Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I take this opportunity to recognise the work of Pastor Rod Denton, who for the past 15 years was the senior pastor at the Clovercrest Baptist Church in the electorate of Makin. Pastor Rod Denton completed his term at the Clovercrest Baptist Church earlier this year after serving not only his parishioners at the church but the broader Makin community. That service has indeed been extensive because today the Clovercrest Baptist Church provides a wide range of much needed services to people who are disadvantaged or are suffering family problems or general social problems. Those services include spiritual counselling, a young mothers group, food parcels, clothing and a range of community care programs. Those services are provided, in some cases, on the Clovercrest Baptist Church site. The church has had to expand its physical presence to the point where it has purchased additional property so that it can house the staff and services it currently provides. In other cases, the work of the church extends into country South Australia and overseas.

I want to mention one particular example of the work the church is doing in a remote community in South Australia. I refer to the Nepabunna community, which is located in the Gammon Ranges, some 350 kilometres north of Port Augusta. It is a community with a high Indigenous population. For some time now, a team of volunteers from the Clovercrest Baptist Church has been regularly travelling to Nepabunna and working with the locals in rebuilding the buildings of the community, including community buildings and private homes, and also building the spirit of the community. The team from the Clovercrest Baptist Church also provides food parcels to many of the families living in that remote location. It is a wonderful example of the many initiatives of Pastor Rod Denton and an example of the services that he initiated, which today reach out to people in the local area of Makin, right across South Australia and, as I said earlier, in some cases overseas.

I take this opportunity to thank Pastor Rod Denton for his personal commitment to the local community in Makin and, equally, his commitment to people outside that area, for whom his services could not in any way be seen to be for any benefit of the church he represents. I thank him especially for the services provided, through his leadership, to families and communities in South-East Asia who truly are disadvantaged. I thank him for all of that and I wish him and his family well in whatever future endeavour he pursues, because I know he will continue to serve people wherever he goes.