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

PORT LINCOLN YOUTHORIA CINEMA

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (17:11): I take the opportunity to make this adjournment grieve, and I will make it brief, Frances, I promise.

Ms Bedford interjecting:

Mr TRELOAR: I would like to talk once again about the recent state budget handed down by Treasurer Jack Snelling. There was in that budget provision of just under $800,000 to install digital projection at various regional theatres around the state.

My congratulations and good wishes go to the towns of Whyalla, Port Pirie, Renmark and Mount Gambier on their being successful recipients of this not inconsiderable funding, but my question has to be: why was the theatre in Port Lincoln overlooked in this allocation of funds? I would hope that it was simply overlooked. I can think of no other reason why the public theatre in Port Lincoln should not be deserving of equal status with those other regional towns I have previously mentioned.

I can suggest that one possible reason for the theatre in Port Lincoln being overlooked is that all of the successful recipient theatres are owned by the local councils and are operated by Country Arts SA, whereas the Youthoria Cinema, as it is known, in Port Lincoln is operated by West Coast Youth and Community Support.

West Coast Youth and Community Support is an independent NGO, funded by DSI as the local homelessness services provider. In fact, it has been operating as an entity in Port Lincoln for the past 27 years. The operation of the Youthoria Cinema as a social enterprise project is managed and financed completely independent of that organisation but it is overseen by the organisation as an important valuable addition to the business.

West Coast Youth and Community Support is able to offer some young clients who are at risk, homeless, unemployed or disengaged from education supported training and paid employment at the cinema itself. This improves their work readiness and helps to break that cycle of unemployment that is present in many families. The group also works to provide a recreational facility (the cinema), which is well utilised by the local Port Lincoln community and beyond.

The Port Lincoln Youthoria Cinema, as it is known now, has operated for the past three years as a social enterprise, offering employment and training, as I have already mentioned. The main focus of this training is to be able to provide young people with training, work experience and to increase their work readiness.

This cinema, along with those other country cinemas I have mentioned, have been caught up in a situation where they have been required to upgrade an ageing projector to digital, and the cinema has worked very closely with industry to assist with this process. But as with many regional single-screen cinemas, the Port Lincoln cinema has had a chequered history of opening and closing down due to difficulty with their financial viability.

The Youthoria Cinema has taken a very proactive approach to fundraising to assist in the digital upgrade. The cinema is fortunate in that it has had very strong local support. In fact, due to not insignificant amounts raised by last year's Tunarama entrant Jessica Webb and also a donation from the Bendigo Community Bank in Port Lincoln, along with a donation from Port Lincoln City Council, the Youthoria Cinema has raised around $56,000 towards the upgrade of the digital theatre.

But, of course, the overheads are the same as for all council-owned facilities, except that this particular cinema has to ensure that it is profitable in order to maintain staffing and service levels, and any other upgrades to facilities or equipment that need to be self-funded. Of course, at this particular point in time the upgrade to digital projection needs to be a self-funded project.

I go back to my original statement, that for the life of me I cannot understand why Port Lincoln has been overlooked when Whyalla, Port Pirie, Renmark and Mount Gambier have all received funding. I urge the Treasurer and his government to reconsider Port Lincoln as part of this process and, if at all possible, make an allocation of some discretionary funding to the Youthoria Cinema. It does a fantastic job, it is very capably run, and it offers a service to Port Lincoln and the broader community. I think it deserves equal status with the other regional centres around the state.


At 17:16 the house adjourned until Thursday 12 July 2012 at 10:30.


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