Black Electorate

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (15:26): It is a great pleasure to rise today to talk for a moment at the end of the parliamentary sitting year about the electorate that I represent. I have the incredibly privileged position of Leader of the Liberal Party in South Australia, but first and foremost I am only a member of this place because a community elects me to represent them, like all 47 members of the House of Assembly.

It is a community that means a huge amount to me. It is a community that I have lived in for the last 20 years and one day, and it is a community that I feel a great sense of gratitude towards. It is a community that has welcomed me and my family, that has given us great opportunity and inspired us to contribute towards that community and certainly has inspired me to first run for council and then enter this place in 2014.

But a community is only as good as the people who come together in various groups and organisations—sometimes as individuals, sometimes as family, sometimes as groups of like-minded people, sometimes as groups of people who are not like-minded—to contribute to the fabric of what makes our streets, our suburbs, our neighbourhoods, our localities, our towns and cities that make up this state great. In the case of my electorate, I want to highlight some of those organisations that I really connect with on a regular basis and think are ultimately a key part of the fabric of what makes that part of the coastline of the southern suburbs that I represent so great.

Take our public schools. I am a product of public education and I cannot speak highly enough of what our public schools contribute to our community, whether it is Hallett Cove R-12 School, a school that I have so much to do with and the principal there, Tony Hall and his team. They reach out to the community constantly, engage with it and create opportunities for the community to be part of that school and for the school to be part of the community.

Hallett Cove South and Hallett Cove East schools, Seacliff Primary School, Seaview Downs Primary School, Sheidow Park Primary School and Woodend Primary School are great public schools within the boundaries of the electorate that I represent that are doing so much for our young people—educating them and creating opportunities for parents, caregivers and community members to be involved along the way.

There is the Lions Club of Hallett Cove, just a phenomenal group that raises over $50,000 a year from its shed on Quailo Avenue in Hallett Cove and continues to hand money back to good causes within the community. To Jill Kimber, the president this year, and to other members—including Jill's husband, Tom—and others like Rocky Stone and well-known Hallett Cove identity Graeme Botting: thank you for the contribution you make through the Lions Club to our community. I have just mentioned a few names, but there are so many more that I could run through.

The Seacliff Surf Life Saving Club was club of the year 2022, backing up club of the year 2021, which they were awarded as well. Jacinta Day and her team at that club do so much to keep Seacliff beach safe and also to build a sense of community in that part of the world. Thank you to Seacliff Surf Life Saving Club for all you do and thanks for keeping our beaches safe as we go into that busy time of year over the holidays.

There are many other organisations I could refer to in the short period of time I have today. I want to thank our Friends groups who look after our national parks: Friends of O'Halloran Hill, Friends of Glenthorne, Friends of the Lower Field River, Friends of the Upper Field River, Friends of Hallett Cove Conservation Park and Friends of Marino Conservation Park, active groups supporting our National Parks and Wildlife Service, and local councils in some cases as well, to nurture and invest in our natural world.

The Marino Residents Association and the Marino Community Hall board of management, which keeps that vital community asset up and running; the Marino Rocks Social, a new organisation which has saved Marino Rocks cafe restaurant and created lots of opportunity for the community to get involved there; and the many sporting clubs that so many people are involved with as well—these organisations are what make my community tick. At the end of this parliamentary year, as we come up to Christmas I want to thank them for what they do and wish each and every one of their members a very merry Christmas.