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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-28 Daily Xml
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SOUTH ADELAIDE FOOTBALL CLUB

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (16:55): This afternoon I would like to speak about two initiatives relating to young people in the south. The first is an exciting new initiative of the South Adelaide Football Club, the Panthers (as they are now known). The Panthers has set out to really make a place for itself in the southern community. It has been based in the south for some time now, but it cannot yet be said that South Adelaide has the same identity in the south as Central Districts Football Club has in the north. However, we are aiming to change this significantly.

The South Adelaide committee has consulted with a number of activists in the community about ways that it might be able to stamp its mark on the southern community and contribute to it significantly. My suggestion is something that has been taken up by South Adelaide and called Southern Man-Made Program. This is a mentoring program for young boys who have no father figure in their family. We are targeting boys in the 12 to 14 age group, starting modestly with eight boys, each of whom will be assigned a mentor from within South Adelaide players.

The boys will have a gym program, which they will undertake in conjunction with their mentor on a Monday night, and then, through the Hackham West Community Centre, they will also be involved in some life skills development programs for young men, targeting particularly healthy living and emotional health for young men.

The boys in the program will also be part of the South Adelaide volunteer program, so that they get into the habit of giving back to their community, as well as receiving benefits from it. They will become part of a vibrant community where both men and women work together for the recreational benefit of the south.

The Hickinbotham Group is sponsoring this, and we are hoping that, as part of this, Hickinbotham will provide work experience opportunities for some of these young men, because, often, when there is not a man in the family, it is very hard to find really relevant work experience opportunities.

Another exciting thing for the young men involved is that they will go with their mentor to an AFL match and sit in the box at AAMI Stadium where, no doubt, they will partake of healthy food, as we all do when we sit in boxes at AAMI Stadium. They will be able to spend a day out with their mentor and see an AFL match, which many of them would not have had the opportunity to see before.

I congratulate the South Adelaide Football Club for taking up this initiative. I put it forward as something that would benefit young people in the south, even though it is starting off in a small way, and I am very pleased that it will be launching the program this evening.

The other youth initiative in the south that I want to mention is the ANZAC Youth Vigil, which this year had its seventh vigil. Again that started from an idea when talking to a couple of local activists on ANZAC Day and I said, 'There is this youth vigil in the city, why can't we have one in the south?'

As I said, we have had seven vigils in the south, thanks to a lot of volunteer organisers in the community and 28 sponsors. I want to particularly mention Bradley's Bakery and Chem-Loo Chemical Toilets, both of whom have been sponsors right from the beginning and were two of the first sponsors to come on board. Everyone would understand that, if you are keeping 200 young people fed for the night, you need both a bakery and a chemical toilet.

St John's is quite special in the south, providing overnight first aid coverage for everyone. This year Tayla Cooling, who is the City of Onkaparinga's Young Citizen of the Year, was the youth speaker. She spoke movingly about having talked with her two grandfathers about their experience during the Second World War. This has been an important event for the south and I congratulate all involved.

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