Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The grievance debate is a great opportunity for members like ourselves who are backbenchers to update the House on some of the good news in their electorates, and in my case the recent news from my electorate of Hindmarsh. In the last two months a huge amount of work has been happening driven by the community in the federal electorate of Hindmarsh and supported of course by this federal government. I would like to highlight some of the recent good news and achievements in the areas of education, employment, veterans' affairs, seniors, settlement services, the community in general as well as some of our sporting groups.

I will start off with some of the announcements in the electorate on education and some of the functions that I have attended in the last couple of months. The most recent one was for the participation of two local catholic primary schools in my electorate, St John Bosco and Tenison Woods, in the Smarter Schools National Partnership for Literacy and Numeracy. Their achievements have helped to secure a $14.1 million payment to the South Australian state government as a reward payment for significant improvement in literacy scores across the board.

Westport Primary School and Forbes Primary School have just joined 19 other Hindmarsh electorate schools in the Active After-school Communities program, which is a great benefit to many students in the electorate. The Active After-school Communities program encourages physical activity after school and helps kids to gain the confidence to join a sporting club and develop their skills.

One of the big events that all of us have been attending in the last few months - in fact, in the last 12 months - has been the Building the Education Revolution openings. Many of us have been privileged to be at those events and to do the actual openings. I have had the pleasure of attending many BER ceremonies over the last year and seeing the fantastic results first hand of the program everywhere I go. At these BER openings there is one particular question that I ask: how many people were employed at this particular site? The answer is that between 25 and 70 people were employed at these BER individual sites. When you multiply that by 24,000 projects across the nation, you can see why we fared so well during the global financial crisis and why we are the envy of world economies around the world. It was this smart-thinking, quick-acting response from this Labor government that kept us out of the doldrums that are facing other countries around the world.

Some of those Building the Education Revolution ceremonies I have attended include: Henley Beach Primary School on 5 May, and they had received $2.1 million for a new multipurpose hall; Westlake Shores School on 27 May, and they had received $4.8 million for new classrooms, refurbishments and shade structures; William Light R-12 School also on 27 May, and they had received $2.2 million for new and refurbished classrooms; Plympton Primary School on 27 June that had a library refurbishment which was worth $2.12 million for a new library and classroom; and St John Bosco School on 29 June who had received $2.65 million for a new library, classroom, teachers resource and computing centre and administration centre. As I said, when you multiply these projects by 24,000 across the country that employed an average of 20 to 70 employees at each site, you can see why we fared so well. Not only did we fare so well during the global financial crisis by employing people and ensuring that our unemployment did not go up—as was predicted by all the advice we were getting from Treasury if we did not act fast—but also these schools have structures, buildings, resources and facilities as a result of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Many generations of school children will be able to learn in up-to-date facilities that offer the best possible advantage to those students. There were some Block Grants Authority—capital grant—openings as well. On Friday I attended the Nazareth Community College in Flinders Park in my electorate. They received $2.5 million for a new music centre, classrooms, gym and staff offices. I attended the function on Friday with His Grace Archbishop Philip Wilson, who presided over the openings with me at the Nazareth Community College.

There are also many community groups and sporting groups within the electorate of Hindmarsh. I must congratulate the Probus Club of Morphettville for their 20th birthday on 4 May. I also take this opportunity to say well done to the South Australian branch of the Vietnam Vets Federation, who had a barbeque and memorial service to commemorate the battles for fire support bases Coral and Balmoral on 13 May. I would also like to congratulate all the winners of the Mendelson Foundation scholarships, which are promoted by the West Torrens Council in the electorate of Hindmarsh. The foundations gives scholarships once a year to outstanding students who are achieving their very best and provides them with some funds to help them through their studies.

I also had the honour of attending the Pan Macedonian 20th anniversary dinner dance on 25 June together with Greek Orthodox Bishop Nikandros of Dorileou. That was Saturday week ago. I had a wonderful evening there. Representing the state government was the state Minister for Trade, the Hon. Tom Koutsantonis MP.

There are many organisations that I could talk about. I could go on forever, as all of us in this place could, about the wonderful work that is done in our communities. But someone who needs a special mention is Pam Nader from Lockleys Senior Citizens Club. It was lovely to visit them on 29 June, together with Jean Teivans, who is on their committee, for the ongoing great work at the Lockleys Senior Citizens Club. I would also like to give a special mention to those groups that have recently held events that I was unfortunately unable to attend due to parliamentary sittings or committee hearings interstate. Last week, there was the Camden Community Centre volunteer celebration and gourmet barbecue lunch and presentation of certificates. Certificates were presented to those volunteers who had contributed over years to the Camden Community Centre. Through the contribution of their time, they ensure that the Camden Community Centre ticks along and assists the community in every which way.

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the 21st anniversary of the seniors club luncheon of the Panrhodian Society of South Australia. But my staff attended on 29 June. They are a great community organisation that offers a lot of services and support for the Greek community in the western suburbs in my electorate.

Veterans' affairs is another big area. Congratulations to the HMAS Australia Club on the dedication and unveiling of the HMAS Australia memorial in the state seat of Colton down at Henley Beach. I also congratulate A Coy 6 Royal Australian Regiment, who have been awarded $1,850 for a first and final reunion, which was held between 20 April and 27 April at West Beach in my electorate in Adelaide as part of the Department of Veterans' Affairs Saluting Their Service commemorations program.

Employment is a big area and something that concerns all of us. I recently attended the 'Learn, Earn, Legend!', which is the AFL Indigenous employment expo. It was held on 5 June. That was a fantastic day down at AAMI Stadium, West Lakes. That expo provided information and inspiration to many Indigenous students on their future careers. Many of these students were footballers—kids who love their football. Basically, the message was that, just as you fight on the football field to get the mark, kick the goal or handball the ball, you do not always get it right, but you do not give up. You keep on going until you do get it right. The message passed on that day was that, when you apply for jobs and try to get employment, you might not be successful on the first go, but you keep on trying, you keep on diversifying, until you make a success of it.

I am also very excited about the new jobs 101 campaign, which is running until October, which is funded by the DEEWR north-western local employment coordinator in conjunction with the local media in my electorate. (Time expired)