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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-05-26 Daily Xml
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THINKERS IN RESIDENCE

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (15:35): I would like to start my remarks today by sending my good wishes to David Campbell. I have never met the former minister for transport in New South Wales. What I know about him is what has been in the press over the last few days. I do not know what faction he is; I do not know anything about his background, but I do know that he has been very shoddily treated by Channel 7 in recent days. As I understand, there was no question of corruption, nothing that brought his private matters into the public field. He had a difficult private situation, obviously, as he chose to keep some aspects of it quiet, but I do not think it is up to Channel 7 or, indeed, me or anyone else here to judge him and the way he behaved.

I am particularly sorrowful about Channel 7's attack because I see it as an attack on each and every person who chooses to stand for election as a candidate to any of the parliaments of Australia, because it indicates that we all need to be whited sepulchres, with no skeletons in our closet in any way if we are to stand for public office and, in my opinion, that diminishes our democracy. I wanted to put those remarks on the record because I think it showed serious prejudice and ignorance.

What I really want to talk about today is something very exciting and a true achievement of this government, one of the hidden achievements that is not a building that people can see, and that is the Thinkers in Residence program. What spurred me to talk about this was an event I attended at the Hawke Institute early in April at which three former speakers summed up some of their views, opinions and wisdom about important issues for South Australia. They did it in 20 minutes and it was a true brain fest. Nearly 1,000 people were in attendance. In fact, the Hawke Institute had to keep changing the venue.

One of them was Geoff Mulgan (once described as the brain of Britain) from the Young Foundation, which is a world-leading social innovation centre in the UK. Geoff was a Thinker in Residence a while ago and, as a result of his recommendations, we as a state have established the Australian Centre for Social Innovation. This centre will act as an incubator in which to grow, develop and test unique, effective remedies to our nation's pressing social problems—and I referred to one earlier; one of the many social problems where people can get kicked for their private activities.

Another important Thinker in Residence for the south was Professor Ilona Kickbusch, the south being host to a healthy city for many years and a great record of achievement in health cities and safe cities. Ilona is the driving force behind the Health in all Policies initiative that this government has adopted. This process is now attracting international attention as an exemplary model for cross sector work in tackling 21st century population health challenges. At the time, both Professor Kickbusch and Dr Mulgan were in Adelaide for the 2010 Health in all Policies international meeting held in conjunction with the World Health Organisation, a very prestigious gathering which did not receive much attention from the press, I have to acknowledge.

Another presenter was Judge Peggy Fulton Hora. Judge Fulton Hora served 21 years on the California Superior Court bench and is a strong advocate for smarter justice. The presentation was just before her final lecture at the Adelaide Town Hall. I was not able to attend that, but I understand that that was also a packed event.

The Thinkers in Residence have been such an asset to South Australia that the Premier has now formed the Thinkers Trust, because so many of these former thinkers keep coming back and act as a wonderful resource to the state and members of parliament. I have certainly used them to plan my trips overseas and to get maximum value out of my study tours. The Liberals, however, were going to abandon the Thinkers in Residence program, I understand, as one of their cost-saving measures.

Time expired.

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