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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-09-04 Daily Xml
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South Australian Rural Ambassador of the Year Award

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (15:09): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. How much will the Crows—no, sorry: will the minister inform the chamber about the South Australian Rural Ambassador Award presentation dinner which was held on Tuesday night?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (15:09): I am delighted to inform the chamber about this event. It was a great pleasure to attend the presentation dinner for the announcement of the 2025 South Australian Rural Ambassador Award on Tuesday night. It is always a great opportunity to celebrate country shows across South Australia as well as the very impressive finalists and their contributions to country shows in their respective communities.

The Rural Ambassador Award is a national competition open to people aged between 20 and 30 and identifies the next generation of leaders committed to agriculture and the agricultural show movement across Australia at a local, state and national level. The award also facilitates the development of young talent and leadership within the South Australian agricultural community and contributes to the creation of a sustainable future for country shows.

I am very proud that my department, the Department of Primary Industries and Regions, is a sponsor of the Rural Ambassador Program and has been for over 20 years. This important program provides personal and professional development by creating a platform and network for young adults in regional areas to build on their involvement with their local agricultural shows and contributions to their communities.

It was fantastic to hear from Kayla Starkey, the 2024 South Australian Rural Ambassador, who will be competing for the national title tomorrow night, with the awards being held here in Adelaide. It is clear that Kayla has embraced this opportunity and made the most of the experience over the last 12 months, and I wish her the best of luck at the nationals. We also heard from Shayla Lepse, who I spoke about in this place recently, as she was announced as the Young Rural Ambassador of 2025 in July. Shayla represents the Naracoorte Show. Shayla's last few weeks sound like they have been a whirlwind, particularly the last few days at the Royal Adelaide Show.

Local shows are an important part of regional communities and bring a sense of local pride as well, of course, as lots of fun. Young people play a key role in shows, keeping them vibrant and exciting through volunteering, participating in competitions and organising events. Country show involvement also helps young people develop and hone important skills: leadership, teamwork, problem solving. This is important for their personal development and also creates a pipeline of skilled future leaders in our regional and rural communities.

The eight finalists were impressive and clearly demonstrated how they have played a key role in their respective communities. The finalists were Shona Lauke, Jenevieve Heinrich, Ashlee Allegretto, Jacqueline Palk, George Seppelt, Rebecca Clifford, Emma Gallagher and Caitlin Marshall. The finalists were varied and included a speech pathologist, a technical officer at SARDI, a school principal, an air boss and five of the young people pursuing careers through higher education in nursing, veterinary technology, psychology, agronomy and education.

While their day jobs and study varied immensely, they all had one thing in common: their deep commitment to giving back to their local communities through volunteering in both their local shows as well as a variety of other areas such as community sport, firefighting and the local RSL, just to name a few.

The finalists should all be extremely proud of themselves. Their contributions to their communities and the agricultural show movement deserve recognition. There was, of course, one winner. I want to congratulate George Seppelt, the highly deserving 2025 South Australian Rural Ambassador of the Year. George is a Jamestown local and has been involved in the Jamestown Show his entire life, currently serving on the executive committee and in charge of media and marketing for the show.

He is also Australia's youngest air boss, coordinating air traffic at aviation events across the country as well as working as a flight instructor and working with farmers to integrate aviation into their operations, from crop management to on-property flight training. George was also previously a Young Rural Ambassador state finalist in 2018. I actually had the pleasure of meeting George, several weeks ago at the Gawler Show and then at an event that I held earlier this week at the Royal Show as well.

The first runner-up was Caitlin Marshall, a senior speech pathologist working across the Mid North, Eyre Peninsula and Yorke Peninsula as well as a convener at the Coonalpyn Show. The second runner-up was Emma Gallagher from Naracoorte, who is studying applied agronomy while also working as a technical officer at SARDI Crop Sciences and volunteering at the Naracoorte Show.

George, Caitlin and Emma were all recognised for their outstanding contributions to the show movement and to their regional communities. Well done to all the finalists. I congratulate them on their volunteering and their passion for their local communities and country shows, and I certainly look forward to seeing where they go into the future.

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