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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-03-19 Daily Xml
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Private Members' Statements

Private Members' Statements

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (15:36): Political parties rely on volunteers. They rely on community stalwarts from all sides of politics. The members who come to these places as elected officials are backed up by many tens, if not hundreds, of supporters within their political parties and within the community, and often a bit of both. I want to pay tribute today to one of my greatest local supporters, and that is Mr Kym Rampling, who passed away a couple of weeks ago. Kym, a Hallett Cove resident, husband of Christine, father to Andrew, Elyse and Esther, was a community stalwart. He was completely passionate about Liberal Party politics, about politics more broadly, and wanted to support good people to represent his community.

He did not desire political office himself. He just wanted to be part of local political movements. He founded the Hallett Cove branch of the Liberal Party back in the late 1980s, which consequently saw Wayne Matthew elected with a significant swing in that part of the seat. He supported MPs, candidates, particularly myself when I put my hand up for preselection in 2012. He stood by me at every single step of the way, encouraging me, providing me with advice, drawing on stories from the past and talking about ways we could represent the Hallett Cove area better.

He was always there to scrutineer votes, to encourage candidates to hand out how-to-vote cards. Kym's passing a couple of weeks ago is going to leave a great hole in the Hallett Cove community, in the local Liberal Party and in my life as well. Vale, Kym Murray Rampling.

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (15:38): I rise to pay tribute and just add a few words about a wonderful school in my electorate, Playford College. Eight years ago, Dr Abdul-razaq Musa, who was the chair of the board and is still the chair of the board, came to visit me in parliament and told me that he and his board had purchased the land that had been vacated by the Elizabeth Special School, which had rightly been moved northward and into much better premises. From that day, I have seen the school grow from a small independent school with a very small and very young cohort through to a thriving, but still quite small physically, R-12 school.

I was really pleased to go there two weeks ago. On 8 March I was there with the member for Light and the member for Spence. The leader was there, as well as Senator Grogan and many other councillors and other many community leaders, for the opening of the Imam Ali Building, which is almost the last stage of their large redevelopment on the small footprint that they occupy. I was very pleased to be there to see Matt Burnell officially open the new building, which was built very much with federal money but also to join Dr Abdul-razaq Musa in opening the sports zone, which is a large basketball and multisport area, which occupies the space where some horrible old transportable buildings had once stood. I want to congratulate the people of Playford College, the board, the principal Chris Riemann and everyone involved in the massive expansion of this school. I wish them all the best in the future.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:39): The other day, we marked 20 years of U3A Campbelltown. Formerly known as the University of the Third Age, U3A Campbelltown has done an extraordinary body of work in our local area in supporting the over 50s who are retired or semi-retired to stay active mentally, physically and socially. It has done terrific work, first in its original location at the Campbelltown leisure centre and, over the last decade or so, at the Marchant Community Centre in Athelstone.

I speak as a family member, with my father and his partner being regular participants. I know what it means in their life and also the lives of hundreds of others. There are 300 current members, and more than 1,500 members of our local community have undertaken courses, social events, tried something new and stayed active physically, mentally and socially over the last 20 years since the U3A Campbelltown was established.

It was a real pleasure to attend the celebrations with the federal member for Sturt, James Stevens, the member for Hartley, Vincent Tarzia, and the Mayor of Campbelltown, Jill Whittaker, along with hundreds of others, to recommend the work, particularly of President Glenda Sherwin-Lane, past presidents, including Vale Pedersen and so many more who have done work for these communities, and continue to volunteer. It is an organisation that runs on volunteers, whether they are teaching computing and IT, Mahjong, Rummikub and chess, or tai chi, yoga and darts—so many activities undertaken by so many people thanks to the work of these volunteers. So, happy 20th birthday to U3A Campbelltown and may there be many, many more decades to come of this excellent organisation.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:41): On Saturday afternoon from 2pm to the following Sunday morning at 9am, the Gawler Relay for Life committee held their annual event. This important fundraiser raises funds for cancer research through the Cancer Council. The weekend event has raised $64,110 up to now, but donations can still be given for up to another four weeks. Since the first event was held in 2009, the Relay for Life has raised $1.084 million in addition to the $64,000 raised this year. I know they had a target of $60,000.

The weekend event had 19 teams and 268 relay participants coming from all walks of life, including local schools. I would like to acknowledge that Xavier College had a team. Congratulations to the students involved. Teachers Mr Rob Polito and William Yates supported the students. Will himself raised over $4,000 as part of the relay and other activities.

I would also like to acknowledge and congratulate the volunteer committee, headed by Gail Saunders, for organising and running such a successful event in very difficult conditions: oppressive heat at the start and rain during the evening. I would also like to thank the various sponsors and businesses across the town who make the event possible. This event would not be possible without literally the hundreds of different volunteers who make such a commitment. They provide people with hope.

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