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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-10-23 Daily Xml
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Outdoor Play Areas

Ms COOK (Hurtle Vale) (15:21): We as local members can support our communities and realise the importance of time spent outdoors from the very young to the very old and everything in between. I have been looking constantly for opportunities to improve access to outdoor spaces in my community since elected in 2014. About 18 months ago I sat down with the mayor of the City of Onkaparinga to discuss potential locations for a high-standard nature playground in our community.

The result of that conversation, and then my work with our government at the time, was a commitment of $1.3 million to a nature playground to be established at Wilfred Taylor Reserve. I was able to announce that nearly 12 months ago now. This commitment was matched by my political opponent, so I knew regardless of the outcome of the election the people of the southern suburbs would benefit from this new purpose-built nature playground in the heart of Hurtle Vale at Wilfred Taylor Reserve. I am told delivery is around 12 months away.

Other developments in Hurtle Vale have seen the completion of the Waverley playground. Thanks must be given to local resident Toni Dal Santo for her relentless pursuit of a thoughtful and fun playground to be enjoyed by all ages in her neighbourhood. Toni started her relentless rallying of the City of Onkaparinga council before even having children when moving into the area about nine years ago. She noticed that the local park was lacking amenities, and equipment that was deteriorated seemed to be disappearing and not being replaced. Her inquiries revealed that this should not have been the case, and as a result, birthday parties and other family gatherings were not happening in the area and the playground was just badly utilised.

Toni, with the support of her hardworking federal member Amanda Rishworth, sent letters on behalf of the community and got a commitment from the council; work started in January this year to rejuvenate the playground. I have been watching this develop with her and it is now open. My children, her children and many more in the community have really enjoyed using this playground, which inspires more creative play in a safe environment while they can still challenge themselves and really enjoy it. It is a great family space. I am going to hold a sausage sizzle there on 8 December at midday to welcome people to use that playground and come along and have a chat. I look forward to seeing many local residents there.

I look forward to seeing the completion of the installation of a shade sail and water fountain at Investigator Drive playground in Woodcroft. I successfully secured $30,000 for this upgrade after I had met with many kids at the park, especially over long hot summers, and saw there was nowhere for them to get a drink of water and there was no shade available for them at all. So I talked to members of the government at that point and we secured that funding. The work is now being undertaken. I look forward to that work being finished and the kids being able to enjoy play at the skate park, not just on hot concrete but with somewhere to sit and somewhere to get a drink.

I would also like to briefly talk today about the Labor initiative, Fund My Neighbourhood, which has since been cut. I have had many, many conversations with people in the past few months because projects are now starting to have work undertaken and completed. It was a really popular program, with about 120,000 votes cast by 33,000 South Australians, making a difference in their local community. There were 1,600 nominated projects, with 200 making the final cut. In fact, interestingly, more projects are being completed in Liberal-held electorates, which I noticed when I had a look, with many of them proving that regions do matter as they are happening out in the regions. I must say that there is something to be said for the organisations of the regions being able to get these votes together.

In Hurtle Vale, there is a $50,000 project happening, which again meets those criteria. It is an outdoor exercise space, which I look forward to seeing and using. There was $150,000 for the Reynella Sports and Social Club to upgrade the canteen, which will help them raise more money and serve their community. Next door, in Davenport, there are a couple of other projects that are really important. In particular, at Minton Farm a circular bird of prey cage will help them to release birds of prey back to the wild.

It is devastating that the program has been cut. Today, I am launching a petition to let the government know exactly how many people in the community want to see Fund My Neighbourhood restored as a way of taking control over outcomes in your own community.

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