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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-06-06 Daily Xml
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MINDA AQUATIC CENTRE

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (14:33): Can the Minister for Recreation and Sport inform the house about the upgrades to the Minda Aquatic Centre?

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport) (14:33): I thank the member for Mitchell for the question; obviously, a lot of people in his electorate would be using the pool at Minda, as would those of the member for Bright, whose electorate Minda is in and who is a long-term supporter of Minda as well.

The Hon. C.C. Fox interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: As is the member for Morphett.

The Hon. C.C. Fox: Yes; we are supporters together.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Exactly. It is a facility that looks after 1,500 South Australians with intellectual disabilities; it does a great job, and has been doing that for 115 years. It is an organisation that is opening itself up to the outside world as well, by encouraging people to come in to use facilities like the pool. The Office for Recreation and Sport has put in $200,000 for an upgrade of the pool area, and Minda has put in $500,000.

It is a tremendous facility for people who have intellectual disabilities—there is a big, wide ramp to allow easy access—but it is also being used by people in the local community. I was pleased to be at the opening last week with Rodney Fox, of course, a shark attack victim 50 years ago.

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon: A shark attack survivor.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Well, he was still a victim—he's got a big scar to prove it, but he did survive, otherwise he wouldn't have been there. It's the 50th anniversary this year, and he was quite pleased to be in the pool and away from the sharks, I think.

Rodney is a good example of someone who uses the pool for his own rehabilitation. We all know that if you are in the pool, it takes a lot of weight off your body and you can do a lot more exercise than you can if you're trying to run around the streets of Brighton, for example. Rodney has some hip problems, and he said that it really helps him remain very active. For the three or four days before he was there at the opening of the pool, he had been out off the Great Australian Bight diving in a cage with sharks. These days, the only time he wants to come face to face with them is from inside a cage, but he finds it much better to be down at Minda and swimming around the pool there.

I want to commend everyone who is involved in Minda. As I said, it is a great organisation, and I really like the way they are bringing their master plan together. They are going to have housing there for people to come and live in mixed-use housing so that people will come into the precinct and it will be much stronger. As I said, it has been going since 1898 and just continues to grow.

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