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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-06-02 Daily Xml
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HACKHAM EAST PRIMARY SCHOOL

Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (15:42): I rise today to congratulate and commend the school community at the Hackham East Primary School who do a wonderful job in many areas, both within their school community and in the wider community. Last year, I went to one of the school assemblies at Hackham East. They had a rather large boys' choir, which is unusual for anyone who knows boys in their late primary school years, as being in the choir is not necessarily the coolest thing to do. However, at Hackham East they split the choir into a boys' choir and a girls' choir. About 45 boys were attracted to joining the boys' choir.

Better still, some students from New Zealand had moved here and brought with them some Maori traditions. They taught their classmates how to do the haka. Not only were I and the rest of the people at the assembly treated to some fantastic singing by the boys' choir, but they also performed the haka. At the end of their performance I gave a speech and made a presentation. I said that I was sure the Premier, who grew up in New Zealand, would be fascinated to see a group of South Australian school students doing the haka, so I invited them into Parliament House. We took them up to the Balcony Room, and the Premier, the Minister for Education and a few other members of parliament came along. These students did a fantastic job with the singing performance and doing the haka. At the end of it, the Premier congratulated them and rubbed noses with the Maori leader from the local community. It was a fantastic morning here at Parliament House.

In February or March I got a phone call from the Premier's office that Her Excellency the Governor-General, Ms Quentin Bryce AC, was coming to Adelaide and there was to be a morning tea hosted by Her Excellency. The Premier's office mentioned that the Premier had been greatly impressed by the singing of the students of Hackham East and asked whether it might be possible for the students to come along and perform for Her Excellency and the very large gathering that morning. The member for Heysen was one of those in the audience, as were the Premier and several ministers.

The students did an outstanding job. I must say they were treated very well by the protocol department in the Premier's office. They had their own tables roped off from the rest of the guests that morning. I sat with each of the five tables and suggested to them that they had their VIP area roped off so that the other people did not come over and pinch their doughnuts. But they were very well behaved, and they sat there with their doughnuts and their sandwiches, and their fresh fruit and orange juice and everything else. Before Her Excellency arrived they sang three or four songs and got rousing applause from all those hundreds of people there. I must admit that I had a bit of a tear in my eye, to see these kids whom I have become close to over the past three for four years, to see them up there performing for such a big audience, at the Convention Centre, and to have played a role in that is something they can be very proud of.

So, today I would like to pay a tribute to Bob Thiele, the principal of Hackham East, who has done a terrific job in getting his students involved in the performing arts. The whole school is involved in a musical each year, and, if you do not have an on-stage role, you will be guaranteed to have a backstage role, either in audio or lighting or something like that. That is performed down at the Hopgood Theatre at Noarlunga, and it really is an amazing production each year.

To all the students, the 47 students who came to the Convention Centre for Her Excellency's morning tea, I say thank you very much for your time, and I am sure it was a fantastic honour not only to sing but also to then meet Her Excellency, who came and spoke to each student individually afterwards and mentioned to them that they should strive for great things in their lives and gave them a fantastic message about not just going to parliament to sing but actually stand for parliament and get in there and make a difference in the future.

Also, the choirmaster, Jarrod Lamshed, has done a fantastic job with these students, not only with the singing but also these students in his class raised nearly $2,000 for the McGuinness McDermott Foundation earlier this year by shaving their heads. To the accompanist on the day, Ms Cheryl McVickar, thank you for playing the piano at the performance, and thank you to the assistant choirmaster, Mrs Dianne Fairweather, who also played a very important role.

Time expired.

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