Clovercrest Baptist Church

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:36): I rise under this matter of interest today to place on the public record my appreciation, and that of Family First's, for the Clovercrest Baptist Church, which is located at Modbury North. The church is founded on the Word of God. Its people are friendly, it is multigenerational and contemporary and, importantly, the church does great work in its local community and beyond.

Their pastor is the Reverend Mark Purser, who is a man of integrity and an excellent leader. Mr President, you and colleagues may be familiar with Mark following a number of Advertiser articles earlier this year, as he is also the chaplain to the greatest AFL team, namely the Adelaide Crows.

The church has a community focus and operates many community-based groups and activities for all ages throughout the week. For many years they have also been a blessing to the Nipapanha Aboriginal community in the northern Flinders Ranges and each year a group of young adults join Encounter Youth Green Team, providing voluntary assistance to school leavers during the Schoolies celebrations at Victor Harbor.

Schoolies Week is not very far from where I live. I commend all of the young volunteers, particularly the leadership of Mr Nigel Knowles from the Encounter Youth Green Team and all those who join with him to provide the safest possible environment for many thousands of young people who go to celebrate the end of often 13 years of continuous schooling down at Victor Harbor.

Whilst some of our community down there do not necessarily like Schoolies Week, the reality is that Schoolies Week is there. It is in every state. Victor Harbor probably has the best, most disciplined and well behaved Schoolies Week in Australia. A lot of credit goes to the Encounter Youth Green Team, particularly those young volunteers from the Clovercrest Baptist Church.

Before Christmas the church community put together hundreds of shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child for Samaritan's Purse. They send the boxes to developing countries around the world, helping to put smiles on children's faces. The church also has a partnership with another church in India to provide schooling to the local Dalit children.

Clovercrest Baptist Church manages the Pathway Community Centre, which seeks to meet people's needs, teach skills and provide connections, which in turn offers hope, dignity and support networks. The centre provides emergency relief and food hampers, counselling, advice about budgeting, tax help and referrals to other agencies. One of their exceptional groups is OASIS, a group for people with disabilities. Pathway also offers English classes to assist refugees and migrants as well as having an op shop providing well-priced, pre-loved clothing and goods to the community.

Earlier this year Clovercrest Baptist Church and the Pathway Community Centre were recognised by the then prime minister, the Hon. Tony Abbott, for their efforts during the Adelaide Hills/Sampson Flat bushfires in January. I congratulate them for the great work that the church did there in supporting those people who were tragically affected by that very significant fire. Donations and goods received were overwhelming as many generous people sought to show love and care for those in their community.

An emergency relief centre was set up and volunteers provided support, a listening ear, food, toys, gift vouchers and household goods to those affected by the fires. Hampers were also delivered to checkpoints at the edges of the fire zone. In recent times, the church's building has undergone renovations for expansion in order to service the community to a greater capacity. A café with a children's playground has also been established and is now open to the public.

This is a fantastic example of a living church, a church that is working directly with the community. I congratulate approximately 1,000 members of that church who go there and support. They do not necessarily put their hand out for government support. They just get on with the job in their community, and that is what the church is and should be about. It is a growing church itself, and I am sure there will be hundreds more people joining that church to connect both with the church and with that community. I know in the north-eastern suburbs that church is very much appreciated by a lot of the leadership people for the great work it provides in the community.

At the end of the day there has to be a leader of that church and, as I said earlier, that is the pastor, the Reverend Mark Purser. I congratulate him and his team, quite a significant team of staff, a huge contingent of volunteers and all members of the church for the great work that they do. Family First and I offer support to the Clovercrest Baptist Church and thank them for their continued service to the community.