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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-09-22 Daily Xml
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MAWSON ELECTORATE

Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (16:01): As you know, Mr Speaker, one the great benefits of being a local member of parliament is getting around to the schools in our electorates. Last week, it was my very great pleasure to go to Tatachilla Lutheran College and hand over a cheque for $3 million on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister and the member for Kingston, Amanda Rishworth. I have to say that $3 million is a lot of money, and the school is very appreciative of it and will be putting it towards a multipurpose hall.

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

Mr BIGNELL: I know that we hear the Liberals complaining all the time about this great investment the Rudd government is putting into schools, with the help of the state government and our education department, but their message is really not going down so well in school communities. The parents, the teachers and the students I speak to are at a loss to understand why anyone criticises such a great investment in our education system.

I said to the kids last week that I love to walk into a school and hear the buzz of students at play, that I love to walk in and hear the buzz of students learning but that the noise I love the most when I walk into schools is the buzz of power tools as we rebuild the infrastructure for our schools for today and into the future.

I think it is wonderful that we in Australia are investing in the schools that have really lacked any sort of considerable infrastructure spend by federal and state governments for more than 30 years. We will get through this global financial crisis, and the great legacy will be better facilities in our schools.

Last Wednesday night, I had the great fortune to go along to the Hopgood Theatre at Noarlunga to see this year's Hackham East Primary School's musical. Each year, Bob Thiele, the great principal at Hackham East Primary School, writes and directs a musical, and the kids do a fantastic job. This year it was Noah's Ark, and it was as good as any I have seen over the past four years.

To see the excitement on the faces of students was one thing, but to be in the foyer afterwards, when the students came from backstage to greet their parents, and to see their parents, their grandparents and their siblings with such great smiling faces was just amazing.

The kids at Hackham East do not necessarily come with a silver spoon in their mouth, but they are a great bunch of kids. The boys choir came here last year when they performed the haka and sang to the education minister and to the Premier. This year, we gave them the opportunity (which they leapt at) to perform for the Governor-General at the Convention Centre. I think it is one of the fantastic things we can do is local members to give students in our areas these great opportunities.

Another great part of our local communities are the sporting organisations, and on Saturday I had the pleasure of being at the McLaren Vale oval for the grand finals of the Great Southern Football League. What a fantastic day of footy! Four games, and seven points was the greatest margin, so it was fantastic.

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

Mr BIGNELL: I did not see the member for Finniss down there. I was there, and Willunga won the Colts and in the B grade McLaren Vale won the grand final by seven points, the biggest margin of the day. They beat Strathalbyn, and the Strath boys went out again in the A grade. They started fairly poorly; Willunga got away to a great start in its bid to win its sixth consecutive Premiership, but to Strath's credit they really came back in the second half, and it was goal for goal right up until the final siren. In fact, most of us who ran out onto the ground thought that Willunga had won by one point, but indeed it had won by two points. There was a little bit of confusion with a late score at the end of the day.

The week before that, I was at the same venue but over at the netball courts for the Great Southern Netball Association grand finals, and it was good to see Mary-Lou Corcoran, the Mayor of Victor Harbor and the Labor candidate for the seat of Finniss at the next election, out there cheering on her teams from the electorate of Finniss. She is a great candidate; very hard working, and I think she is a very big chance to be in this place after the March 2010 election. I was there cheering on the netball teams from my electorate.

An honourable member interjecting:

Mr BIGNELL: Mary-Lou is my cousin. She is a very good candidate and will make a great member of parliament after March next year. Congratulations to the McLaren Vale netball teams, who made it there to five grand finals and were victorious in four of them. I know the girls were ready to gloat in the B1s, because they already had their premiership T shirts made up and they were wearing them within a minute of the game finishing. Congratulations to them. Also, news hot off the press: Vale Ale from the McLaren Vale brewing company has just won an international award at the London Beer Show, so congratulations to everyone there.

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