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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-11-14 Daily Xml
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Light Electorate

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:34): Today, I would like to bring to the house's attention a few matters and events that have taken place in my electorate of Light. Of course, Saturday was Remembrance Day, and the town of Gawler and the Gawler RSL held the traditional Remembrance Day service. The RSL was supported by the Air Force Cadets, the Gawler Town Band and the various schools who laid various wreaths at the service itself.

This year, in laying the wreath on behalf of the Light electorate, I was accompanied by a student, Macey Brouwer. She is a year 12 student at Gawler and District College. She gave me the honour of accompanying me to lay the wreath on behalf of the community. The other thing about Remembrance Day this year was that a number of schools now also have their own services on their own sites. This year, Mark Oliphant College held a service that was also attended by the Playford mayor and a number of defence personnel.

It was a great service. It was a little bit warm—it was about 38° outside when the service was held—but we seem to have all survived that. Trinity College North and Trinity College South campuses also had services this year, both on the Friday, and also Gawler and District College had a service on the Monday to honour those who fell during World War I. That event was also attended by the Town of Gawler mayor.

When you talk to veterans at Remembrance Day and ANZAC Day, one thing that is a common theme of all the things they say—these are people who have actually served—is the futility of war and what a senseless waste of people it is. It is incumbent on us as people in the public arena to make sure that when conflicts do arise we do not stoke those conflicts but use language and approaches that help to engender peace rather than cheering one side or the other.

I think it is very important that if we are to really remember and honour those who have served we do that by making sure that future generations are not lost on battlefields as well. As mentioned also, it is not only remembering those who have fallen but also remembering those who have returned but in a way that is damaged, either physically or emotionally. Those sorts of wars continue.

On Saturday the 11th, when we were commemorating Remembrance Day, I got a notification that one of the local residents, Mr Jeff Turner, had passed away on the morning of Remembrance Day. Jeff was a former officer in the Metropolitan Fire Service, formerly of Gawler but more recently he lived at the Tanunda Lutheran Home. I have been told Jeff was hardworking and a proud dad. He had not only served the fire service in South Australia but also our country in the Navy. He was a successful businessperson, developing and running his own registered training organisation.

Jeff also volunteered in the community as a junior tennis coach for many years—in fact, since the 1980s—and also volunteered as a football coach in Gawler for a number of years. He was a volunteer at the National Trust and also wrote a book about the experiences of migrants at the local hostel at Willaston. He was awarded an Order of Australia medal in 2019 for his work for the National Trust and community. Jeff cared for his wife for the past three years and then developed the cruel disease of MND himself. Despite having that illness, he never complained. He will be sadly missed by not only his family but the community of Gawler.

Also, on 4 November, the two Rotary clubs in Gawler, the Gawler Light and Gawler Rotary clubs, held their annual village fair. This event is designed to help all the other community organisations and charities in the town to fundraise. The two service clubs put together the fair, and the stalls are held by various local charities that raise money for the works they do. I would like to commend the two service clubs for putting this on because a lot of work is involved in setting them up.

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