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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-05-11 Daily Xml
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NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH

Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (16:25): Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and congratulations on your elevation to that high position. I would like to pay tribute today to the men and women of South Australia who are involved in Neighbourhood Watch. This year we are celebrating 25 years of Neighbourhood Watch. On Saturday, to mark the silver anniversary, there was a march from St Peters Cathedral to the Torrens Parade Ground. Many of the people involved in Neighbourhood Watch joined in the march and celebration held at the Torrens Parade Ground.

There are now more than 600 Neighbourhood Watch groups and 20,000 members in South Australia. The electorate of Mawson has seven Neighbourhood Watch groups, and they vary in size. It is one of those organisations whose numbers seem to dwindle a little bit, and then there is renewed growth and we see the numbers change around a little bit.

Last night, I was at the Willunga Neighbourhood Watch monthly meeting, which I get to as regularly as I can. Judy Dunn is the coordinator there, and she does a fantastic job with a group of about 15 to 20 regulars. We have a fairly good time. We usually spend about two hours, and we talk about not only police issues but also things in general that affect the community of Willunga. The police officers who attend these Neighbourhood Watch meetings also need to be congratulated, because a lot of the time they are giving up their time after hours. Damien Epps, the officer in charge at Aldinga Police Station, is a regular at Willunga Neighbourhood Watch meetings, as he was last night.

We have, as I said, seven Neighbourhood Watch groups. Peter Wire is the coordinator at McLaren Vale, and he does a fantastic job. Like so many other people involved in Neighbourhood Watch, one of Peter's core focuses is on stamping out graffiti in the local area. He has the paint and kits. He gets around, and no sooner do those people, who are quite big nuisances in our community, get out and paint their tags and spray the area with graffiti and leave their mark, Peter and his band of volunteers are out there painting over it. Congratulations and thanks to Peter. He does a job that governments and local governments would find impossible to do at that level.

Huntfield Heights is a new Neighbourhood Watch group. It is doing a really good job and has very strong numbers. We are aided there because the police have a community police officer who walks the beat, talks to the community and gathers intelligence in a friendly way that is non-threatening to the local residents. The local community police officer has gained the trust of the community, so the police get a lot of things reported to them. Sue Bergamin is the coordinator of Huntfield Heights, and she is doing a very good job.

At Hackham West the coordinator is Karen Briscoe, and she is also doing a good job. We must remember that in 1998 the then coordinator of Hackham West, a 45 year old man called Les Scanlon, was chased by a deranged man and beaten to death on his doorstep with a brick. As a woman was being chased, she ran from her house to Les' place, because Les was a very community-minded man who did a lot for Neighbourhood Watch. He was a member of the Hackham West Neighbourhood Watch group since its inception in 1991.

In 1998, he was at home minding his own business with his wife and three kids, and a woman, whose house was being invaded, came running towards his house for safety. When Les confronted the man on his doorstep he was bashed to death, as I said, with a brick. I am happy to say that that is an isolated incident and that Neighbourhood Watch is a very safe group to join and it is very good for our community.

We could probably do with some younger people joining in as well. We seem to have a lot of retirees as members of Neighbourhood Watch, but it is a very good outlet for lots of people of all ages. I encourage all people to join in and learn more and, in fact, contribute to their local community.

We have two neighbourhood watch groups in Woodcroft: the Woodcroft 414, where the coordinators are Vicki Smythe and Peter McMahon. Peter is also the South Coast chairman of Neighbourhood Watch, and he does a terrific job looking after all the Neighbourhood Watch groups in the southern area. The coordinators at Woodcroft 436, 407 and 406 are Shona Morgan and Rod Morgan. Again, it is a very strong Neighbourhood Watch group. As local members of parliament, I am sure there are many people here who regularly attend Neighbourhood Watch.

Congratulations again on the 25th anniversary of this wonderful organisation. I hope you have another 25 years. I know that I will be there to support Neighbourhood Watch.

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