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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-09-24 Daily Xml
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COMMUNITY CENTRES AND HOUSES

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (12:55): I move:

That this house commends community centres and houses for the good work they do in the community and urges the state and federal governments to increase funding to these centres.

I am sure other members have positive things to say about the community centres in their electorates. In the City of Onkaparinga (in which my electorate is totally contained), there are approximately 11 community centres, and I commend the City of Onkaparinga for funding and supporting them, because they are fantastic. For the information of members, I advise that there are approximately 73 community houses and centres in metropolitan Adelaide—

Mrs Geraghty: Name them.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH: —I will see the whip afterwards—23 houses and centres in regional South Australia; over two million participant contacts per annum; over 15,000 volunteer hours per week, valued at over $15 million per year; and 660 (approximate) volunteer committees of management and advisory group members who put in 33,000 hours of community governance per annum. The great thing about these community centres and community houses is that they are open to everyone and they deliver a whole range of services based on community needs: adult community education; skills.net internet access; refugee support; neighbourhood renewal; health promotion; school holiday programs; housing week projects; social enterprise; environmental programs; problem gambling; children's programs; HACC programs; Be Active; tax help; community safety; and community gardening.

They support people of all ages, basically from birth through to 100 plus. I do not personally know of anyone over 100 attending my local centres, but I am sure there are some at one or other of these centres. They support parents, families, unemployed, employed, people with a different range of abilities, people from diverse ethnic and social cultural backgrounds, and people who are new to the area or those who have lived there a long time. They also partner with other organisations. One of the reasons for moving this motion is to focus in a positive way on the contribution of these centres and houses.

Recently, my local centre asked the people who attend to fill out a card saying why they enjoy the Aberfoyle Park Community Centre. I will not read all of them out because we had approximately 200 contributions, but some of the people said:

I can meet friendly people in a relaxed area to help me with learning English. I travel far to come here because there is a crèche for my child. I also get one-on-one tutoring.

My community centre provides an opportunity for me as a volunteer to engage in tutoring and other community services now that I am unable, physically, to volunteer for activities like firefighting and emergency services that I used to do.

Tutoring people in English literacy has given me greater self-esteem because I feel I am putting something back into the community. I have met so many lovely people and seen attitudes to other races change in many people. The centre promotes multiculturalism.

I need my community centre because I'd like to improve my internet, reading and communication skills. I travel from Mt Barker to this centre because my local one doesn't meet my needs.

It provides an outreach to the community in many ways. It gives me an opportunity to teach English to people of many different cultures and helps me to learn about them too. It is an exciting and joyful experience.

I want to make friends and learn about Australian culture.

I had a serious work injury...suffering multiple broken bones as well as suffering PTSD and depression. Coming to the art class has been the best form of therapy for me. My art teacher, students and staff have been an integral part of my re-adaption to society and focus on the next direction in my life. I hope it continues.

And so they go on with all these positive responses from the people who use the Aberfoyle Park Community Centre, and I am sure the message is the same at the other centres. I would urge the state and federal governments to support these centres financially to an even far greater extent than they do now. I commend the motion to the house.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mrs Geraghty.

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