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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-07-04 Daily Xml
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Motions

Grange Surf Life Saving Club

Mr MULLIGHAN (Lee) (11:13): I move:

That this house—

(a) congratulates the Grange Surf Life Saving Club on winning the recent 2018 Junior State Championships in March;

(b) congratulates the club on winning nine of the past 10 junior surf lifesaving championships; and

(c) acknowledges all the hard work of board members, volunteers and parents to enable the junior squad the opportunity to achieve this outstanding success.

It is terrific to be able to speak to this motion, given that it is about one of the two surf lifesaving clubs that the community I represent in this place is blessed to have servicing it: the Grange Surf Life Saving Club, of course, and also the Semaphore Surf Life Saving Club. Both clubs are going from strength to strength, particularly in recent times as, in Grange's case, it is enjoying some newly refurbished and constructed facilities that were jointly funded by the former state Labor government and the City of Charles Sturt, as well as the club itself.

Only a little farther down the coast, of course, the Semaphore Surf Life Saving Club is in the final third or so stage of the construction of its new surf lifesaving club facilities, which will attract families, volunteers and particularly children to get involved with that club.

I am very pleased to say that the substantial increase in funding for surf lifesaving club redevelopments over the last four years has seen the acceleration of club redevelopments across South Australia by some 11 years. The Semaphore Surf Life Saving Club was not due to be redeveloped for many years, and seeing that under construction at the moment as well as seeing the Grange Surf Life Saving Club enjoying its new premises is terrific for the community.

The first South Australian surf lifesaving club was not Grange, but it was not too far away. It was Henley, proudly represented by the member for Colton, I am sure, which was founded back in 1925. That was followed by Seacliff, Glenelg, Port Elliot, Moana, Port Noarlunga and again, into the 1950s, Brighton and Semaphore, which I have mentioned, and Christies Beach. The Grange Surf Life Saving Club was established towards the end of 1955 after a double drowning tragedy which occurred off the end of the Grange Jetty in 1954.

That is a segue to talk about the wonderful Grange Jetty, which is now some three or so years beyond its redevelopment. It is a magnificent facility, and it is one of many metropolitan jetties that has been redeveloped in keeping with its original construction and intent. It is somewhat different from what is envisaged for the member for Morphett's jetty, some sort of South Australian Boardwalk Empire-type facility, some sort of Atlantic City down there, selling salt water taffy, with Nucky Thompson patrolling the facilities on behalf of the good burghers of Morphett. We will wait to see if that eventuates.

Since its inception in 1955, the Grange Surf Life Saving Club has been an integral part of the community in Grange and its surrounds, patrolling the length of the beach from October to April from Reedie Street, Henley Beach up to the northern side of Point Malcolm Reserve, getting close to the Semaphore Surf Life Saving Club. They collectively keep many thousands of South Australians safe over the warmer months at, of course, the best beaches in metropolitan Adelaide.

While many of us go to the beach to relax and unwind, especially at Henley or Grange or Semaphore, if you live in the western suburbs, the volunteers from the Grange Surf Life Saving Club are giving up their time to ensure we can continue to enjoy the beach with the peace of mind that, if anything goes amiss, people will be attended to by our wonderful surf lifesavers. It is great news for the people of the western suburbs that Grange Surf Life Saving Club has such a strong and talented presence of junior surf lifesavers at the club.

It is extraordinary that the Grange Surf Life Saving Club has won a staggering nine out of the past 10 junior surf lifesaving state championships. It is a remarkable achievement that the club is, rightly, immensely proud of. This year, in March, the Grange Surf Life Saving Club convincingly won the 2018 junior surf lifesaving state championships, scoring a huge 391 points and finishing above the Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club as well as the Port Noarlunga Surf Life Saving Club. I make special mention of the strong showing by the other club I mentioned previously, the Semaphore Surf Life Saving Club, in that competition.

I should also congratulate the Grange Surf Life Saving Club on their dominant performance in the 2018 state championships, having been crowned champions with a massive total point score of 1,586, 219 points clear of the combined totals of the second and third place getters, a remarkable achievement. I have been informed by some of the other members of the community that I represent, particularly those with a closer affinity to the Semaphore Surf Life Saving Club, that the Grange Surf Life Saving Club is sometimes considered to be the Collingwood of surf lifesaving clubs, which is a disgraceful slur on them.

The only thing I can assume is that they are referring to the incredible and remarkable sustained period of success that football teams wearing the black and white and a Magpies logo experience, particularly in the more South Australian context. The real Magpies, I might point out, are not the confected wash overs from the VFL who blight our screens and populate the MCG on a regular basis. It is that sustained success that the Grange Surf Life Saving Club continues to achieve year after year that gives it a reputation as an incredibly strong club and a dominant force when it comes to championships, junior or open.

Of course, success at either level cannot be achieved, let alone sustained, without the extraordinary effort of all those people who manage the club, who superintend the club, whether it is the board committee members, the volunteers or the parents. The parents quite often approach the club in an effort to get their kids involved in an activity at the beach and, after seeing how much fun, enjoyment and personal development their kids experience from being part of a surf lifesaving club, they invariably become part of the club themselves and contribute not just in helping the club stay open and managing operations but quite often get involved in the patrolling task of surf lifesaving themselves.

I would like to acknowledge the extraordinary ongoing work of the President of the Grange Surf Life Saving Club, Mr Robert Thompson, who I am sure is known to many other members in this place who are familiar with their surf lifesaving clubs. He and his wife, Heather, have had a long affinity with Surf Life Saving South Australia, including serving on Surf Life Saving South Australia's executive, as well as the other club members who contribute their time to the committee as well as to keeping the club open.

The Grange Surf Life Saving Club has also some of the most highly regarded volunteers in the country with Caroline Kearney taking out the 2017 Volunteer of the Year Award at the 2017 Surf Life Saving Australia Awards for her dedication to member recruitment and retention, coaching, junior development and succession planning. Without volunteers like Caroline, many community based clubs, surf lifesaving or otherwise, would not be able to deliver what they do to their local communities and they would be much poorer for it.

This Saturday just gone I was very privileged to be invited to attend the 2018 Grange Surf Life Saving Club's presentation night at the Lakes Hotel, and I must say it was a terrific night. It was very pleasantly surprising to see the incredible number of juniors who came along to that night, very vocal juniors who love their club and love being a part of it. It was obvious to see the friendships and close personal connections that are formed not just amongst the seniors but also the juniors. I think the community of Grange, as I am sure is the case at Semaphore and Henley and the other coastal areas of our state, are very well served and can take great comfort in the strong junior levels of participation in those clubs. It bodes very well for their future.

I would like to make a few further comments about some of the specific awards which were given on that night. I think it is a terrific thing, like other surf lifesaving clubs do, to recognise milestones of volunteer hours or patrol hours amongst its members on the beach: Brian Hessian, 1,750 patrol hours, which is an extraordinary amount; David Forrest, 1,500 patrol hours; Bronwyn and Brian Smith, 750 patrol hours.

Also, 500 patrol hours were reached by Graham Gepp, who works at this place in Parliament House. That is a terrific effort to reach such a significant contribution of time spent keeping people safe on our beaches. I know Graham has long been a leader of the IRB crew and also provides a lot of his own time maintaining the IRB and related facilities.

I also recognise Kelsey Reed, the open female club champion; Josh Hornibrook, the open male club champion; Elsa Dent, the masters female club champion; Brett Roe, the masters male club champion; Demi Bates, the under-14 female club champion; Adam D'Aloia, the under-14 male club champion; Charlotte Dolan, the under-15 female club champion; Sam Ralph, the under-15 male club champion; Kayla Roe, the under-17 female club champion; Anthony Scopacasa, the under-17 male club champion, who was very popular on the night; Siobhan MacLaren, the under-19 female club champion; and Joseph Semmens, the under-19 male club champion.

They are all extraordinary achievements for those individuals. Collectively, on top of the awards provided to the club on a regular basis for achievement at the junior level, it just goes to show the strength of this surf lifesaving club. I should also point out that the Grange Surf Life Saving Club runs the tiny tot and nipper programs for children from the age of five to under the age of 13 and also the youth program for teenagers aged 14 and 15. These programs are vitally important to getting young children involved in surf lifesaving and, in particular, involved in such an important community club.

They provide children with excellent beach awareness as well as invaluable skills such as advanced swimming techniques, first aid, CPR and water rescue as they progress in age and skill level. These skills may be used to save a life, let alone one of their friends' lives, in the future when out swimming at the beach in summer. Again, it goes to show how important these junior surf lifesaving programs are. I would once again like to thank all the volunteers and families who give up their time to help the younger generation come to appreciate the beach and come to appreciate it safely, let alone contribute so substantially to the surf lifesaving club.

This year is an exciting year for surf lifesaving in South Australia. I can see the member for Morphett looking at me very keenly because he knows that between 16 November and 2 December the surf Lifesaving World Championships will be held at Glenelg with some associated activities at the SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre. There will be a very heavily attended series of events over that couple of weeks. I am not quite sure how we are going to go drumming up surf conditions for those competitions. Perhaps the member for Morphett and I will be down there with a boogie board each, trying to cause some ripples—

The SPEAKER: Creating waves.

Mr MULLIGHAN: —in the metropolitan millpond that we all enjoy. We will see how we go. The world championships are the largest lifesaving event in the world and, with the addition of the World Youth Championships to the program, it is expected that this will be the largest lifesaving event ever held, with over 6,000 athletes and over 1,000 officials and volunteers expected to descend on Adelaide.

I hope that the Lifesaving World Championships inspire people to become part of lifesaving activities in South Australia and also emphasise the important service they provide to our community here in South Australia and around the world. I wish everyone participating in the Lifesaving World Championships, particularly the Grange Surf Life Saving Club and the Semaphore Surf Life Saving Club, all the best. Along with the other clubs in South Australia, I hope they make South Australia and particularly the western suburbs proud. I commend the motion to the house.

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (11:28): I also rise to support the motion on the junior surf lifesaving state championships. In March this year, over 3,000 surf lifesaving athletes competed at the 2018 championships, which offered over 500 events for participants aged between 7 and 87 years. The athletes represented over 20 surf lifesaving clubs from across the state. The major state events were the Senior State Championships at South Port Surf Life Saving Club, the Masters State Championships at Christies Beach and, of course, the Junior State Championships held at the beautiful Glenelg beach in my very own electorate of Morphett.

This year's Junior State Championships were held over three days, from Friday 9 March through to Sunday 11 March. The state championships are the culmination of hours of preparation by the many young athletes who compete. There were well over 1,000 nippers, including two of my own children, who were representing the Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club.

The surf season itself started in the previous October when the water temperature still had not warmed up from winter. Invariably, in the first and second sessions there are strong and cold south-westerlies that certainly test the young children's desire. Some of the top age junior surf lifesavers had been training over the colder winter months, either hitting the water on weekends or swimming in pools during the week.

Surf lifesaving is an amazing activity for growing a child's confidence, knowledge and skills in a beach environment. Children can become a nipper from the age of five years and start learning about surf awareness and safety through a surf education program. At Glenelg, the nippers are placed in age groups starting at under-7s, which are the Tiny Tots, and then right up to the under-13s. The environment is very inclusive, with both boys and girls participating in the program side by side.

The junior nipper program runs each Saturday from late October, leading up to the state championships in March. The nippers participate in a structured program of beach running, beach flags, wading, surf knowledge, sun safety, first aid and a variety of fun learning activities throughout the session. Practising these skills helps the children develop confidence in the surf environment and allows them to compete in both the club and state surf lifesaving carnivals representing their clubs.

While competition is an important element, the surf awareness and education aspect is a primary aim. Children are taught from the youngest ages how to respect the surf, read the surf and use the surf to their advantage. The Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club certainly aims to encourage all children to do their best and to develop to their full potential whilst having fun.

Parents actively participate and join in the program, especially with the younger age groups. This can lead to involvement with other aspects of the club, including gaining awards, coaching, becoming age group managers or getting their bronze certificate and becoming patrolling members of the club. Certainly, this is the path that my wife and I took as we started our involvement with the Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club, first as parents and then progressing to becoming active patrolling members.

The junior committee of the Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club work tirelessly to run a smooth program over the entire season. The junior chairman is Mick Marling, junior secretary is Kirsten Tocker and the water safety coordinator is the ever-present Jared Schenscher, who might as well live at the club, he is there so often. The junior competition officer and age group manager of the mighty under-10s is the ever-calm club legend, Steve Dalton, who also picked up a gold medal at the Aussies in April. The all-age competition officer is Anthony Merchant, who really gets the best out of the nippers and is involved in many of their training sessions. Anjie Collins looks after the Young Guns, which are the 14 and 15 year olds who are progressing into the senior ranks. Justin Ganley is the age group leader representative, and the junior training officer is Simon De Jong.

All their hard work over the season culminates in not only getting the Glenelg nippers prepared for the junior surf lifesaving state championships but also working with club president, Georgina Cole; deputy president, Pete Tidswell; and club captain, Shaun Armstrong, to set up and run the carnival over the three days. Georgie and Pete spent many hours working with the local Holdfast Bay council to lay out the beach and water areas on Glenelg beach, so thank you also to the council staff involved for their assistance.

So many of the Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club members, myself included, helped prepare for the event on the weekend of the Junior State Championships, with early morning starts beginning at 5.30 to prepare the various areas. To give one example, Leigh Bowbridge and David Hutchison, who both have won many state medals and help to coach the nippers in beach sprints and beach flags, were on hand to set up the sprint track, laying out the track ropes, digging them into the sand and then raking the track ready for competition.

The nippers themselves gave their all in the multiple events. The age groups range from under-8s through to the under-13s, and they competed in various events. On the Friday, the rescue and resuscitation event was held, and then on Saturday competitors competed in, firstly, the march past, marching behind their club's flags, and then onto individual beach flags, beach sprints, wades, swim, board and ironperson.

On Sunday, team events were held, starting with the very exciting all-age relay, where the fastest boy and girl from each age group combine in the one relay team from each surf club, while all the other competitors and parents line the track to cheer them on. You can see the pride of each of the runners as they showcase both their speed and club spirit in front of what is a very vocal crowd, with the noise reaching a crescendo as the final runners tear down the beach to the finish line.

Following the all-age relay, other team relays were held, including the board relay, swim relay, cameron relay and wade relay. At the conclusion of the weekend, Grange Surf Life Saving Club won overall, with the Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club coming second and Port Noarlunga third. Not far behind was Brighton, which I know the member for Black is a member of, the Somerton Surf Life Saving Club, which the member for Gibson is involved with, and West Beach, which the member for Colton is involved with.

Congratulations must go to the Grange Surf Life Saving Club on what is an impressive effort for winning not only this year's state championships but also nine out of the past 10 championships. It is worth pointing out that the only other winner within that 10-year stretch was the Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club.

An honourable member interjecting:

Mr PATTERSON: I had to put that one in there. All the competing clubs should be congratulated on the way they competed and on the fantastic opportunities they provided for their nipper contingents. A big congratulations also goes to all the young nippers who competed at the state championships. Just getting to the start line represents hours of training by each of them and, on many occasions, courage to face their fears and still keep going. Thank you also to all the volunteers and parents who made the junior state championships such a successful and enjoyable weekend for the nippers.

As I mentioned previously, the competition hones the nippers' skills and helps provide the surf awareness and education aspect of surf. As the nippers grow and gain more experience, they get firsthand knowledge and they can then go on to obtain their surf rescue certificate. This leads to further training and the opportunity for them and their mates to receive their bronze medallion.

I was lucky enough to recently attend the Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club's Awards of Excellence presentation night. There I was able to see another batch of bronze medallion holders receive their certificates. Many of them had come through the junior ranks of the club, which is always a positive sign. These certificates allow the holders to become volunteer patrolling members of the club.

During the club's awards night, the club presented the Remeljej Award, this time to dual winners Peter Tidswell and Shaun Armstrong. This is the Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club's most prestigious award, recognising vigilance and service. These two club members provide countless volunteer hours, organising training and patrolling to ensure that the beach is safe when lifesavers are present. In essence, this is the principal volunteer community service that the surf clubs up and down the coast provide to their local communities.

The Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club makes a massive difference to the fabric of our Morphett community by providing a valued service to all beachgoers from October to April each year. I would like to acknowledge club president, Georgina Cole, and both the senior and junior committees for their hard work in coordinating another successful season. I also warmly acknowledge the massive number of volunteer hours that the club has once again put into the community.

I look forward to the 2018-19 surf season and especially the Lifesaving World Championships, Rescue 2018, coming to Glenelg beach in November. Thousands of international, national and local competitors will combine to have a terrific carnival, hone their skills and proudly represent their clubs.

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (11:38): I rise to wholeheartedly support this motion. In doing so, I also congratulate the 'Collingwood of surf lifesaving' as I think it was referred to—the Grange Surf Life Saving Club—on their success at the recent junior state championships. Having heard both the previous speakers, it is lovely to hear so many names mentioned whom I remember as children from when I participated, not competed, in lifesaving. I think this speaks to the enduring volunteering that goes on in lifesaving right along South Australia's beautiful coast.

As I have mentioned in this house before, surf lifesaving has certainly played a very special part in my life, having watched, from around the age of two or three, my older brother and older sister in their lifesaving pursuits and then joining them as a nipper from around the age of seven. Before girls and women were officially allowed to compete in surf lifesaving, my sisters and I hit beaches along the coast and competed in carnivals and junior state titles for many years.

I say 'a special place in my life' because my lifesaving clubs have always provided me and so many other people with a great sense of belonging to a great, big community family. Personally, I have found many great leaders in lifesaving are there to look out for you. I know this has been the experience of many people in our community. I also say 'special' because it is very hard to think of numerous other pursuits that simultaneously focus on engaging our young people in healthy competition whilst at the same time engaging them in learning vital surf safety and first aid skills and in serving other members of our community by volunteering week after week to keep fellow community members safe right along our coast.

Lifesaving is great fun, but it is also about saving lives. Lifesaving provides local, national and international opportunities to all people. As has been mentioned, our junior lifesavers from across South Australia participated in the state championships in Grange on 10 March. I want to heartily congratulate the clubs from my electorate that competed at these junior surf lifesaving state championships. I mention Port Noarlunga Surf Life Saving Club, which came in third overall, and also Christies Beach Surf Life Saving Club and South Port Surf Life Saving Club.

All those clubs had numerous individual successes, particularly in the board events and the swimming events. Of course, those are all clubs that are situated along our beautiful Mid Coast. I note the comments made before about perhaps having to generate some waves for the world surf lifesaving championships. I would say to that: perhaps come a little farther south, and you might actually find that you do not need to do that on our spectacular Mid Coast beaches.

My congratulations go to everybody—all the young people who participated from Port Noarlunga, South Port and Christies Beach surf lifesaving clubs. Also, my deep thanks and congratulations go to the presidents of each of those clubs: to Madeline Nurmi from the Christies Beach Surf Life Saving Club, Dick Olesinski from the South Port Surf Life Saving Club and Shaun O'Sullivan from the Port Noarlunga Surf Life Saving Club. I thank and congratulate them on their incredible leadership. They bring our young people together to compete, volunteer and learn vital surf safety and first aid skills, week after week. Together with their committees, they run some extraordinary organisations along our coast.

I also place on record my thanks to the thousands of surf lifesaving volunteers who patrol our beaches right across the coast of our beautiful state, week in and week out, keeping people safe and generously volunteering their time. I look forward to continuing as a patrolling member this summer, but I know that my contribution, in terms of patrolling volunteer hours, will be small compared with the thousands and thousands of hours that so many other generous volunteers contribute.

I also really look forward to continuing my work as the patron of Surf Sisters and continuing to involve more girls and women in surf lifesaving, including at the leadership levels of surf lifesaving clubs. I very much look forward to joining other members in supporting the world surf lifesaving titles later this year. I commend the motion to the house.

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