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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-07-11 Daily Xml
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NAIDOC WEEK

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:10): Thank you, Madam Speaker. I know you will join with me in wishing everybody in Darwin all the very best for the National Calisthenics Competition and look forward to my contribution on that topic in due course.

Last week was NAIDOC Week, a national celebration of Indigenous achievement. In my time today I would like to mention several success stories. One is a new scholarship that will include a two-year placement at hospitals in the city's south that will help Aboriginal students through the four-year medical degree at Flinders University. I quote from The Advertiser article of 4 July by Jordanna Schriever, where health minister Hill advised that this year seven students could apply and that the scholarship would be expanded in the future. The article quotes the minister as follows:

Financial insecurity is one of the biggest factors holding back Aboriginal students from completing the program, so we hope this scholarship will take the pressure off.

The article continues:

Director of the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health and Wellbeing at Flinders University, Professor Dennis McDermott, said the program could boost the number of Aboriginal doctors in SA. 'Many Aboriginal medical students are mature students, who may have given up secure employment to become a graduate entry student,' he said. Theresa Francis, of Flinders Medical Centre, said Aboriginal doctors were the 'critical missing piece' for a thriving health service for the Aboriginal community'.

Good luck to the medical students, including Taylee Healy of Berri and Meg Torpey of Rose Park, who are featured in the article and who are among the students vying for the first scholarship.

Another thing that happened this week was the involvement of Professor Peter Buckskin in a conference looking at Indigenous education and Indigenous teaching numbers, so crucial to successful outcomes. The University of South Australia brought together the biggest gathering of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers and educational leaders in Australia's history for the inaugural Teachers are Deadly Conference. At the moment there are over 2,000 Indigenous teachers. Professor Buckskin said that number needs to increase to 10,000, and I quote:

With Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students making up around 5 per cent of the school population, it is now more important than ever to increase the numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers beyond the current 1 per cent of the teaching workforce.

I look forward to seeing such increases and the resulting improvements they will bring.

On Wednesday 4 July, along with many supporters I attended the official launch by minister Caica and AFL superstar Gavin Wanganeen of Matjarra at the Adelaide Produce Markets. Nunga Produce is working with the Giangregorio family on a shared vision to cultivate opportunities and economic independence for indigenous families and communities, the key driving forces behind an emerging partnership to grow and sell herbs, bunch lines and chillies on a commercial scale. The Nunga Produce project collectively markets products grown by Aboriginal growers in regional South Australia through the Adelaide Produce Markets, and has undergone a rapid expansion since its inception in 2005.

Nunga Produce General Manager Ron Newchurch said the project is proof that closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous is a reality. Up to 25 people have so far been employed as a result of the project, with their produce soon to be made available in most greengrocers, IGA stores and Foodland supermarkets under the new Matjarra brand. Employment is expected to rise with increased demand for the products. Congratulations to all involved.

I would also like to put on the record the names of the winners of the NAIDOC 2012 awards for South Australia. The Person of the Year was Lorelle Hunter; the Young Male of the Year was Shannan Iuliano; the Young Female of the Year was Trischaye Lee Newchurch; the Female Elder of the Year was Janice Rigney; the Male Elder of the Year was our own favourite, Uncle Lewis Yerloburka O'Brien. 'The Old Man of the Sea' is here in brackets (I am not sure if he would want me to say that). Uncle Lewis was born at Point Pearce on 25 March 1930 (he probably does not want me to say that either). He is a proud Kaurna elder and statesman with whom we have all become familiar through his wonderful words of welcome to Kaurna country as ambassador of the Adelaide Plains people. He also holds the title of Honorary Fellow at the David Unaipon School, University of South Australia.

Cadet of the Year was Becara Hands; Scholar of the Year was Trenna Clark; Artist of the Year was Derik Lynch; Sportsperson of the Year was Sean Lemmens; and Event of the Year was the Reconciliation Event in Mount Barker, held on 1 June this year. Mark Elliott accepted the award for the event. The Adelaide Hills celebrated at the local recreation centre with a day of entertainment, songs, traditional dancing, a Blue Light disco and a huge barbecue attended by about 600 people.

In our own electorate of Florey I do not think we did as much as we might have done this year. However, our Tea Tree Gully council did have some activities. We very much look forward to making sure that one day our indigenous scar tree at the end of the North East Road, very close to the member for Newland's office, part of the Tea Tree Gully council area, also has an Indigenous trail with interpretive signage and dual language.

We would also like to see it as part of the Tea Tree Gully historic precinct where we know tourists will come. We would like to see cultural dancing and other activities available for people to come and see once or twice a month, depending on the weather, of course, and we very much look forward to future celebrations with all of our Indigenous friends on their achievements.

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