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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-02-28 Daily Xml
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Road Awareness Program

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (14:47): Too late, too slow. He's lost his form, too slow. My question is to the Minister for Emergency Services and Road Safety. Can the minister inform the council of the great work that the Metropolitan Fire Service is undertaking with its Road Awareness Program?

The Hon. R.I. Lucas interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Before you get on your feet, the Hon. Ms Gago was on her feet and I called her before I saw you.

The Hon. R.I. Lucas: I thought she was doing a supplementary.

The PRESIDENT: No, she wasn't. It's her question.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Well, I know, I've got her question down here. The honourable minister.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:47): I would like to thank the honourable member for her constructive and also very important question. I have great pleasure in taking this opportunity to acknowledge the outstanding work conducted by the Metropolitan Fire Service regarding the Road Awareness Program (RAP).

The RAP was established, as I understand it, by MFS firefighters back in 2005. The firefighters involved in the RAP were upset at the number of fatal or serious car crashes involving young people that they were attending in a rescue role, and wanted to make a difference. The RAP travels to schools to deliver this hard-hitting program to year 11 students who are at the age when they are in the process of, or thinking about, getting their driver's licence.

During the 100-minute presentation, participants are given a confronting and realistic insight into road crashes and road crash trauma, involving vision of real crashes and crash survivors. Real-life crash survivors, many now living with a permanent disability or the loss of a loved one, share their stories as part of that presentation. Participants usually find this element of the presentation incredibly emotional. It presents raw information about the impact that driving in a way that is risky or unsafe can have on real people's lives.

The program is delivered by a number of passionate individuals within the fire service to approximately 85 per cent of secondary school students across metro Adelaide and also throughout regional South Australia each year. That is an astonishing statistic. In 11 years RAP has delivered over 1,200 presentations to over 130,000 students and, more recently, business and community groups, including groups from correctional services at places like Mobilong and the Adelaide Women's Prison.

A number of people have been participating in this program for a long time, and educating our youth is a vital component of our road safety strategy. By speaking to young people we have had the opportunity to bring about generational change in attitudes to road use.

I would like to share with the chamber my personal experience in witnessing this program. I had the opportunity last year to witness the RAP program in operation in full flight firsthand at my old school. I was able to go along and witness the program, and on that particular occasion it was being lead by Rocket Campbell, who is here today, and also a young woman, Tyele, who presents RAP. Tyele, along with a number of other people who give RAP presentations, is here in the chamber this afternoon.

When you are lucky enough to be in a position like so many of us are, you get to see guest speakers on a regular basis in various different forums and functions, but this one really stood out to me. The presentation from those people on that day, to which I bore witness, was utterly profound. The true courage and inspiration that it took, particularly for Tyele, to be able to present to a group of young students that day was incredibly moving, and it struck me how much of an impact that presentation on that particular day was having on a group of young men and women, who will be behind the wheels of cars in our community in due course.

It was profound, and I really found it quite moving to see the commitment that these men and women have to delivering a key road safety message throughout the state. I want to acknowledge a number of presenters who are also here with us today: Kym Inglis, Eli Murn, Michael and Glynis Holbrook and also Yudhi Mohan-Ram—all people in the chamber today who have made an outstanding contribution presenting and sharing their personal stories. That takes a degree of courage.

I thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart for making a real difference. We will never know how many lives you have saved from the work you have undertaken. Make no mistake, I have every confidence that you have saved the lives of many young men and women drivers on South Australian roads. You are an inspiration to us all and I thank you quite sincerely on behalf of the people of South Australia for all your hard work, and I wish you all the very best in your endeavours in the future. Thank you very much.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: You better remind him about standing orders, Mr President.

The PRESIDENT: Yes: in future, the honourable minister—I gave a bit of leeway then—you are to address the chair and not the audience. The Hon. Mr Brokenshire.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Brokenshire has the floor.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

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