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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-09-08 Daily Xml
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MAWSON ELECTORATE, COMMUNITY EVENTS

Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (17:15): The last few weeks have been very busy ones, as they usually are in the electorate of Mawson, but I want to touch on a few events that have taken place lately, the most recent of which was on Saturday night and the awards night for the Willunga Farmers Market. I know many people on this side of the house are regulars at the Willunga Farmers Market, including you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and our tourism minister (Jane Lomax-Smith) and, of course, the Premier (Mike Rann), who opened the market two years ago in its new location in the heart of Willunga.

At the awards night at the Clappis family home at Willunga, the outstanding service award went to Ray Seidel. The value-adding producer award went to Hardings Fine Foods (and congratulations go to Tony Harding and his family on the outstanding olive oil and other produce that they sell each Saturday morning at the Willunga Farmers Market). The grower of the year was Starlight Springs, and Ian and Colleen, who are fantastic growers at Myponga who have great produce each and every week. The best customer service award went to McLaren Vale Orchards, while the favourite stall was Australian Happy Foods, run by the Clappis family. Congratulations go to Anna, Andy and their girls for their fine stall each and every Saturday. I always say they have not seen people queuing for bread like they do at the Happy Food stall since the bad old days of the Soviet regime in Moscow.

On Friday, we had the opening of the new buildings at the Southern Vales Christian College Aldinga campus. Four or five new classrooms were opened. It was great to go along and hear from not only the officials at the school but also their students and, in particular, the campus leader, Lachlan Barnett, and the campus vice-leader, Sharaia Coppen. Also, we were welcomed by the head of the Aldinga campus, Mr Ian Bartsch, and the college principal, Mr Andrew Clayton, and the dedication was carried out by the Reverend Dr Barry Manuel, who gave a fine dedication that was much appreciated by invited guests, teachers and, of course, the students, who are looking forward to moving into their new classrooms.

They are also looking forward to the improvements at the school that will come about through the Building the Education Revolution money. It was interesting to talk to some of the people at the school afterwards and hear their thoughts about the criticisms the federal opposition is levelling at this spending, because they see it as money well spent and cannot work out why the opposition, or anyone else, would criticise the sort of infrastructure that is going into our schools in South Australia. I know that just within the seat of Mawson more than $25 million is being spent, and it is very much welcomed by students and parents at the various schools.

Willunga High School is receiving $7.5 million, which has nothing to do with the Building the Education Revolution: it is, in fact, state government money that we have fought hard for. I met with the principal at Willunga High School last Friday also, and that is all progressing well. Hopefully, we will have building underway by the end of November.

On 22 August I attended the opening of the Onkaparinga Rugby Club's new facilities. Of course, Madam Deputy Speaker, you were there, as was the health minister (John Hill) and the federal member for Kingston (Amanda Rishworth). The federal government and the state government each contributed $100,000. I congratulate Nigel Phillips and everyone else on the committee at the Onkaparinga Rugby Club. They have done a great job of putting together a very professional proposal to get this funding, and it is a great new facility that will be used by the Onkaparinga Rugby Club and many people in the south who are members of that club.

The 40th Almond Blossom Festival was held in early August, and Premier Mike Rann came down. There was a great parade in the main street of Willunga. As always, we saw the local Willunga CFS lead the parade, and this year they had a brand spanking new truck—thank you very much to the emergency services minister. It was very much appreciated by the volunteers in the CFS at Willunga.

Also, I recently hosted a wine forum here at Parliament House, attended by the head of Austrade in Moscow (Mr Dan Tebbett), who does a magnificent job over there. He came to Parliament House to talk to winemakers from not only McLaren Vale but I also invited some from Clare and the Barossa Valley. They were able to get an update on what is happening in the Russian market and, of course, I have told people here before that in the next few years we are going to sell plenty of wine to the place with the second biggest oil reserves and the biggest gas reserves.

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