Debates Day 2 - Wednesday 27 November 2002
Parliamentary Record 9
Debates for 9th Assembly 2001 - 2005; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 9th Assembly 2001 - 2005
2002-11-27
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Debates
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
Darwin
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Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
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DEBATES - Wednesday 27 November 2002 New South Wales where he is now living, just north of Sydney, to receive his life membership. The most extraordinary thing about Grant is that he had his hair in a ponytail. The idea of that Scottish icon with his grey hair in a ponytail was more than most of us could cope with. A man who had been awarded his life membership before but now received it in a framed award was Joe Fisher, who certainly has been involved with mining and mining issues in the Territory for the best part of 50 years. I extend my congratulations to the Northern Territory Minerals Council; their hard working CEO, Kezia Purick, and all the award winners. I was also pleased to attend the AGM of the NT Chamber of Commerce and Industry as guest speaker on 30 October, and to be given the opportunity to outline the many crime prevention initiatives that have been implemented by government. The government and the chamber have established an effective working relationship, and the growth of the Territory economy is an objective we both share. I congratulate President Bruce Fadelli and Chief Executive Officer, Carole Frost, on a very professional organisation and a very professionally organised and well attended AGM. I also acknowledge this evening the humanitarian work of two of my constituents, John and Elaine Edwards. They recognised the plight of children at the Woomera detention centre and, very much in keeping with the kind of people that John and Elaine are, rather than say: Well, that would be somebody elses problem, decided to do something about it themselves. They developed a proposal to establish an educational playgroup for the children of detainees. Again, simply not content to say: Well look, somebody else might do something about this, they set about to collect the kind of educational support activities that were needed - everything from tape recorders to toys for the kids to play with - and bundled them all in their car and drove to Woomera. The story they tell about their time there is - well, the best way to describe it is probably that they had a pretty tough time trying to achieve what they wanted to do. In the end they did, but they were seen as - and if you know John and Elaine, the last people you would ever suspect of anything subversive is those two - but they did actually get to deliver the resources to the centre for an under six years of age playgroup. They are a remarkable couple. The fact that they heard about that need, decided to do something, collected all the materials, put them in their car, drove all the way to Woomera, and then persisted until they got to deliver the goods and to talk to the people involved, is a real tribute to them. I congratulate John and Elaine for their humanitarism and their abiding commitment to the wellbeing of young people. I congratulate all those who supported this wonderful project. It always gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the achievements of schools and students in my electorate. Young Sam Van Den Nieuwenhof, who goes to Parap Primary School, participated in the MS Readathon and raised the second highest amount of money in the NT. Sam read 23 books and raised $317.05. Altogether, the Parap School students read 487 books and raised $2214.70. The Stuart Park Primary students participated in the Heart Foundations Jump Rope for Heart and raised just over $6000. My congratulations to the students, the teachers and all those involved. They are both fine primary schools, Parap and Stuart Park, and when you see how the children actually get involved in those fundraising activities and with the enthusiasm they do it, it certainly makes us very confident about the Territorys future. Another outstanding achiever in the Fannie Bay electorate is Betty Barham. Betty recently attended the International Federation of Ageing conference in Perth with Leigh Hillman who is the Executive Officer of NT Council on the Ageing. IFA is an international non-government organisation committed to the dignity, independence and empowerment of older people. Betty is a Territorian of long standing and is widely involved with community associations. She is one of those people who makes the Territory a better place to live and I certainly commend her contribution. She is a terrific person, she lives at Kurringal and she is one of the stalwarts of the place. There is barely an organisation around town that you do not find Betty involved with. She really is an outstanding senior Tenritorian. The end of another school year comes to a close and leaving school in many ways marks the entry of those young men and women into adulthood. I was reminded of this because I was fortunate on Friday, 15 November to be invited to open the Casuarina Senior College end of year art exhibition. Principal, Steve Sjoberg and Deputy Principal, Mary Rees, talked to me enthusiastically about some of the successes enjoyed by the staff and students throughout the year and the schools plans for the future. To meet the demands of Stage II art, craft and design, students are required to undertake a number of tasks which cover both practice and theory in their chosen fields and students keep a journal documenting the creative processes. The exhibition contained ceramics, photographs, fashion design, architectural and graphic design, painting, sculpture, digital and other two and three dimensional artistic interpretations of the world. The 3106