Private Members' Statements

Private Members' Statements

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:42): This past weekend in Renmark saw the 45^th Dinghy Derby festival. On Friday evening was the dash for cash under lights—it was fast, it was furious, and it was a sprint along the riverfront. There were fireworks watched by thousands of locals and visitors into the region. On Sunday we saw the Dinghy Derby, the pinnacle of dinghy racing at a world level, with 180 competitors. It was a 100-kilometre race up the open river sections and into the network of creeks north of Renmark.

A big congratulations to the club president, Scott Jenke, and his able committee: Jeremy Newman, Sue Jenke, Cody Richards, Shaun Jenke, Reece Yard, Shane Pitman, Joel Woodrow, Ben Pilgrim, Nathan Burgess, Lisa and Tony Richards, Ty Wagenknecht and Kelvin John. The derby is heavily supported by volunteers and it generated an economy of somewhere in the vicinity of $2½ million over the weekend.

Thank you to all of the sponsors but, of course, the winners are grinners: the 30 horsepower sports, Kodi Morena and Doug Mowbray; the 30 horsepower rookies, Jeremy Morrison and Riley Schwarz; the 30 horsepower super standard, Hudson and Ollie Pearce; and the 30 horsepower standard, Sean Peterson and Sophie Lampard. The 300cc modified saw the stalwart John Chigros and Tom Pilgrim get up, the 25 horsepower standard saw Marley and Garry McConnell win, while the 15 horsepower standard saw Jake Saegenschnitter and Kayos Bronish-Rice as the winners.

It is a great event. It is a world standard event. It has been online and got views from all over the globe. It is a great local event up in the Riverland.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:44): I would like to bring to the house's attention today George Aldridge. As people may know, George is a cartoonist. He has been doing the cartoons for The Bunyip for the last 35 years. Now, I suppose, he has put his pencil in the pencil tin for the last time.

During his time as a cartoonist, his life's work has included commissions, residencies, cartoon projects and ongoing works for many other organisations, including the Country Arts Trust, the South Australian Museum, the ABC, the Riverland Horticultural Council, National Parks and Wildlife, the South Australian Institute of Teachers, the PSA, the Maritime Union, SA Health, the Plumbers and Gasfitters Employees Union, the Law Council of Australia, the State Library of SA, National Trust Darwin, the Adelaide Football Club, the CSIRO, Hickinbotham Homes, Rockford's, Trinity College Gawler, the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association, and Cavpower CAT, just to name a few. He also did the cartoons for my newspaper, Enlightened.

During his work, he has also given back to the community as he has played a key role in the camel-handling project with PIRSA and with the community in the APY lands. George has also hosted workshops for the education department in schools, including Bowden Brompton special school with at-risk students and Murray Bridge primary school. One of his proudest moments was creating and managing the Cook Out Back camp oven cooking competition in Blinman in the early 2000s. George was also inducted into the Cartoonist Hall of Fame in Melbourne in 2023.

Ms PRATT (Frome) (15:45): Flinders University recently honoured five distinguished South Australian individuals with honorary doctorates at a recent graduation. Those recipients included Alister Haigh, chief executive of the delightful Haigh's Chocolates, for his sustainable practices; Paul Vasileff, founder of Paolo Sebastian; Taryn Brumfitt, whose body positivity advocacy we recognise; Patricia Vilimas, technical officer at Flinders; and the very local Robert (Alfie) Hannaford AM for his contributions to the arts and biodiversity preservation.

Robert (Alfie) Hannaford AM was recognised with a Doctor of the University as one of Australia's premier realist painters. His works feature many prominent public figures, including Dame Joan Sutherland and Sir Donald Bradman. He is a multiple award winner, winning the Archibald People's Choice Award three times. In his own words on the day to graduates, Alfie said:

I have noticed that when one is passionate about something, things seem to naturally fall into place. This has happened to me.

He has worked with or met realist painters, outstanding Adelaide artists like Hugo Shaw, Des Hurcombe, Hans Heysen, Ivor Hele and many others. It has been a privilege in my limited time as the member for Frome to be in his orbit. We celebrate the Riverton Light Gallery that he established and runs with Alison. We know that he has left his mark on the Owen Silo Art that tells the story of wheat bags to sandbags. We honour the award that has been given to him this year.

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (15:47): The Thrington Road-Mines Road intersection is in desperate need of an upgrade. It is an increasingly busy intersection with an explosion in popularity of housing in Moonta, Moonta Bay and Port Hughes, and it is the main turn-off to Adelaide for those coming up to enjoy the holiday homes. It is not just me who says it; councillor Brent Walker is hot on this issue and has taken it to council on a number of occasions, and I know the CFS are hot on it. They have put out a quote to quite a few of us, councillors and elected members, saying that this is one of the intersections that they view as being incredibly dangerous. Group officer David Bussenschutt has made his case loud and clear.

Unfortunately, despite the obvious popularity and traffic that goes through this intersection, we have not been successful in convincing the government thus far of the need for an upgrade. They have replied to my pleas and said that, as a result of there not being available crash data which shows reported crashes in the immediate past, there is no precedence being given to having an upgraded intersection.

This is disappointing. You only have to look at the number of new homes that are going up in Moonta Bay and Port Hughes to know that this major intersection is flawed. It needs a turning lane and it needs increased infrastructure to accommodate the higher traffic flow. As a result, despite the fact that there have been no crashes, I will be writing to the entire community and asking them to share with me their near-miss stories. We can take those close calls back to the government and say, 'Well, there might not have been any crashes but there have been this many near misses or close calls and, because of that, let's get in before a crash and prevent one from happening rather than responding to one.'