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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-11-09 Daily Xml
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ADVANTAGE SA AWARDS

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (14:12): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier inform the house about the 2011 Advantage SA winners?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:12): I thank the honourable member for her question. I was delighted to be invited last Friday night to the 2011 Advantage SA awards.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Some people here might be interested in the award winners. They were two fine South Australians. Every year these awards of course showcase this great talent that we have in our state, and on Friday I was pleased to present the Advantage SA South Australian of the Year award to Mr Frank Seeley.

Frank Seeley is the founder, of course, and Chairman of Seeley International, Australia's largest air conditioning manufacturer and a global leader in the development and commercialisation of energy efficient climate control devices. Of course, he is held in very high regard not only in that industry but across our state. In 2001, he in fact received the Order of Australia medal, but I think the inspiration about Mr Seeley is—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —the way in which he has taken a manufacturing industry in this state and made it a successful manufacturing industry when, in many respects, people are predicting the demise of manufacturing.

There are two critical elements. One is his inspirational leadership. He is an incredibly charismatic man and it is no surprise that everybody who works with him is incredibly inspired by him, but the message that he gave to me and to the audience was that you have to innovate and automate.

He keeps going up the value chain with his manufactured products. That's what we have to do as a state, and I think it is a fantastic thing that we have a South Australian of the Year award at the same time when this is such an important public policy agenda for our state. His leadership in that will be so important for us.

He is also a wonderful contributor to the community. He and his wife play an important role in providing support for disadvantaged children and young people. He has established a charitable fund which I think is up to $10 million in benefits for South Australian children.

Also, the Advantage SA Young South Australian of the Year award was presented to Khadija Gbla, a fantastic young Australian of African descent who is an incredibly inspirational young South Australian. She is an ambassador for the promotion of multiculturalism in Australia. The former minister for multicultural affairs and, I am sure, the present minister will have had much to do with her.

She has been involved in the Harvard National Model United Nations where she regularly presents to school and community groups. She is a fantastic advocate on behalf of those who do not have a voice. She has wonderful values, speaks beautifully and is a fantastic ambassador for our state.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

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