MATTERS OF INTEREST

COMMUNITY EVENTS

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (15:33): I rise to speak briefly on a number of functions and briefings I have recently attended in the community. On Thursday 20 September I attended the dinner for the Third Regional Multicultural Conference at Casadio Park in Mount Gambier. Present was the Hon. Rory McEwen, the member for Mount Gambier and Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, looking well after his recent illness; and Peter Ppiros, the Deputy Chairman of the Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission was also there, along with a number of other dignitaries.

The Regional Multicultural Conference was a bringing together of a number of multicultural networks within regional areas for a conference in Mount Gambier of which the dinner was part. It was pleasing to see so many representatives there from multicultural networks around South Australia, particularly from the Mount Gambier area and also many others. I was especially pleased to meet a number of members of the various African communities, including some from Liberia and also a couple from Botswana, who are working in Mount Gambier at the hospital and the local school. It was very pleasing. Particularly given the disgraceful slurs that have been made against people from African communities recently by the federal government, it was pleasing to meet with members of the African communities and see what contribution they are making to the community in South Australia.

The dinner was held at Casadio Park in Mount Gambier, which is the location of the Italo Australian Club, and I mentioned there a little about the late Anthony Casadio who was killed in Vietnam and after whom the park is named. I will be saying a bit more about that next year when it is the 40^th anniversary of his tragic death.

On Wednesday 26 September, I attended a briefing hosted by the Speaker. The speaker was Mr Hugh Evans, who is the Founder of the Oaktree Foundation, a very impressive young man. He has founded this organisation, The Oaktree Foundation, and I assume that is a reference to acorns growing into mighty oaks. I know quite a number of people who are involved in The Oaktree Foundation, who I have met at Make Poverty History fora and other events. Mr Evans is certainly quite a dynamic young person who has put together this organisation, which has a lot of young members involved in anti-poverty campaigns and in other very noble and useful exercises and work in the community.

On Tuesday 2 October, on behalf of the Hon. Michael Wright, the Minister for Industrial Relations, I attended the 30^th anniversary dinner for the Construction Industry Long Service Leave Board. As you probably know, Mr President, in the construction industry, taking into account the transient nature of the industry and the fact that a lot of people are subcontractors, some years ago, in the time of the Dunstan government, a scheme was set up to ensure that those people working in the construction industry have a portable long service leave scheme. The dinner in question marked the 30^th anniversary of the Construction Industry Long Service Leave Board.

Also present was the Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees, Ms Gay Thompson, who is a former chairperson of the board. Mr David Pisoni, the member for Unley, was there as well. Commissioner David Steel from the Industrial Relations Commission and a number of representatives from employer bodies and employee associations were there as well. Also the Chief Executive of the board, and the Chair, Ms Margaret Sexton was there.

It was pleasing to see that the long service leave scheme of the construction industry has been going for 30 years and it has been a successful scheme. It is a well managed scheme that continues to be viable and ensure that the people in the construction industry receive their long service leave entitlements. I congratulate all of those involved over the years in the Construction Industry Long Service Leave Board, and also those involved in the other organisations I mentioned: the Oaktree Foundation and the various regional multicultural networks throughout South Australia.