Waite Electorate

Ms HUTCHESSON (Waite) (15:59): It has been a busy last two weeks in Waite and, let me tell you, it has been nonstop. I am going to talk about a couple of things, but there have been a lot of things.

Since we were last here, one of the most special things I got to do was visit Minnie Robertson, who was turning 107 years old. What an amazing achievement and what a life she has lived. A good lady called Helen Surridge organised an afternoon tea in Glenalta and we were able to celebrate Minnie's long life. I have known Minnie for quite a while now. She and her husband, David, used to drop into our office quite regularly. We lost David at the end of last year and it has been lovely to catch up with Minnie again and see that she is still doing so well. A very big happy birthday again to Minnie.

The Blackwood High School graduation came and went. That was another opportunity to see how fantastic the young people in our community are. One of my award winners was Isarak Tep Chan. He was an international student and he won my community volunteer award. He put so much effort into his time at Blackwood High School, helping others not only in the language program but across the school. I was really pleased to be able to provide him with that award and wish him well for his next endeavours.

Our 100^th parkrun went through on Saturday this week just gone, and it was a huge event. We had close to 300 people come along for the special day. The Premier was there and made good time in his run around. Our parkrun is such a special thing in our community. I was really pleased to be able to get that off the ground with the help of some incredible volunteers who are still part of our volunteer family today. A huge thank you to everyone who comes along and helps us with that race every Saturday morning and to all in our community who come along. It is such a beautiful thing to see everyone up early and getting active on Saturday mornings.

On Tuesday night just gone, we celebrated 175 years of the area of Clapham. In conjunction with Clapham Primary School we put on a huge event, with a history talk from members of the Mitcham Historical Society who came and spoke about the history of Clapham and the area. We also had an art trail put on by the students, a barbecue by the Mitcham Rotary club and my staff were hot under their collars making as much popcorn as you can possibly imagine. There was a beautiful cake made by Banana Boogie Bakery and Complete Cake Decorating Supplies. It was lovely to see the whole community, whether they were from Clapham, Lynton or Torrens Park. There were teachers there who used to teach at the school and there were ex-students and ex-principals. It was such a wonderful community event.

Just this week, I was able to get along to our Concordia St Peters campus to start the awards process for our primary school students. Young Maddy Smart won my environmental warrior award at the Concordia St Peters campus. She is such a sweet girl. She looks after the chickens and she makes sure everybody does the right thing in their environment program. I was really pleased to be able to provide her with that award.

Just this morning, I joined members of the Coromandel Valley community as we honoured two soldiers who were lying in unmarked graves at the Coromandel Valley cemetery. That was through The Headstone Project. The Headstone Project does an incredible job of honouring service members who are lying unnamed. They create these beautiful headstones, they bring family together and they do all the research of the service. I want to thank them for what they do. They take someone who is lying there and whose story is unknown, and they make sure that our community knows that they are there.

Finally, our wellness session will be on tomorrow—it is our last one for the year—at St Michaels Church in Mitcham. It has been such a fabulous program, both in Blackwood and down in Mitcham. I want to thank Tracey Yeend, who is my co-coordinator of those sessions. We see over 100 to 150 people come along every month at both sessions. Tomorrow we will be having our last one in Mitcham and then we will be celebrating with a Christmas party afterwards. Thank you to Tracey but also thank you to St Michaels Church and the Blackwood Uniting Church for having us along, and to my team of volunteers and staff who do so much to make that happen.

I would like to thank my staff for all of the work they have done this year and over the last four years. They have worked so hard. To Daniel, Caprice, Nicole, Matthew, Peter and all of our JPs who come and volunteer: I appreciate everything that you do.

Finally, I want to wish my community a very happy Christmas. Thank you so much for the opportunity that you have allowed me to be here as your representative. I hope to be able to continue to do that long into the future. Have a safe Christmas with your families and no doubt I will see you in the break.