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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-09-25 Daily Xml
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DE FELICE, MS A.

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (17:16): I echo the comments of the member for Schubert and congratulate Hermann Thumm on his great contribution to the Barossa region. I rise to speak about a visit to South Australia by Alfonsina De Felice, the regional minister for equal opportunity, youth affairs, immigration and migration, and welfare in the regional government of Campania.

I come from the Campania region. It is a region of approximately 5.8 million people and it is the second most populous region in Italy. It is also the most densely populated region of the country. The capital city of the Campania region is Naples. I was born and grew up in Naples. The Campania region is made up of five provinces: Avellino, Benevento, Caserta, Naples and Salerno. A few MPs from that region are members of this house, including the member for Norwood, the Hon. Carmel Zollo and me; so the region is well represented in this parliament. There must be something in the water or the wine over there because it is also well known for its wines.

It is no accident that this state has a sister-state relationship with the Campania region. The regional minister is coming to South Australia to further the objectives of that agreement and the relationship between the state of South Australia and the Campania region. The Campania region has a very colourful and long history. The President of the Republic is President Napolitano who is also from the Campania region. He is also former member of the Italian Communist Party (now known as the PD).

The regional government is presided over by a president for a five-year term and also a group of 10 ministers. The current Regional President—which is equivalent to our Premier—is Antonio Bassolino, a member of PD. He won a second term in 2005.

I return to the visit to this state by the minister. A number of events and functions will be held for her to meet with the Italian-Australian community in South Australia and also to strengthen the relationship between this state and the Campania region.

On Saturday I will be attending a forum sponsored by the Campania Sports and Social Club. The forum is about 'Il Gemellaggio', or the sister state relationship, and there will be discussion about the relevance of the relationship today and whether it still meets the objectives that were set when it was established in the 1980s. The forum will discuss not only what the sister state relationship means to those who migrated to Australia—and, in particular, South Australia—in the 1950s and 1960s, like my own family, but also, more importantly, what it means to the children and grandchildren of migrants to this state. It will also look at, in particular, how well the sister state relationship helps the new commercial, educational and cultural relationship we have with that region.

Italy has changed, and we also need to recognise that the relationship will change, so we will need to perhaps focus on what it can achieve for the state. At the forum, Mark Quaglia, the President of the Campania Club, will speak, as will Antonio Bamonte, OAM, who is the regional consultore for Australia. Other speakers include Cavalier John Di Fede, OAM, who is well-known to the people of the eastern suburbs, Karen Pocock, the Interim President of IT.SA, the Italian-Australian youth organisation, and other members. The Hon. Carmel Zollo, obviously, will speak on this topic, as will the Chairman of the South Australian Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission. In addition, Tony Zappia and I have been invited to this forum as guest speakers, as has Marco Fedi, the Italian MP who looks after Australia and Asia, and also the Italian Consul to South Australia, Tommaso Coniglio.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the visit to this state by the regional minister. I wish her a very productive meeting with people and I also want to let her know that she is warmly welcomed in this state, as there are many people here who come from that region. I look forward to catching up with her on Saturday. I hope that the visit by the minister will do two things: first, that it will indicate the strength of the relationship between the region and this state and, secondly, hopefully, she will go back with renewed vigour to further enhance the relationship.

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