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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-10-28 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

Mitchell Electorate

Mr WINGARD (Mitchell) (15:39): I rise today to speak about a busy period in and around the electorate of Mitchell. There has been plenty happening and numerous great people giving so much to their community. I will start with Sunday 26 October at Wigley Reserve down at Glenelg where I joined a number of people to support the JDRF. JDRF is an organisation devoted to improving lives and curing type 1 diabetes. The day involved a five kilometre walk to help promote awareness of type 1 diabetes and to also celebrate fundraising efforts. The walk started at 10am and there was entertainment, food and activities for the kids afterwards. Plenty of people turned out. Despite some inclement weather at the start, it was an outstanding day for all involved.

I have done the walk on a few occasions now in support of a family friend of ours, a young man named Adam Beaumont who has type 1 diabetes. I have been lucky enough to watch him grow up into a fine young teenager and he has been remarkable in the way he has dealt with his diabetes. On Sunday I also met another young family from my local area whose son Jacob is close to starting school, and he and his mum and dad, Jillian and David, are finding their way with balancing young Jacob's blood sugar levels as he battles with diabetes as well.

I was there to meet the Murray Fingers team. They were there to support Ruby, a four year old with type 1 diabetes. The Murray Fingers wear red shirts in honour of Ruby's favourite Wiggle, being Murray. When she was diagnosed at 22 months of age, her parents had to find a way to help settle her from her finger pricks, and they came up with the team Murray Fingers—Murray because of her favourite Wiggle and fingers because she had to have her fingers pricked—and that name stuck with the group that support her. Her family are so proud of her bravery and the way that she has handled every needle, finger prick and hospital stay. Ruby's mum, Kelly Culbertson, and her family are now peer support helpers for JDRF, working with other families who are going through a similar situation. Ruby is one of 122,300 Australians living with the illness, so I must commend the JDRF for the work they do and compliment the Culbertson family and all the Murray Fingers.

Secondly, it was down to Reynella and the Reynella South Primary School, which had their garage sale over the weekend. A big driving force behind the garage sale is principal Barb Hall. She is an outstanding worker for her community and absolutely wonderful in the work she does around her school. Karen Know, the deputy principal, and the fundraising committee with Crystal Dodson and Glyndon Gale also did a marvellous job in getting the day together and engaging so much of the community. The day was supported by various class parents, governing council members and all the staff at Reynella South Primary School. Approximately $1,300 was raised.

I also visited this school a little while ago to attend their Book Week celebrations and witness a school play by the older students. It was wonderful to see the parent and teacher involvement and so many of the children coming dressed up as their favourite characters. This is a school with great spirit and I commend all those involved who are working hard and having great success strengthening the school's bonds with the local community.

Then there was the Cove Fair. Dennis Connor and the entire team at the Hallett Cove & Districts Lions Club did a marvellous job again. It was a pleasure to be there with the member for Bright. We set up a stall and interacted with a lot of the local community. They came to have face painting at our stall, which was wonderfully organised and brilliantly done, and the interaction, as I said, was outstanding. It was amazing to see the number of people who wanted to talk to either the member for Bright or me about the rising cost of their ESL and the anger at these bills, the prices these families are having to pay and the cost of living that is going through the roof for them in and around the electorates of Mitchell and Bright.

There were plenty of food stalls and other community groups. It was wonderful to see a new community group into the area, the Trott Park Fencing Club, which is based in the Sheidow Park Primary School. They were working hard to promote themselves and garner new members. I recommend you get along and give fencing a try. In fact, I will be, as will the member for Bright. We have been invited along to have a go. The member for Bright is a little more nimble than me, so I am going to have to be wily if we have a bit of a joust.

The Cove Sports and Community Club, led by Keith Noble, again helped facilitate the day, and they really did a marvellous job. Keith's son played in one of the bands and they were highly entertaining. In fact, a lot of people hung around late into the afternoon to listen to the bands play. The Cove Cricket Club was also very supportive of the day and I thank them for their continued support for this great community event. Keith's son's band was Filthy Lucre—an interesting name, and it means 'dirty money'. Garuda and the Hallett Cove School R-12 rock band also were there. Can I take this opportunity to commend all involved with the Lions Club in raising money to go back into the local community. It was an outstanding day.

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