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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-03-17 Daily Xml
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Garden College

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (15:41): I was really pleased this morning to represent the Premier and the Minister for Multicultural Affairs at the official opening of Garden College in Parafield Gardens. Garden College was not something I was familiar with until recently; it is a reception to year 12 Muslim school which has just opened its doors this year, as I said, in Parafield Gardens. It is rightly proud of its new buildings and is excited about its future in the community out there. It was great to have a bit of a look around and chat to the really passionate principal, Mr Yusuf Kirca, about their establishment and the excitement with which they face the future.

It made me reflect on changes I have seen in the north, in Salisbury and Elizabeth, over the past 30 or so years. I came to Australia, to Elizabeth, in 1981. I think it is fair to say that in those days the various northern suburbs were a lot more village-like, and also a lot more defined along cultural, language and ethnic lines. It is fair to say that the Elizabeth I grew up in and went to school in was very Anglo indeed. It was a product of the planning of the day that the vast majority of non-Australian residents were from England, Scotland and, to a lesser extent, Ireland.

Salisbury, however, immediately to the south and west, was quite different. I still live in Elizabeth in the City of Playford, but I spend a great deal of time in the City of Salisbury and have done so since I was very young. While both cities have changed—and, as I will get to, it is not fair to make this claim now—when I was growing up, Salisbury was already a far more multicultural city and, it seemed to me, more welcoming of residents from many different countries, cultures and faith—or maybe it was simply where people chose to live for various economic and personal reasons.

In any case, Salisbury has seen and largely welcomed wave after wave of immigration, whether it was from southern Europe after World War II, from South-East Asia in the late 1970s, or more recently from Africa and the Middle East. I say 'largely welcomed' because we have seen in recent months some particularly ugly opposition to a mosque in Salisbury from a group who I will not flatter by naming here, but who local councillors of all stripes, to their credit, have stood up to. It also follows, by the way, opposition to a 15-foot statue of Buddha on Salisbury Highway, which sadly did not comply with any planning regulations, but I think would have been a great attraction in our northern suburbs; but that is another story.

I am pleased to say that Elizabeth is catching up as a multicultural city. In recent years, we have seen a huge influx of people, particularly from Africa and the Middle East, and I am pleased to say that, without great fanfare or controversy, a small and flourishing Muslim community have built a school very close to where I live. I am proud to say that I have been with them from the very beginning. I am talking about Burc College, which I know the member for Torrens and the Deputy Speaker will be very familiar with.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: It is in my electorate.

Mr ODENWALDER: Yes, indeed, in the good seat of Florey. Burc College, as the Deputy Speaker will know, is a non-denominational private school. While it is essentially, in its current form, a Muslim school historically, the college caters for and actively promotes its catering for primary and secondary school students of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds.

Burc College was established in 2005 in Gilles Plains and was a very small school with limited facilities and staff. But, again, as the Deputy Speaker will know, it proved so popular and expanded so quickly that in 2010 they established a second campus in my patch in Elizabeth East. It has grown and is growing exponentially, adding a new year level every year.

More important than all that, it has integrated seamlessly into the local community. It works with other local schools, both public and independent, it has arrangements with the adjacent trades training college for their mutual benefit, and it works very hard to involve its resident neighbours in all its activities, encouraging its students to get out into the community and inviting the community in to events like sports days and Harmony Day. I think that schools like Burc College and Garden College speak volumes about the Muslim community in the north, and indeed the fact that they have settled in so seamlessly and uncontroversially reflects well on the wider community and reminds us how far we have come.

In the time left available to me, I do just want to thank some people from this morning: the Garden College principal who was so welcoming, Mr Yusef Kirca, and all the other leaders and teachers of Garden College; and the Australian president of the Australian Islamic Social Association, Mr Abdul Kadir Sula, and Adelaide president of the same, Mr Orhan Atakan. Her Worship and my friend Ms Gillian Aldridge, Mayor of the City of Salisbury, and her fellow councillors Brad Vermeer, Steve White and Julie Woodman were there, as were many leaders of the South Australian Muslim community, representatives from the Association of Independent Schools of South Australia, the Teacher's Registration Board of South Australia, and some of the registrars from non-government and government schools. Of course there was a wide range of students, parents and friends of the college, all of whom made me feel very welcome.

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