Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about a particular group within my electorate that I'm very, very proud of. That is a community that has been thriving since World War II and prior and has done many, many things not just in my electorate but right around Australia, including the member for Sturt's electorate. That is the Italian community of South Australia. I'm very proud to represent nearly 10,000 people in my electorate who claim to have Italian heritage. I am very proud to have many clubs in my electorate, like the Casa D'Abruzzo Molise Club, the Anzano club, and certain places of religious worship, Catholic churches, that many Italian social clubs congregate around, such as the Queen of Angels Church at Thebarton and the Sacred Heart church at Port Road, Hindmarsh. There's also a very energetic group, the Italian Pensioners of Thebarton and Suburbs, that has been meeting for a number of years at the West Torrens community centre every Wednesday. Once a month, they put on a lunch. I've been very blessed to have been invited to most of their events. I pay tribute to Frank Violi, who has been the president for many years and just retired from the position recently.

But I rise to speak about something even more important. Most of these clubs are under the auspices of the South Australian Italian Association, which is in my electorate in Carrington Street. For many years they ran Italian language classes—in other words, Italian as a community language—for second- and third-generation Italian Australians. But, unfortunately, that stopped, going back a few years. It was a great cause and it allowed people to foster connection with their heritage and their family's language. There's some great news: they've started it again. Under the auspices of Phil Donato, the president of the club, they're restarting the Italian language classes not just for people of Italian heritage but for everyone.

The teaching of community languages and the Italian community schools is very important. As we're getting into the next generations—the third and fourth generations—it's getting harder for them to maintain their language. There has never been a more crucial time than now for this community Italian language school to get up and running. We have written to the education department to see what assistance can be given. They've already got some students starting. Certainly it is very important, especially for many children to communicate with grandparents, which many of us in this place take for granted. But, when you think about it, as people get older they lose their second language ability and, as we go down the generations, they lose their first language abilities that perhaps their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents had. So it's more crucial than ever.

The speaking of two languages in this country is very crucial. I think it's something that we should try and maintain as much as possible throughout our communities. There is nothing greater than being able to speak a second language, but it assists our nation as well for trade, foreign affairs and a whole range of things. Many of our basic communications with other countries are done through the community groups that we have who have so much connection to other countries, whether it be through their parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents.

It's great to represent a community such as the South Australian Italian Association. They started out as the Catholic Italian Welfare Association in 1949, and they became incorporated in 1952. They merged with other Italian organisations and formed the Italian-Australian Centre in 1965. From there, the South Australian Italian Association was born in 1967. The current building, as I said, stands in Carrington Street. It opened in 1972, and it has served as a hub for Italian culture ever since, actively promoting a sense of togetherness and inclusion, and maintaining the culture, heritage and language, which is so important. It's because of this that I'm so proud to represent the South Australian Italian community and the SAIA board, a team of highly competent, dedicated professionals. As I said, they have recently re-established the Italian Community Language School, with a mission to deliver accessible Italian language programs. (Time expired)

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