Waite Electorate

Mr DULUK (Waite) (16:05): Today, I want to share with the parliament some of the fantastic achievements of my local community in Waite and celebrate some of their successes. Firstly, I would like to start with recent award recipients from the Australia Day awards. I begin with Emeritus Professor Wayne Sampson, who was awarded an AM (Member of the Order of Australia) for his outstanding service to dental education, especially in the field of orthodontics. He is currently emeritus professor of orthodontics at the Dental School at Adelaide University; he has been active in that profession since the 1970s. He spent many years as a lecturer at the University of Adelaide and in 2008 received a meritorious service award from the Australian Society of Orthodontists.

Ms Fiona Thomson OAM has received a Medal of the Order of Australia for her dedication to academic librarianship and to youth through her work with the Girl Guides. Ms Thomson has been involved with Girl Guides SA for decades, and has served in multiple positions within the organisation, offering wonderful support to young South Australians. Her efforts and service within the library and information space has been long standing. She spent many years dedicated to the University of South Australia as a systems librarian.

Ms Jill Argent OAM received an Order of Australia medal for her fantastic service to the arts and cultural heritage. For those people who know Jill, she is the most exciting individual—full of life. When I saw her late last year at Carrick Hill we had a great chat about all things heritage and art, and she shared some of her secrets for longevity as well. She is currently the Deputy Chair of the Independent Arts Foundation of South Australia and is an art teacher at Living Choice in Fullarton.

As the president of the Friends of Carrick Hill, Jill has made a significant contribution to maintaining the key heritage site of Carrick Hill in my community, and she of course had a huge hand in the latest round of developments. Her tireless efforts for this important site are to be commended, and I am thrilled that she has been recognised in this manner.

From the City of Mitcham's perspective, in terms of their Australia Day award recipients, big congratulations go to Mr John Arthur from Bedford Park. He was named the City of Mitcham's Citizen of the Year. I have loved working with John for many years, as well as with his community and his passion for service to the wonderful pockets of Bedford Park. As I said to him on Australia Day, 'Pat will be looking down from above at you receiving the award, and she would be so proud.'

Mr Tom Morrison from Glenalta has received the City of Mitcham's Young Citizen of the Year Award. He is the founder of 20 Metre Trees, which is a fantastic community group that looks at ecology and saving and preserving trees in our community. I really enjoy working with Tom as well, especially up in the Hills, on the many local green projects that we do.

Congratulations go to the Big A charity shop at Colonel Light Gardens. They received the Mitcham Active Citizenship award for their dedication to supporting community members through their op shop. It is fantastic to see local people recognised in our community.

On Monday, I was at Kingswood Oval with the sports minister, the member for Gibson; Nicolle, the member for Boothby; Mayor Heather Holmes-Ross from the City of Mitcham; plus club reps David Heaslip from the Unley Jets Football Club and Ollie Smith from the Unley Gunners Cricket Club to do a bit of sod turning on the redevelopment and upgrade of their facilities. It is going to be a fantastic project at Kingswood for two really important local clubs that do so much.

The building there is from the 1970s. It has two storeys and does not have any disability access. One of the keystone individuals of the Unley Cricket Club is Dave, who has been the scorer there for 25-odd years. He is mobility impaired and he is in a wheelchair. He said he is looking forward to scoring for another 25 years, and the reason he has not retired is that he will now be able to score from the newly developed grandstand on the first floor.

It is wonderful to see the contribution the government can make with community when it works together, especially in funding a local sporting project. Hopefully, by the start of cricket season next year there will be some fantastic new facilities at the Kingswood Oval.

Finally, last Saturday night I was able to attend the Coromandel Valley Ramblers Cricket Club quiz night at the Coro primary school. Over 200 people attended, raising lots of money for the club. As luck would have it I won the meat tray raffle—and thanks to Luke at Blackwood Butchers for that donation—and for some reason was on the winning table. A big congratulations to Matt Smith, Stephen Davenport and Tony Benson who were duly recognised for their service to club cricket by Cricket Australia, especially to Tony, who has given 50 years of continuous service to the club and our local Coromandel Valley community.