David Fawcett (Wakefield, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to take a few minutes of the House’s time today to draw its attention to the strengths of some of our regional communities, particularly the community in Wakefield. I speak particularly about the 10th eisteddfod of the Balaklava Eisteddfod Society, conducted this weekend past. This eisteddfod has grown to be a three-day event that involves hundreds of entrants from across Wakefield and culminates in the finale concert, which I had the pleasure of opening on Sunday afternoon, where there was a massed choir drawn from schools from the north of the electorate in places like Saddleworth and Clare; Kapunda to the east; and right down to the outer metropolitan areas. There was a large range of talent, and it was a large celebration of the value of music and performance by young people in the electorate of Wakefield.

I believe it is important to look back to what Plato said about music. He contended that we should teach music, physics and philosophy to young people, but he said that most importantly we should teach music because in music and all of the arts are the keys to learning. What sorts of keys to learning was he talking about there? Obviously there is music itself, the confidence you gain from public performance or public speaking and team work. But I think that the most important key is learning to create—to create music and to create something that is greater than the sum of its parts.

I would contend that, if young people who are currently out committing random acts of vandalism or other violence had the opportunity to participate in something like this eisteddfod, that great sense of achievement that they would have gained through creating would have stemmed any inclination to go into those more destructive areas. So I believe it is a great strength of the community that it can make the opportunity for young people to create music together. But that only happens with the strong support and commitment of people.

I would like to congratulate and thank Di Spence, of the organising committee of the Balaklava Eisteddfod Society, as well as the Balco Group, the major sponsor—particularly Malcolm and Joe May, the owners of Balco. They sponsor this not only financially but also literally, as on the day they are there acting as escorts and helping with the administration of the eisteddfod. The community helps as well: the churches provide venues and support over three days; the Mayor, Mr James Maitland, is the patron of the eisteddfod; and small businesses like McCracken Ford, which also runs a petrol station, stayed open on the Sunday just so people from outlying areas could come to the eisteddfod. I think it is a great credit to the communities of Wakefield that this eisteddfod has given these young people this opportunity.

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