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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-11-11 Daily Xml
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South Australian Agricultural Town of the Year Award

The Hon. R.B. MARTIN (14:52): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Will the minister please update the chamber on the South Australian Regional Showcase Awards celebration event held at LOT.100 last week?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:53): I thank the honourable member for his question. It was a great pleasure to attend the South Australian Regional Showcase Awards celebration event last Wednesday evening, where the winner of the seventh annual Agricultural Town of the Year Award was announced.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regions, with InDaily, is proud to present the 2025 Agricultural Town of the Year Award program, which celebrates towns that excel in agricultural practices; promote and support food, wine and agriculture; and are great places to live and work. I would like to particularly congratulate InDaily and Solstice Media for their strong and consistent coverage of regional issues and regional stories, both those to do directly with agriculture and more broadly.

This year we received a record 96 town nominations from around the state, and thousands of votes were cast by the public to select the top ten towns. Against a challenging backdrop of drought, to say the least, it is pleasing to see such a high level of participation, which reflects the importance of the award to people in regional South Australia.

I would like to acknowledge the three finalist towns for the fantastic effort their communities put into being part of the awards. An enormous amount of work goes into mobilising community votes, writing compelling submissions, designing informative town visits and hosting the judging panel. The award is a powerful way to bring communities together, for them to share experiences and highlight the unity and strength of their local communities.

The judges noted the creative people they met in each town. With innovative ideas in motion, they are acting to build up their communities and industries. They observed communities leveraging their unique geographic locations in combination with hard work and creativity to generate world-class produce and additional income to support agriculture and a thriving town. Finally, the judges noted active engagement with the next generation of agricultural leaders, from school students through to young families.

The winner of the 2025 South Australian Agricultural Town of the Year is Lameroo. The Mallee town of Lameroo is home to almost 900 people, who are active in their pursuit of excellence in agriculture and regional development. The progress association Lameroo Forward—I particularly commend their chair, Nicole McMahon, as well as her team—is a driving force in the town and is behind the new silo art project that depicts the town's farming past as a foundation on which its youthful agricultural future is built. I would encourage members if they can to visit Lameroo to view that silo art. It is absolutely incredible.

For the size of the town, Lameroo is making the most of opportunities and using their location and surrounds to their advantage. As one of the judges commented, the town has 'stamped ag on everything'. The area is a food bowl and is home to large agricultural businesses. Women are playing key leadership roles in the community and local industry: from the progress association and big and small production businesses alike to internationally recognised agricultural research as well as child care and sports. To bolster the local agricultural workforce, Lameroo has proactively built and embraced a multicultural community, including offering Afrikaans at school to enable the growing South African community to maintain a link to their roots.

I congratulate Lameroo on this well-deserved achievement. Also last week were the winners of the 2025 Regional Showcase Awards. I look forward to updating the chamber further about those in the future.

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