NATIONAL YOUTH WEEK

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (15:03): My question is to the Minister for Youth. Will the minister advise the chamber of plans for the 2012 National Youth Week?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, Minister for Social Housing, Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers) (15:04): I thank the honourable member for her very important question. I am pleased to advise that plans for the 2012 National Youth Week, due to be held from Friday 13 April to 22 April next year, are well underway. I can assure the chamber that the 2012 National Youth Week will be one of South Australia's most memorable—memorable, amongst other things, because, for the first time ever, the state launch will be held outside of the metropolitan Adelaide region. It will be held down in the beautiful South-East of our state.

The District Council of Grant and its youth advisory committee, together with the Mount Gambier Youth Advisory Committee, the Pangula Mannamurna Aboriginal Youth Action Committee and the Mount Gambier Migrant Resource Centre, will all help organise what will be a major event on the state's calendar. Plans so far are for the event to be held at the old Mount Gambier Gaol, with live music, dance, food and plenty of useful information. It will be a great opportunity for young people in the South-East to showcase their community.

To assist with this event and other activities through the week around the entire state of South Australia, I recently opened a total of $180,000 in grant opportunities for interested organisations to get involved with National Youth Week. Up to $2,000 is available for individual organisations and $4,000 for collaborative projects that involve multiple organisations. This will enable and assist plenty of events throughout the week across the whole state. In the 2011 National Youth Week, around 13,000 young people attended a total of 184 events. For 2012, organisers of the Mount Gambier event are already predicting at least 2,000 young people from around the Lower South-East and Limestone Coast region will attend.

I urge all honourable members to mark this week coming up in their diaries, to spread the word about the grants and, most of all, to keep an eye out for the events that they may be able to assist with in their local communities.