Ash Ambihaipahar (Barton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to celebrate one of the many examples of community collaboration and inclusivity that define my electorate of Barton. In December last year, Hurstville Public School opened the first dedicated sensory play area within the Georges River LGA—a wonderful playground designed to support childhood development through the engagement and exploration of their senses. Through the sensory playground, the lucky kids of Hurstville Public School are encouraged to meander along footpaths varying in texture from asphalt to sand to grass, and to spin totem poles and abacuses. It invites hands-on engagement with their environments. In another zone, the smell of scent infused playdough wafts around the air. A special auditory zone allows the kids to experiment with outdoor musical instruments including drums and xylophones—something I'm sure many parents in the local area are happy for their kids to get out of their system before coming back home.

These types of spaces have been shown to enrich cognitive, emotional and social development for all students, particularly neurodivergent children, and they redefine how we think about childhood development and inclusion. Never has it been more important to foster reaching out into our environment, into our communities and to our neighbours with an attitude of curiosity, open-mindedness and willingness to grow together. These are not only values that are important for the younger generation but values that we must continuously remind ourselves to embody as well.

In addition to vital funding support from the Community Building Partnership grant program, I pay special thanks to Mark Steed, the principal of Hurstville Public School, without whom the idea for the sensory playground would not have been sparked, as well as the Hurstville P? St George's Hurstville Anglican Church; Kingsgrove Community Aid Centre; and X-Life running group, headed by a wonderful councillor, Councillor Ben Wang of Georges River Council. These Barton community groups have shown us what community collaboration across education, politics and faith can achieve for the development of our kids and society at large, and I thank these groups for their indispensable consultation and fundraising efforts in bringing this vision to life.

Being a former student of Hurstville Public School myself, I am incredibly proud of the direction the school is taking in promoting inclusivity and celebrating diversity within the electorate of Barton. It's something that was brought home even stronger by the brilliant Arabic drumming performance held by a small group of Hurstville Public School students to commemorate the opening of the sensory playground. In the words of Principal Mark Steed, we hope to see more of these initiatives implemented by the wider community in the future, to continue supporting our young people and especially our neurodivergent young people in the local area.