Regional Showcase Awards

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (14:23): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Will the minister speak to the chamber about the winners of the South Australian Regional Showcase Awards?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:23): I thank the honourable member for his question. Yesterday I spoke in this place about the Agricultural Town of the Year, which was announced last week at the South Australian Regional Showcase Awards celebration at LOT.100 in the Adelaide Hills. However, as I alluded to yesterday, that was not the only award announced that evening. There were also the winners of the 2025 Regional Showcase Awards, delivered by Solstice Media and InDaily, for which the government of South Australia, through PIRSA, is proud to once again be the presenting partner.

These awards are particularly important because they celebrate stories that feature the strength and innovation of our state's regional communities. There are six categories of awards, all featuring different, important regional stories and bringing to light the creativity and sense of community that exist in regional areas. The six categories are Regional Resilience, Business Innovation, Meaningful Connections, Community Empowerment, Lifelong Learning and the People's Choice Award.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regions sponsors the Regional Resilience Award, which recognises the extraordinary lengths regional communities go to against all odds to regroup and to rebuild. The well-deserving winner of the Regional Resilience Award in 2025 was 'Restored paddle steamer set for River Murray return'. This story was about the 118-year-old paddle steamer, PS Canally, in the Mid Murray, which has been carefully restored by volunteers over 15 years. The restored vessel includes a galley, bathroom and an old-fashioned wood stove and is set to become a tourism drawcard. The story is a standout example of regional community and volunteer-driven resilience, and I am pleased that it was publicly recognised and celebrated at the awards last week.

The winner of the Business Innovation Award was 'Riverland distiller releases Australia's "oldest" bottled spirit'. This recognised the creativity and business nous of regional people. St Agnes Distillery, based in Renmark, has made 500 bottles of 50-year-old brandy to celebrate 100 years as a distillery. The spirit was distilled in the 1970s and has been sitting in an oak barrel since, blended and bottled over the past year in time for the special anniversary. A bottle will set you back $4,800, which the owners, the Angove family, claim is one of the most expensive of its kind in Australia. However, it is clearly a very special item.

'Australia’s best men's shed is in the Adelaide Hills' is the story that won the Meaningful Connections Award. The Macclesfield Men's Shed was recognised as Shed of the Year at a national gathering of the Australian Men's Shed Association held earlier this year. I am advised the first men's shed was established in 1993 in Goolwa, which has expanded to now more than 1,200 sheds nationwide with over 50,000 participants. Men's sheds, I am sure we all would agree, are an important part of the community and wellbeing, not just for the men who participate. The Macclesfield shed provided mentoring to children at a local school, who designed woodwork projects, and the men's shed assisted them in building their designs.

The Community Empowerment Award was won by volunteers preserving SA's rural history. This was another Riverland story, about the Loxton Historical Village, with 45 replica buildings and displays, including a school, a general store, a blacksmith, Loxton's first newspaper, a church and a telephone exchange. The village was under threat in the 2022-23 River Murray floods, and dozens of local volunteers packed memorabilia into boxes and relocated the items to higher ground. Despite the existing levee being extended to protect the village, water did seep into underground power cables and damaged some buildings, forcing the village to close for several months to allow for repairs. Since the flood nearly three years ago, volunteers have dedicated time to boost the profile of the village and encourage tourism.

A regional scholarship and mentoring program for women in the Mid North won the Lifelong Learning Award, celebrating the important work of Cassie Fuller and Kelly Kelly, who are showing other women that it is possible to have an incredible career in regional areas. Neither woman is a stranger to starting their own regional business, with Ms Fuller the creator behind the co-working space Gleeson Collective in Clare and Ms Kelly the principal solicitor at Kelly Kelly Legal in Jamestown. The StartHer Scholarship will provide one woman with 12 months of mentoring as well as 12 months' access to a hot desk at Gleeson Collective.

The final award is the People's Choice Award, which is particularly special because, clearly, it is voted on by the public. This year it was won by 'Outback caterer to the stars', run by Rachel Marcus, mainly cooking for film crews working in regional South Australia. The kitchen is in a 13.5-metre-long bus with the seats ripped out to ensure there is enough room for a commercial kitchen. Rachel took over the business in 2019 from her father, and travels across the state, including Coober Pedy, William Creek, Parachilna and Hawker. I encourage you all to read the stories about the incredible things people are doing across our regional areas. Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you for all that you do to ensure the success of our regions.