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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-06-18 Daily Xml
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ITALIAN CONSULATE

Ms CICCARELLO (Norwood) (11:45): I move:

That this house—

(a) strongly urges the Italian government to reconsider its decision to close the Adelaide consulate in light of the important role it plays in promoting the cultural, social and economic relationship between South Australia and Italy; and

(b) urges the commonwealth government to lobby the Italian government to change its decision to close the Adelaide Consulate.

I thank all members for agreeing to move forward and support this motion because, as the leader said in the previous motion, we would like to have bipartisan support on many of the issues relating to our community. I will try to be brief, because I would like to give other members the opportunity to speak on the motion so that we can get it through as quickly as possible, because it is urgent.

I became aware on Friday last week that the Italian government intended to close its consulates in Adelaide and Brisbane. This decision was communicated through a decree, not even a debate in the parliament of Italy. It was a decision of the Joint Sitting of the Commission of Foreign Affairs of both the Senate and the Camera dei Deputati (the Deputies House) in the Italian parliament, without any debate, to close 22 consulates around the world. This will have a serious impact on not only our community but also our compatriots in many other countries.

We need to recognise just how important the role of the consulate is in our community. Many consuls over the years have brought with them different skills and priorities, but certainly it is a re-energised consulate in the services that it provides to the community.

As soon as I learned the information on Friday, I contacted the Premier who was very quick to put out a notice on Twitter regarding his concern about the decision of the Italian government. This matter has now had considerable exposure in the media, both here in Australia and overseas. The Premier, at the earliest opportunity on Tuesday, made a ministerial statement, expressing his concern about everything that was happening with the consulate.

Most people are aware that we have a very large Italian community here in South Australia. There are approximately 14,000 Italian citizens here but, including the second, third and fourth generations, we have at least 100,000 people of Italian background in South Australia. Many community organisations and committees, which probably number up to about 150 in the state, have been providing services to the community, working in conjunction with the Italian Consulate.

We have a dynamic Italian chamber of commerce, which works closely with both the state government and the Italian Consulate in progressing the affairs of the Italian community in South Australia, and it has been of enormous benefit to the state.

One of our principal concerns is that we have an ageing population in South Australia. Our Italian community is probably ageing at a faster rate than others because the great majority of them came here in the years after the war. Many of them are now needing to avail themselves of services. If we think of not just the elderly community but also young people and business people, the role the Italian Consulate plays with the chamber of commerce is extremely important in fostering business between our country and our state and Italy with not only the federal government but also the many regions and smaller provinces.

The Premier has been very dynamic in his efforts to promote the Italian community and what happens in South Australia. We have many agreements with both the Campania and Puglia regions. The South Australian government signed a gemellaggio with the Campania region in 1990, and in 2007 I was with the Premier in Bari where he signed a memorandum of understanding with the Puglia government.

Subsequently, South Australia has become the first state in Australia to have a presence at the Fiera del Levante (the biggest trade fair in Italy), where many South Australian companies were present to show the people of Italy the different types of merchandise and food products that are produced in South Australia. Also present were the various educational institutions that have a presence in Italy. Our universities have signed memoranda of understanding with universities in Bari and Lecce, and exchanges are taking place at the moment.

Currently, preparations are being made by the Department of Trade and Economic Development and the Italian chamber of commerce with regard to the Fiera del Levante, which will be taking place in September this year. Many of the companies which participated last year have already indicated that they will be present at the Fiera del Levante this year. In fact, one of the producers is sending over a couple of containers of fresh fruit juice that is produced in the Adelaide Hills. It was such a success last year that he has now been able to establish a lot of markets over there.

What concerned us very much about this decree, as I have already indicated, was that there was not a debate in the parliament giving people the opportunity of making the Italian parliament understand the significance that these services have to our communities overseas. As a migrant and someone who came here at a young age, I know it is important for all of us to make the Italian government aware of the sacrifices made by the people who came from Italy and, indeed, other countries, and who have contributed an enormous amount to help make South Australia what it is. What also must not be forgotten is the enormous contribution they made to Italy and in helping to rebuild Italy after the war, because our migrants sent funds to Italy, and that certainly helped to bring Italy to the forefront after the war. I think those sacrifices certainly need to be acknowledged and rewarded by the Italian government, and that would not be by closing the consulate in Adelaide.

The decision seems to have been a fairly arbitrary decision, especially when one considers the other consulates around the world which have been touted as closing, one of them being in Detroit, which seems quite an absurd decision when one knows that Fiat has just signed a contract to buy Chrysler and it will be increasing its activities there. Why would the Italian government make a decision to close that consulate? One would think that they would be wanting to increase their activity.

The consulates in South America have been quarantined: they will not be closing, the reason being that there are enormous distances between cities in South America. Perhaps Mr Berlusconi needs to get a map of Australia and see what the distances in Australia are like because, as a consequence of this, Adelaide citizens will need to get their services from Melbourne, which is about 700 kilometres away. The people in Brisbane, whose consulate will also be closed, will have to get their services from Sydney; and people in the Northern Territory will need to avail themselves of the services in Perth. If the Italian government does not realise that these distances are enormous, perhaps someone should give it a lesson in geography.

As I have indicated, this has come at a very critical time. A petition has been organised and we are hoping to get as many people to sign it as possible. We are not just asking Italian citizens to sign the petition but anyone in South Australia, because many of our young people want work or holiday visas or information. Some of our companies might want information about trade and industry. There are whole variety of reasons, apart from passports and visas, why people would need to go to the Italian Consulate. This morning, I was very pleased to have someone come into my office saying that she had heard on the radio that we had organised a petition and she wanted a copy. She said, 'I am not even an Italian citizen.'

We will get the ball rolling and all members in this place will be encouraged to have petitions in their offices and to take them to any place they visit to try to get as many signatures as possible so that we can make the Italian government aware of just how strongly we feel about this. We would also like to ensure that we get these petitions back by the end of June, because the Hon. Marco Fedi, one of our Italian parliamentarians, hopefully, will be in South Australia, and we can give him copies of the petitions to take back to Italy in the hope that we can redress this situation.

If they are going to review and revise Italian consular networks around the world, I think they need to have some reasonable criteria as to how they go about doing it. We certainly do not feel the consulate in South Australia warrants being closed. It is an integral hub of our community. It does provide many services and links not only to our Italian citizens but also to the community at large, the government and government departments. With that, I thank members for their interest in this and look forward to the motion being passed as quickly as possible.

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (11:58): I rise to support the motion and signal that the state opposition and the Liberal Party will be giving it their 100 per cent support. The closure of the consulate will have a dramatic effect on the Italian South Australian community should it proceed. This has been raised with me not only as Leader of the Opposition but as shadow minister for multicultural affairs by our three Italian candidates for the forthcoming election: the member for Unley; the candidate for Hartley, Joe Scalzi, the former member for that seat; and Cosi Costa, our candidate for the seat of Light, all of whom trace their origins back to Italy. I call them my three tenors—some might say my three fivers. They are a very important part of our line-up and I know they are very concerned about and committed to issues affecting the Italian community, and particularly this news.

Of course, it has also been raised with me not only by a host of members of the Liberal Party who trace their origins back to Italy—and we have many of them across the state—but also by members of the community at community functions as I travel around. In recent months, I have enjoyed attending Carnevale at its new venue at Wayville, which was a smashing success not only for both old and young Italians alike but also for all South Australians who attended.

I have recently been to the Italian National Day at Fogolar Furlan, which was also a fantastic and well supported event. I joined the Premier and the ambassador for Italy at the opening of the Punto Italia Centre in Campbelltown just last week and, of course, I also attended the annual celebration of the Carabinieri at one of the clubs recently. The Carabinieri do a fantastic job at all Italian functions and the South Australian Italian community should be very proud of them.

At all those events, people have emphasised to me how important the consulate is to the work and the life of the South Australian Italian community. I know this is an issue for staff of the consulate, who I know have raised this, but I also point to the outstanding work being done by Mr Tommaso Coniglio, the current consul who, like his predecessor, is doing an outstanding job representing his government and the people of Italy and helping South Australians of Italian origin.

For all those reasons, I certainly agree with the member for Norwood that we need to save this consulate. I note the Premier's ministerial statement which preceded the moving of this motion and which confirms my understanding that, through this measure, the Italian government hopes to save around €8 million a year from 2011.

I understand that there are about 15 or so staff at the consulate, most of them from Italy but some local. I understand that the plan is for some, if not all, of those positions to move to Melbourne and that the community here would be supported from Melbourne. I think that is a less than desirable outcome. I think we should be aiming to keep the consulate here so that all the issues that affect the South Australian Italian community—passports and diplomatic issues, consular issues on the one hand through to cultural and artistic issues on the other—can be dealt with right here in our own backyard in Adelaide where they really matter. I fear there will be a considerable downgrading of support to the South Australian Italian community if the consulate closes. It simply must be saved.

I offer our complete bipartisan support to any action that the government may be considering in regard to this matter. I advise the government that I think the best way to proceed would be for us to do so together in a bipartisan way as a parliament with both the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition and all members of parliament jointly expressing their concern to the government of Italy, to our ambassador in Italy (Hon. Amanda Vanstone), to the Prime Minister and the relevant federal minister and also to the Leader of the Opposition in Canberra, Malcolm Turnbull, so that we can all work together to try to save this consulate.

Let us not try to make this, in any way, a matter of party politics. Let us not have any side try to score one up on the other by proving that they are working harder than the other to save the consulate. Rather, let us work on it together. Let us do it as a team and help the Italian community to fulfil its dream of having ongoing support from the Italian Consulate right here. I am happy to co-sign any letter or work with the Premier on any initiative that he feels is necessary to get our message through so that this decision can be reversed.

The opposition understands that, from time to time, governments have to cut costs. I understand that this is part of a plan to close about 20 consulates (or similar) around the world as part of a broader cost-cutting initiative. We all understand that these cost-cutting measures need to be taken from time to time, particularly with the global financial downturn, but some things should rise above the need for such economies, and I think that a continued presence from this wonderful country in our state and in our city is an example of that.

This motion has my full support as leader and that of all members on the side of the house, and I will certainly be communicating our position to my three Italian candidates, to all Liberals and to all Italians as I meet them at functions around the country and around the state in the weeks ahead.

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (12:05): I rise in support of this motion and I also welcome the support from the Leader of the Opposition and the Liberal Party. I would like to mention at the outset that I do not have any difficulties in tracing my origins. I was born in Italy. I am not a fake Italian or an instant Italian: I am a real one, but I am also Australian as well.

I wish to start my comments with some quotes from people who have emailed me over this matter, as I think they put the issue into context. They also put into context how important this motion is to the parliament and that it is important that we lobby the commonwealth government as well.

I quote from an email received from the Italian-Australian youth movement relating to preventing the closure of the consulates in both Adelaide and Brisbane:

I am of the firm belief that our chances of best beating this threat is with a united and coordinated national approach, as these closures won't just affect Italians living in South Australia and Queensland but those in the other states of Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia too, placing further pressure on already underfunded and under resourced Consulates.

It is quite clear that these closures not only impact on our state but our whole nation. Another email about this motion from an Italian community leader states:

The support from the SA State Parliament and nationwide and the outcome of debate during the forthcoming Australia-Italia MP forum—

in Adelaide, and I will come to that bit later—

will be crucial to convey to the Italian Government the importance to maintain the consular offices in Adelaide and Brisbane.

I would like to reaffirm the comments made by the Premier in this place just a few days ago. There are a couple of quotes that I think need to be restated, because they very quickly and clearly get to the point of why this decision by the Italian government needs to be strongly opposed by not only people of Italian origin but all of us as a nation. The Premier stated, 'It will also be a body blow to the local Italian community affairs given the central role the Consulate plays.' That is very important. The consulate is not just an office: it provides an important facilitating role, helping to bring community organisations together. Without that, it could impact significantly on the Australian-Italian community.

Importantly, this comes at a time when the state government has supported a number of programs to improve trade, culture and education between South Australia and Italy and, therefore, needs to be strongly opposed. I want to read from the petition which has been circulated, as follows:

We, the undersigned, all being Italian citizens and/or residents of Australia, wish to express our strong opposition to the closure of the Consulates of Adelaide and Brisbane. The Consular network is a fundamental part of the Italian presence abroad. We believe that with the closure of the Adelaide and Brisbane Consulates, Italian citizens and residents of Adelaide and Brisbane will not be able to maintain contact with the Italian State/authorities and they will not have their rights protected as they will not be able to comply with their duties. We urge you to review the decision and maintain the Consular posts of Adelaide and Brisbane as part of an efficient and modern diplomatic network in Australia.

Today, not only do I speak as the member for Light in this parliament, but also I speak as a member of the Australian-Italian MP Forum of which I am the national convenor. That forum will have its next meeting in Adelaide on 2 and 3 July in this place, and this matter will be on the agenda. I have no doubt that MPs from across Australia will fully support the actions of this parliament.

That group, which is a bipartisan group, focuses on what we have in common and how we can work to support the Italian-Australian community; this is one way we can show our political strength to support it. A key objective of the forum is to promote and strengthen cultural, educational and economic ties between Australia and Italy. In particular, the forum seeks to strengthen the relationship between Italo-Australians and Italians and vice versa.

With the closure of the consulate offices in these two states, it does undermine that objective of the forum. To strengthen this relationship, we need to promote contemporary as well as traditional Italian culture in Australia, and it is important for us to have a consulate office here. Importantly, the forum seeks to work alongside existing Italian-Australian organisations and institutions to support them in achieving their aims and objectives. I would add very strongly that the support we received from the consulate network has been very important in our achieving our objective as a group of MPs across this nation.

As new and emerging immigrant communities settle in Australia, their needs will attract growing government attention. While this is natural and appropriate, we must work together to ensure that established communities like the Italian-Australian community are not forgotten or left behind. By closing the Italian Consulates in Adelaide and Brisbane, that is exactly what the Italian government is doing: enabling people to forget that we are here and how important we are in the contribution we have made as a group to Australia.

Since the unification of Italy, almost 27 million Italians have migrated from Italy across the world. I seek leave to have inserted in Hansard a table outlining the migration from Italy around the world, because it is very important to this debate.

Leave granted.

Table 1 1876-1985 Emigration and Migration rate (per 1,000)

Emigration Migration Rate
1876-1885 1,315 4.56
1886-1895 2,391 7.76
1896-1905 4,322 13.06
1906-1914 5,854 20.60
1876-1914 13,882 11.01
1915-1918 363 2.44
1919-1928 3,007 7.70
1929-1940 1,114 2.20
1941-1945 4,121 0.32
1946-1955 423 5.24
1956-1965 3,166 6.28
1966-1975 1,714 3.20
1946-1975 7,351 4.86
1976-1985 861 1.53
Total 26,595


Mr PICCOLO: Over 26 million Italians have left Italy since unification seeking a better life across the world, from the north initially to Europe and from the southern parts to the Americas and Australia. They left because of economic hardship. Italian migrants have made enormous contributions to Italy, ironically, by leaving because they made growth eventually possible by reducing demand on the services and resources of that nation but, more importantly, they have introduced Italian culture to other nations, and that has boosted trade across the world.

As other members of Italian origin would acknowledge, often Italian migrants have sent money back to Italy to support other family members, thereby helping the Italian state. It is unfortunate that the Italian political system since unification has, on many occasions, abandoned the Italian migrants. Families were forced to leave their country of birth because of economic hardship and because the systems in place did not support their own people. My own family is one of those. We come from the South. Many left Italy because of economic hardship, corruption and a whole range of other things where the Italian state could not support them.

Today, with this decision, the Italian government is abandoning these migrants once again. It abandoned them and forced them to migrate; now it is abandoning these people and their countries where they have made their new home. This decision reinforces how sometimes the Italian government cannot get it right.

By reducing the number of consulates, it reduces access to services and the Italian government. This decision will not only damage Italy's reputation in Adelaide and across Australia but also across the world at a time when Italy is trying to play a more important and significant role in international affairs, as it should. It is one of the great nations in this world alongside Australia.

Ironically, as Italy seeks to play an important role internationally, it is now seeking to reduce its role in those communities where it has the most support in places like Adelaide and Brisbane and other places in America from which the Italian government and the Italian nation have received a lot of support but from which they are now seeking to withdraw inappropriately.

Support for Italian migrants abroad, as I mentioned, has been variable over the years and has significantly improved recently; I include South Australia and Australia as well. For the Italian government now to reverse that support for Italian migrants would be a shameful act and would be a gross betrayal of the Italian-Australian community.

Mr PISONI (Unley) (12:14): I am very pleased to support this motion and, in doing so, I think it is very important that we make it clear, as a parliament in South Australia, that we collectively represent all South Australians, and we do have a very strong and vibrant South Australian community. Rather than criticise the Italian government, I would like to talk about some of the reasons why it might want to reconsider its decision to close the consulate here in Adelaide.

Since becoming the member for Unley, I have noted the amount of work that the Italian Consulate in this state does, not only to help the Italian community in relation to their requirements and needs but also to enhance the Italian culture and, more importantly, to ensure that the Italian language continues to have a place in Australian society and, in particular, in South Australian society.

In September last year, the current consul and I visited Unley High School. We did so because Unley High School is one of the schools that will benefit from the financial commitment that the Italian government has made to Italian language in South Australia. It was a small class of about 12 or 13 students, with a mixture of students of Italian heritage and students from other heritages, including plain old boring Anglo-Saxon heritage. The students were very interested in learning not only the Italian language but also about Italian culture.

Of course, in order to understand the significance of this story, you need to understand that, when students study a language in year 10, they do so through choice; it is not compulsory. So, these students had chosen to learn Italian in year 10, and most of them were intending to take it through to year 12.

Some people have raised a concern in relation to the new SACE that, with the reduction in subjects that are necessary, languages may well drop off in year 12, because there will be pressure on students to do other subjects in order to get a higher score to gain entry to university. However, that is an issue for another day. Certainly, it is of concern to those teaching languages around the state but, as I have said, I will talk about that at some other time. Both Tommaso and I spoke to the students. One student, when asked why she was studying Italian, replied, 'My grandmother is Italian. My parents do not speak Italian, and I would really love to be able to speak to my grandmother.'

Regardless of the fact that my mother was not from an Italian background, my father always taught me that once an Italian, always an Italian: a son of Italy is always a son of Italy. It was great to see this 15 year old student wanting to return to her Italian roots and have conversations in Italian with her grandmother. She was able to do that by studying Italian at school and through the support of the Italian consul in Adelaide.

Something that I have discussed with Tommaso in recent times is his dream of seeing an Italian centre here in Adelaide. We know that post-war Italian immigrants are now getting into their 80s. My father is 82. A lot of the clubs are no longer viable, and Tommaso came up with this great idea that it would be great if we could consolidate those clubs and establish in the city an Italian centre for culture, business and clubs, where the clubs could combine their assets and have an Italian centre. That could be done in conjunction with the Italian chamber of commerce, COMITES and other Italian organisations.

We have seen them combine in a single building in Newton, and it would be great if that concept could be expanded (including the various Italian clubs around South Australia, the Italian chamber of commerce and perhaps even the consulate itself) into a cultural and trade centre connecting South Australia with Italy. That is obviously something that would take some planning and some convincing to undertake, but it would be much more difficult to do if we no longer have a consulate here in South Australia.

I am very pleased to support this motion. We need to be subtle, and we need to appreciate the position of the Italian government. We do not want to insult or reprimand the Italian government: we want it to reconsider its decision. The Parliament of South Australia is not in the business of telling other democratically elected governments how they should run their country, but we want the Italian government to understand how important it is to the relationship between South Australia and Italy that this consulate remain open.

I also want to use this opportunity to express some concern that I might have if the Greek government decides to make the same rationalisation decision and follow the Italian government's lead. I think it is important that we take a stand on this with the Italian government and make sure that it understands how important we think it is. We should also get the message out to the Greek government that it should not even consider closing its consulate in Adelaide, because it is a valuable part of the South Australian community and a valuable tool for enhancing Greek culture, just as the Italian consul has been for enhancing the Italian culture and language.

I think that it would be a mistake for the Italian government to continue on this planned path to close the consul here. I understand that someone from treasury has probably put some figures in front of them, and they have not thought about the broader and longer term implications of carrying that through. We all know that treasury officials see numbers when, really, they should be looking at communities. I think it is important that we understand the importance of the Italian community and, more importantly, the Italian community and its relationship here in South Australia with the general community and also the importance of a strong relationship with Italy and South Australia.

Ms SIMMONS (Morialta) (12:23): I rise to support the motion of the member for Norwood. In Morialta around a quarter of my constituents identify as coming from an Italian background. My electorate office has been inundated since the word has spread in the last few days from constituents who are extremely concerned about the status that they are left in by having no representative here in South Australia.

It is often the poorest and most vulnerable in our community who are in need of assistance from the consul, and will, therefore, not find it within their means to travel to speak personally to a consul in Melbourne. Many of them are older Italians and feel that they will not be able to conduct their business by telephone, fax or computer, as many of them do not have the skills to use the computer or get that information. They still rely heavily on that one-to-one contact, that personal relationship, that they build up with the consuls that we have in South Australia.

On their behalf, I want to join and express my disappointment at the decision made by the Italian government. I also want to express my disappointment that there was no debate on this issue in the Italian government and that it was made as an announcement rather than as a considered decision. I feel very strongly that, with around 100,000 citizens in our state who consider themselves to be of Italian background, this government supports them by protesting against the decision that has been made.

In my own area of Campbelltown, the Italian influence is so great that the Campbelltown City Council has, just in the past year, signed a memorandum of understanding with Paduli in the Campania region of Italy, because that is where the majority of the migrants came from, particularly in the 1950s. They have been able to maintain strong links between Campania and South Australia, but particularly Campbelltown, for all that time. That is something that is very strong and very significant, and it is really important to those constituents.

I feel that perhaps the Italian government does not understand the concepts of multiculturalism that we encourage here in South Australia, that we actually encourage our ethnic groups to maintain these links, to maintain their culture, to maintain their language, their dance, their song, all of those things that makes them Italian Australians. There have been two consuls since I have been a member of parliament and they have played a massive role in making that happen.

The trade between South Australia and Italy is a significant part of our trade. Perhaps they do not like the fact that two of our companies, which Italy is well known for, trade back to Italy. San Remo pasta, which is a South Australian company, exports pasta to Italy, which I think is an amazing achievement. Serafino Wines, Steve Maglieri's company, exports wine to Italy. There are many products that we produce here and Italy produces, and the trade between the two countries is very significant. Without a consul here, that trade is not going to be as easy as it has been in the past.

The Italian chamber of commerce and COMITES, as the member for Unley said, do a wonderful job, but it is facilitated by the fact that we have an active and interested consul here. Both the consuls I have known have been extremely hard working, extremely involved and very popular within their communities.

On occasions, constituents come into my office with a problem, and we are able to phone the consulate. Because it is often a problem that requires their intervention, they are extremely helpful and extremely good at facilitating a solution to those problems. To have to build up a relationship with an absent consul in Melbourne is not going to help the work that we do. It is most important that we as a government insist that there is a review of the decision that has been made in Italy, and that is reversed.

I endorse all the comments made by the previous speakers, and I will not take up any more of parliament's time. I fully support the motion of the member for Norwood.

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (12:29): I will not hold the house long on this very important motion, which I strongly support. I went to Salisbury High School and Salisbury Primary School with many Italians when we lived out there and grew up there. I do wonder what Joe Bivoni and Giuglio Di Vito are doing now. I had a lot of good friends then who introduced me to the Italian way of life, Italian extended families and, most of all, Italian food. One of the fondest memories I have is going to some of the market gardens out around the Salisbury and Virginia area and visiting with families and spending the afternoon. It was a terrific experience. I realise that this great state of South Australia that we live in would be far worse off if it were not for the input of all the ethnic groups that we have in South Australia, particularly the Italian community, to which this motion refers.

In my veterinary practice I had a number of Italian clients who were part of my large animal practice. I was extremely fond of an elderly Italian couple, in particular, Mr and Mrs D'Aloia (I do not know their Christian names), who lived at the back of States Road at Morphett Vale. Going into their place was like going into what I imagine an Italian village would be like, with goats, chooks and ducks, and every sort of vegetable produce you could think of growing. I was always warmly greeted and left the place with a dozen eggs and some vegetables.

Being able to mix with the broad range of communities is something that I really treasure as part of living in South Australia. For the Italian government to not recognise the close connection that South Australia has with Italy through its Italian community and so downgrade its representation here I think needs to be rethought. I think it is a mistake, and I would urge it very strongly to rethink this.

One of the things that I comment on during citizenship ceremonies is that when you become an Australian citizen you do not have to give up anything. We urge all of our ethnic groups to ensure they maintain their culture and links with their past and be proud of where they have come from, because it is so important. This is why this particular move by the Italian government is very much a retrograde step. We should be maintaining our links.

I know there is a particular region of Italy, the Puglia region, that the Premier talks about and with which we have funding exchanges. Some of the groups come out to WOMAD. It is an important link. However, it is more than that: it is the families here—the second, third and fourth generation Italian families that are dinky-di Aussies who still have roots in Italy. I was born in England but I have an affinity with my Scottish ancestors, and that was strengthened through going to Scotland.

The need to maintain a link with your roots is something that I cannot emphasise enough, so I implore the Italian government to rethink this decision and support the Italian community—the Italian Australians. They are Australians first, but they value their heritage and are proud of it, so why does the Italian government not get behind these proud Italian families and do something for them by maintaining this representative at the appropriate level? We have had that in the past, and let us see it continue into the future.

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (12:33): I put on the record my total support for all the remarks made on this subject this morning. As the house may realise, my mother is Italian born. She was born in Australia to Italian parents who migrated in 1912. Of course, Florey is the home of the Campania club, one of the largest Italian clubs here in South Australia. It is my pleasure to work with all the members who have spoken this morning and be part of taking up the petition, and we will do our very best to ensure the right outcome is reached.

Mr BROCK (Frome) (12:34): I heard the Leader of the Opposition, and I have to agree 100 per cent with him that this motion has to have bipartisan support. This is a very important issue for the whole of South Australia.

I will speak from my own experience. Port Pirie has a great Italian community and, as other members have mentioned, we need to retain that heritage and culture. Port Pirie is a leader in multiculturalism not only across South Australia but also Australia. Port Pirie also has a very large Greek community. I do not like to have anyone lose their heritage or contact with their own country. My late wife was from Scotland, so I have a great connection with people in Scotland and, even though we do not have a Scottish embassy in Adelaide, I still have fairly good contact with my relatives over there.

Port Pirie has what we call the 'blessing of the fleet', as does Port Adelaide. This year we will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the blessing of the fleet, which celebrates the heritage of the fishermen from Molfetta coming to Australia for a far better life. They chose Port Pirie, and the descendants of those people have now grown in number to 4,000 or 5,000. As a previous speaker indicated, they have become dinky-di Australians. In my previous role as the mayor of the Port Pirie Regional Council, I was very passionate about doing citizenships. I also urged the new citizens of Australia to retain their heritage, to retain their culture, and never to lose that.

As part of getting Australia to be more focused on the national stage, we need also to learn from other people. In terms of my own personal experience with the consul general, I had previous contact with him and his wife. In fact, when the previous consul general's wife gave birth to their first child, my partner, Lyn, and I were in Adelaide and we had the opportunity to congratulate them and to visit them at the consulate. We have had a very close liaison with the consulate over the past seven years.

I understand that all governments, as the Leader of the Opposition indicated this morning, need to look at their expenditure, but I believe that this state needs to be very united in asking the Italian government to reconsider the closure of the Italian Consulate in Adelaide. As other members have indicated, we have that great link. Some people do not have the ability to make phone calls to Italy and things like that; they make contact with their homeland through the consulate.

I will not take up a lot of time, but I think this government and the whole of South Australia needs to be united in urging the Italian government to reconsider the closure of the consulate in Adelaide and to look at the long-term venture. I support the motion of the member for Norwood.

Ms CICCARELLO (Norwood) (12:33): I thank members for their comments, and I will just pick up on a couple of those. I agree that this should be bipartisan, but I would have to say that the Premier (in all these things) moves very quickly, as he did when I contacted him the other day with regard to contacting the Italian government. In some of these things, you have to, as we say, 'prendere la palla al volo': in Italy you have to take the opportunity as quickly as it presents itself.

Our members elected to the Italian parliament, the Hon. Marco Fedi in the Camera dei Deputati and Senator Nino Randazzo in the Senate, have been appalled by the unilateral decision that has been made. I do not think we can be subtle about it, because, as I indicated at the very beginning, the decision was a decree. It was announced to the Joint Commission of the parliament; it was not debated.

There seems to be very little rationale in the way in which they have selected the cities where these consulates are to be closed. As soon as I found out on Friday when I was in Caffe Buongiorno on the Parade, it was certainly the main topic of conversation. People are very appalled by what has happened.

The member for Morialta also indicated that about a quarter of her electorate is of Italian origin. If we look at those sorts of numbers, I have almost the same number in my electorate as there would be in Hartley and various other places on the western side of the city.

While much of our community is concentrated on the eastern side of the city, I acknowledge Port Pirie and its importance. The honourable member might be interested to know that the Molfettese community, in particular, has been used by many people in Italy to study the old dialects. Those of us who came to Australia—I was six when I came here—have a lot of the old language. We live in a bit of a time warp. Many of the dialects are dying out in Italy so they can come to Australia to study the dialects, because they now realise—as we have with the Aboriginal languages—that language is very important to a community. Language helps to indicate their sense of place and identity and how they evolved. From that aspect the community here is extremely important.

The issue of an Italian centre is not new. It has been discussed for at least the past 30 years I have been involved with the Italian community, and I think we will be discussing it for a long time before serious steps eventuate. At present our priorities should be concentrated on providing services for our communities. Monuments can be built at any time, but once people have died they no longer need various services. I think that is what we need to concentrate on at present.

I have worked with about 10 or 12 consuls in Australia. In fact, two of them lived in Norwood, including Francesco Azzarello, who is the chief of staff of Under Secretary Mantica who made this decision. I learned this only the other night, so I will certainly be contacting Francesco to remind him of his time here in South Australia. His two daughters were born in South Australia and attended Margaret Ives Community Children's Centre in Norwood. When Lorenzo Kluzer—one of the consuls who followed Francesco Azzarello to South Australia—learned he was coming to Adelaide, he was told by Francesco that he should, first, live in Norwood because it was a great place and, secondly, send his children to the Margaret Ives Community Children's Centre because it was very good; so Margaret Ives Community Children's Centre is very well known in Rome.

I am pleased that both this house and the other place have supported my motion and that the Premier was quick to put forward in the strongest terms to the Italian government that we do not want the consulate to close.

Motion carried.

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