HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Member Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-11-11 Daily Xml
Contents
Xml

Private Members' Statements

Private Members' Statements

Ms PRATT (Frome) (15:42): This month will mark the 10th anniversary of the devastating Pinery fire which tore through my region on 25 November 2015. The scale of the fire was the size of Greater Adelaide, similar to 210,000 acres of scrub and farmland and naturally a sensitive approach is required.

On that day, two lives were tragically lost and an enormous toll was taken on families, farmers and local communities. The two lives need to be remembered: Janet Hughes and Allan Tiller. Their families continue to mourn. I have developed a particular friendship with Allan's wife and widow, Jenny.

We know their story: significant loss of homes, property, crops, livestock and businesses, and we are still reflecting on and counting the cost today. It was damage that reshaped the Mid North for years to come, with many positive initiatives since established. I honour the courage and endurance of local residents. We all bore witness to the extraordinary efforts of CFS volunteers, first responders, neighbours helping neighbours and all who fought to protect life and property. I was on the ground the next day and it is a vision I will never lose.

I commend the leadership of local councils, community groups, recovery committees and service organisations who helped each other rebuild. The Pinery fire strengthened community resolve and we know that a commemoration event will be held in Freeling on 23 November. I hope to see many of my parliamentary colleagues attend and support. It would be very surprising if senior ministers did not see this as a poignant and important reminder of the threat that bushfires have to rural Australia. I imagine it will be a priority for the Minister for Emergency Services and I look forward to welcoming her to our region to impress upon her why we need to see an urgent upgrade of the Freeling CFS station.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:44): Today, being 11 November, is obviously a day of reflection. I would like to advise the house that I was very privileged to be invited to participate in the Remembrance Day service held by the Mallala RSL. It was held at the monument at the centre of town. The Mallala RSL, like many other RSL groups, provides an important service to our veterans and serving members of the defence services. Joanna Grotto, the President of the Mallala RSL, organised this event today, and her committee needs to be congratulated on the great event it was.

It is interesting that the highlight for me today was the presence of the school kids from Mallala Primary School. One of the young boys—I am sorry, I do forget his name now—read out the poem, The Poppy, and that was a highlight of the service. The way he read that was quite touching and really paid tribute to our fallen heroes. Mallala was home to the 24th Squadron. It is interesting to note that the catafalque party today was related to that squadron and that Mallala began its life as a Royal Australian Air Force Base in 1939, so it was a fitting tribute that in the town today we held that service.

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (15:46): Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the Barossa Australia AGM, which is a really fantastic opportunity to have a chat with so many growers, winemakers and tourism providers from right across the Barossa Valley region. It is safe to say that it was a year that provided hope and optimism, but there are also some really big challenges ahead for grapegrowers in our region. I would like to acknowledge the serious impact that they are under at the moment.

Lots of growers in my region have not had their contracts renewed with some big wineries right across the region, and that is placing extraordinary financial pressure on families across my region. It is placing a large mental toll on them. I would like to remind everyone that, with Christmas coming up, it is always worthwhile having a bit of a tipple to support our wine industry. The Barossa Valley has so many fantastic drops, and I just encourage you to get around all of those.

I would like to thank the board of Barossa Australia for all of the work that they did in the last financial year: Kevin Scarce AC, the Chair; Marc Allgrove; Will Holmes; John Lienert; Amelia Nolan; Courtney Ribbons; Jon Durdin; and Geraldine Frater-Wyeth; and, of course, a shout-out to CEO Scott Hazeldine for the leadership that they show for our region. The Barossa Valley puts South Australia on the map in terms of the wine industry. I encourage everyone to get out and support local as much as you can.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (15:47): Today, I want to speak briefly about the pleasure I had this morning attending the Henley Grange RSL. It is not in my electorate; it is in the electorate of Colton, but my RSL, the Seaton Park RSL, does not usually hold a Remembrance Day service, only an ANZAC Day service. I have been very grateful to receive an invitation for the last few years to attend at Henley Grange RSL, I am told the largest and most successful RSL branch in South Australia, with over 440 members.

I was there with the member for Colton and, of course, our putative replacements, the candidate for Colton, Aria Bolkus, and also Bec Sutton from the other side. Geoff Pierson as always did a great job as MC, as well as Ian McKenzie and the incomparable Malcolm Whitford. I want to place on record how well the students from West Lakes Shore Primary School did in reading a poem at the service, not missing a syllable. It was a really impressive performance.

Very briefly, members will know well the statistics of the casualties of the Australian Imperial Force in the First World War, but I did want to reiterate the impact it has on our local communities, and in particular in the western suburbs how many families and sporting clubs and other community clubs were impacted. Of course, nothing compares to the loss of the Yongala community just south of Peterborough, where the Smith family lost six of their seven sons during the course of the First World War. However, many members in this place would be aware that our communities had similar impacts to sporting clubs and families throughout our communities as well, so lest we forget.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT