Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to speak about two recent functions which my wife and I recently attended in my electorate of Boothby. The first one was the annual Deepavali dinner, which was hosted by the Hindu Society of South Australia. We were pleased to be the guests of Siva Selvakulalingam. Deepavali is the Festival of Lights, generally held to represent the victory of light over darkness or good over evil—things that members of parliament could certainly appreciate, on this side anyway. It was a very interesting function and we were pleased to be a part of it. It was held at the Shri Ganesha Temple in the Oaklands Park in my electorate.

The second function which we attended last Saturday night was the 2006 Pink Ribbon Ball, which we attended with over 500 people. This event raises money for breast cancer. The patron of the Breast Cancer Research Fund is Lady Joan Hardy. Alan Young, the chairman of the Flinders Medical Centre Foundation, and Deborah Heithersay, the general manager of the Flinders Medical Centre Foundation, should be commended for a well-run and highly successful event which will raise money for breast cancer research. Breast cancer will affect one in every 11 Australian women during their lifetime. The good news is that survival rates are quite high: almost 80 per cent will survive breast cancer. This important function will raise money for breast cancer research.