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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-11-28 Daily Xml
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VICTOR HARBOR SCHOOLIES FESTIVAL

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (15:28): There are a couple of subjects I would like to talk about today, one being the recent schoolies event at Victor Harbor. Depending on who you speak to, Schoolies catered for somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 17 and 18 year olds, or around that age, in an environment which was conducive to their safety and wellbeing. It is something that has developed into an extremely well-run event. It has been brought down to three nights; it used to take a week or even longer.

I find that the organisation of the event is absolutely superb. It was overseen this year by Superintendent John Bruhn, the area commander-in-chief. He was commander of the schoolies operation. He did an outstanding job and he should be congratulated, along with his fellow officers from SAPOL across the board, who were down there for those nights and days and who looked after the welfare of those young people. Senior Sergeant Adrian Burnett in charge of Victor Harbor and his local crew were also very busy. There was very little trouble. Obviously, there was the odd incident.

In addition, I would mention the 600-odd volunteers from Encounter Youth who gave up several days and nights to look after these kids, they should be commended for the way they go about their job, along with, of course, St John volunteers and professional officers and the City of Victor Harbor council, who go out of their way to make sure that everybody enjoys it, and all of the other services that assisted, there are far too many to mention. It is worthy of noting that it was a particularly successful operation and the young people who I spoke to—I was down there on the Friday and Saturday speaking to them around the streets—were all having a good time. I would say that nearly all of them who I spoke to were in a very good frame of mind. I spoke to them during the daytime. It is going to continue to happen. Obviously, not every local resident is happy about it, but it is going to continue to happen and streamline as it goes on.

The other thing I would like to pick up on is the activities of the government's Kangaroo Island Futures Authority. This has been in operation for well over a year and I am concerned about where it may or may not be going. In fairness to some people on it, I do get briefings from time to time. There are two aspects of it that are particularly worrying at the moment. Unfortunately, we have people in these positions who do not understand what it is like to live on an island and do not understand the requirements of islanders, my constituents.

In particular, I raise the issue of the airport, which is owned by the Kangaroo Island Council. I am seriously concerned that KIFA is doing some deal with others. It could be with the council, I am unsure on that. It is all very hush-hush. The fact of the matter is that it is locally owned and it needs to be maintained and controlled locally. I am concerned that we will hear an announcement that the airport is to be leased out to another operator, whether that will be a mainland operator, I presume it would be.

That really worries me. The costs will go through the roof. It is all very well to talk about doubling the number of visitors coming to the island by sea or by air. If this loses local control—it is hard enough now for local people to fly. It is extremely expensive, unless you get a discount fare. The number of locals who travel is reducing rapidly and it will make it entirely prohibitive if an outside operator takes this on board.

The other thing I wish to raise is the subject of the ferry terminal at Penneshaw. I am concerned about this. It has been held up. The federal member for Mayo recently mentioned it in the local press. I am concerned that this is not taking place. It worries me that KIFA is sticking its nose into private operations and wanting to know the inside operating figures of private companies. It is not its job to do that. It is its job to do what its charter was, not to interfere in business operations.

Yes, people complain about the cost of the ferry, but it is actually the lifeline for Kangaroo Island residents first and foremost, and it is the best service that we have ever had on the island. Attempts to have competition have failed in the past. Similarly, they have failed in the airline industry. It worries me that this terminal is being, yet again, held up at Penneshaw. It is almost a disgrace what is going on there. The government takes a million a year out in wharfage and the Kangaroo Island council recently announced—

Time expired.

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