Davenport Electorate

Ms THOMPSON (Davenport) (15:32): I would love to take this opportunity to provide a brief update on some of the key projects happening in my electorate of Davenport. Right now, the City of Onkaparinga is working in partnership with the state government to upgrade the Aberfoyle Community Centre, which is an extremely exciting project for my community. Last week, I had the pleasure of having a walk through to see the progress of that build. It is so exciting to see how quickly that building is going up and how many more programs will be able to be delivered to that part of my community by around Christmas time.

One area that is missing at the Aberfoyle Community Centre right now is a space for our young people. Currently, there is no youth centre in my Davenport electorate, so I am very excited that this new space will accommodate the many young people who flow out of Aberfoyle Park High School every afternoon, and provide some fantastic programs for them to get involved in their local community.

There is also a huge, long waitlist for the pottery program which will start once the new kiln is installed at the community centre. I am really looking forward to joining some local residents to get down there and get stuck into some clay and make some beautiful creations. Around about Christmas we will be launching that new facility, and I am looking forward to inviting the whole community to come along and check it out.

Also underway that our locals are seeing go up pretty quickly now is the Hub Gymnastics Centre. That is being built on Candy Road at O'Halloran Hill. It is a $5 million project that is being built in partnership with state government, federal government and the council. It is a $3 million election commitment and I am really pleased to be delivering on that, which will accommodate a waitlist of 700 kids waiting to do gymnastics in the south. It will become one of our biggest and best gymnastic centres in the state. I am really proud to have that in the electorate of Davenport. Again, we are working towards delivering that just past Christmas, and we are hoping to get the club in around about Christmas so they can start fitting it out with all the gym mats and getting the younger kids in to trial it out before it is officially open to the public.

That new space will also house an over-50s group, who are very keen to get inside and start using those facilities, and also a very active kindergym. We are really looking forward to delivering on that one in a few months' time. That is right across the road from Serpentine Reserve, where we have completed upgrades already. We have implemented new lighting in the car park, which is fantastic for the evening users of that space. We are putting in practice goalposts for those who like to come in and kick the footy in the afternoons and on weekends. There is a half-size basketball court, which we delivered for the younger kids in our community. It was actually a 12-year-old boy who raised it with me a few years ago, so I have been particularly proud to deliver that and show the young people in our community how local advocacy works and how, when they speak with their local council members or their state and federal members, they can actually see things delivered for them.

Something I really enjoyed seeing is that someone in the community has dragged out a wooden bench to that basketball court, and so now we are seeing, every afternoon, that court flooded with kids. People are really enjoying that space. The BMX Bandits next door are really loving the improved BMX facilities there. We have shade over the playground now, so a lot more parents bring their kids to enjoy that space. We are just seeing that whole space come alive, whereas before it was a pretty quiet little corner of our community.

Also, we have the Majors Road on/off ramp at the Southern Expressway continuing to progress. This is the biggest project in my community. It was a number one priority for myself, so I am really proud to be delivering on that. That whole space up there on Majors Road, O'Halloran Hill, is becoming a huge hive of activity for our community. We have the new RSPCA headquarters now open up there, and it is really, really busy and a fantastic spot. If anyone is looking for a new furry family member I encourage you to head up there and check it out. We have the new BMX facility open up there, supporting the Happy Valley BMX Club, which is fantastic. There is a new pump track that is absolutely pumping. There is so much activity going on in the electorate of Davenport.

I just want to take this opportunity to do a quick shout-out. We have had so many new businesses opening in the area as well. We had Ek OMKAR, a new Indo Asian supermarket open at O'Halloran Hill, which has been very busy, and the community is loving it; 5 Roll House, a new Vietnamese restaurant opened at Flagstaff Hill; Sushi Hiro, a new sushi train opening today at Aberfoyle Hub, which I am particularly excited about, with my office there; and Hey MooMoo's, a new coffee shop that two young, great guys have opened in Aberfoyle Park. So congratulations to all the new businesses in our area.