House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-09-23 Daily Xml

Contents

Adjournment Debate

Hartley Electorate

Mr TARZIA (Hartley) (17:24): I want to use the opportunity today to bring the house's attention to some recent events that I have had the fortune of having in the electorate of Hartley. We had our Hartley soup night recently, on Wednesday 16 September, when I supported the domestic violence centre in my local area. This was held at the Hectorville Sports and Community Club in Magill. Guests of the night enjoyed not only pumpkin but potato and bacon soup with a ciabatta bread roll sourced locally to complement, for a gold coin donation to what is a great cause. The night was a great success with the event raising several hundreds of dollars from gold coin donations for the Eastern Adelaide Domestic Violence Service.

The Eastern Adelaide Domestic Violence Service provides women and children in the community experiencing or escaping domestic or family violence with various services ranging from counselling to support and also crisis accommodation. The guest speaker, Kathy Lilis, who is manager of the Eastern Adelaide Domestic Violence Service, spoke to guests about the outstanding services the centre provides to victims and also shared some of the amazing survival stories and positive stories of what people have gone on to achieve after being treated by this service.

Kathy's heartening stories touched all guests. It was certainly a reminder that domestic violence is a huge concern in our community. Guests were given the unique opportunity to ask Kathy and her team questions about the various services provided to victims and also obtain her opinion about what we can be doing to better prevent and stop the domestic violence epidemic.

All funds raised from the night will certainly help the Eastern Adelaide Domestic Violence Service to continue its outstanding service to the community. We on this side of the chamber will always support the service. I know, for example, the member for Morialta is a passionate advocate in this area and continues to selflessly hold fundraisers to help these sorts of fantastic causes.

I also had the good fortune on 17 September to attend the Rostrevor College music night. I would like to congratulate Peter Waterman, Marnie Tiggemann and also the parents and friends of Rostrevor College, the students and the headmaster for the great job that they are doing in making sure that the Rostrevor College music group is one of the best in the state.

On 18 September I had the good fortune to be able to attend the St Joseph's, Tranmere, Italian Day. I would like to thank Maria, the head Italian teacher, for the fantastic work that she does in that area. It was an absolute pleasure to attend this day and see that many of the students who have Italian heritage are celebrating their roots.

Obviously, there are substantial benefits in learning a second language. It gives you much more knowledge of your own language. It enables you to become more rounded because you are studying another culture, another language, extra customs and that sort of thing. It is fantastic to see that Radio Italiana was there, giving opportunities to students that perhaps they otherwise would not have every day. I applaud St Joseph's, Tranmere for the wonderful work that they are doing in that regard.

On 18 September, I also attended the Felixstow Community School and one of their workshops. They have a workshop that is almost like a small fete, and they are educating students about entrepreneurialism. I was lucky enough to purchase some candles there as well as some artwork. I think that, if we educate our students about entrepreneurialism and educate them that taking calculated risks is a good thing, it is certainly a wonderful skill to have. It is so good that those students are being encouraged to do this from a young age. Felixstow Community School is a wonderful local school, and I applaud Jen Bais, the parents and all the teachers at the school for the fantastic work that they are doing. I am pleased that we were recently able to obtain better local crossing signage for them on Briar Road at Felixstow.

At the weekend, on 19 September, I also attended a sports presentation at St Joseph's, Payneham. I would like to congratulate Mr Musolino, as well as Mr Laurie Sammut, on the superb job that they did in presenting awards to the students who participated in local sports during the last winter season. Sport is a fantastic thing. It teaches kids about keeping fit and keeping active but also working in a team environment. It teaches you how to win and it teaches you how to lose. I was happy to attend the presentation at that school.

I had the good fortune on 14 September of attending the East Torrens Primary School years 5 and 6 class. They are learning about democracy and the local, state and federal systems of government. Those students there were certainly a very enthusiastic bunch. They were very well behaved. Very intelligent, articulate questions were asked and, I hope, answers given, to some extent. It is fantastic to see so many young students in my community so engaged with the political system and history. I wish them all the very best in the years to come.

At the weekend the Campbelltown City Soccer Club also had their presentation night. It was fantastic to see life memberships awarded to two old Rostrevor College boys, Michael Matricciani and Oliver Totani, and I would like to congratulate them. I know the member for Morialta is also a keen fan of the Campbelltown City Soccer Club and he attends many games with me. Congratulations to those boys but also to the rest of the players from that team, the supporters and the committee for the outstanding job they do in that club.

Then of course, finally, I would like to take a few moments to draw the house's attention to the Associazione Molise, who at the weekend had their 10th anniversary, and what a fantastic event that was at the San Giorgio La Molara club in Payneham, hosted by none other than Steve Maglieri, who is a fantastic ambassador for not only South Australia and Australia but also Italy.

Obviously Steve is the first to put his hand in his pocket and provide wine to many events and functions, and he does a fantastic job in keeping the Molisane in South Australia together to make sure that their customs and traditions are passed on to the next generation. I know you, Deputy Speaker, are a big fan of the Zanzarini dancers and performers. Steve Maglieri is a fantastic performer that is for sure and I would like to commend him and his committee for the wonderful work that they continue to do in our community.