement with the school has extended to supporting senior students by attending their graduations and providing them with positive role models as they move on to the next stage of their lives. They do outstanding work to improve the lives of others in our community.

At the City of Playford Australia Day Awards, we recognised Citizen of the Year, Raelene Wlochowicz. Raelene is the founder of Playford Women's Shed, which provides a safe environment for socially isolated and vulnerable women to meet, build new skills, increase their confidence and develop community connections. The Playford Women's Shed is the first of its kind in South Australia and was opened in early 2020.

They also recognised Community Group of the Year, Midway Road Community House. Midway Road Community House provides a safe and welcoming atmosphere, where community members of all ages and backgrounds can access a range of recreational, leisure, information, advocacy and support services. It was an absolute pleasure to see Salisbury East High School student Sharif Sharifullah become an Australian at the City of Playford on the same day.

At the 2021 City of Salisbury Australia Day Awards, the 2021 Young Citizen of the Year was Zahra Bayani, who only arrived in Australia in January 2017. Zahra is an ambassador for the South Australian Migration Museum, the Australian Refugee Association, volunteers as an event responder or first aider at public events for St John Ambulance, and is the president of the Global Peace Rotaract Club of Thebarton Senior College. In addition, she has received the Minister for Education's Award for Leadership in Languages and Culture for 2020. How inspiring this young woman is.

The 2021 Citizen of the Year at the City of Salisbury was Uncle Frank Wanganeen. Born in Point Pearce, Frank is a passionate advocate for reconciliation and has played an important role as a mover and shaker in the Aboriginal community through his work with councils and committees. What amazing and inspiring people make up our wonderful local community! We are so lucky. These people and organisations are kind, generous and inspiring, and it would be helpful for others in our community to reflect on their example and put love, kindness and compassion for a fellow human being ahead of any differences of opinion.

I will just reflect as I close on the last sitting week. I was really a little surprised but incredibly heartened by the thoughtful and respectful debate in this place as the Termination of Pregnancy Bill was considered. There were many different views and many different electorates were covered, but the bill was debated respectfully over 22 hours—the best way for us to find common ground and an outcome in the best interests of South Australia.