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

On Saturday, 31 October, I attended once again the Annual Awards of Excellence presentation for Clubs SA. Clubs SA is the organisation that represents many of South Australia’s community clubs which, in turn, provide the backbone to so many community based activities. These clubs are reliant on thousands of volunteers and give so much back to their local communities and frequently to national and international humanitarian projects. The awards presentation has been taking place since 1985 and provides an opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge some of the outstanding contributors amongst Clubs SA.

I just want to go through the list of winners in the 2009 awards. The Employee of the Year was Matthew Nastasijevic, who comes from the Para Hills Community Club. For community service, the award went to the Para Hills Community Club. The Spirit of the Club Movement Award went to the Renmark Club. The Encouragement of Sport Award went to the Marion Sports and Community Club. The Occupational Health and Safety Award went to the Cobdogla and District Club. The Best Dining Facility Award again went to Para Hills Community Club. The award for the best bar also went to the Para Hills Community Club. The Best Entertainment Venue Award went to the Parafield Gardens Community Club. The most improved club was the Renmark Club. The best gaming machine venue was Grand North. And the Most Professional Manager Award went to Greg Saunders from the Parafield Gardens Community Club. The Best Club Operations (Non Gaming) Award went to the Vines Golf Club of Reynella. The Best Club Operations (Gaming) Award went to the Parafield Gardens Community Club. Club of the Year in the Regional category went to the Renmark Club. Club of the Year in the Metro (Small) category went to the Colonel Light Gardens Community RSL—

Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Training and Sport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Hear, hear!

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

I hear the member for Boothby saying, ‘Hear, hear!’, and quite rightly so—it is in his electorate. And Club of the Year in the Metro (Large) category went to the Para Hills Community Club.

All of those clubs well deserved the awards they were given, and you would have noticed, from the wide spread of both locations and style of clubs, the range of different organisations that make up Clubs SA around South Australia and the fantastic job they all do for their own local communities—and I am sure that all of us in this place are familiar with local clubs. In fact, only yesterday I attended, at the Parafield Gardens Community Club, the KD Dance Championship, a championship arranged for schoolchildren in the local region, where KD’s dance school taught the schoolchildren and then put them through a local championship to help them get some confidence. In a similar vein I attended the Para Hills Community Club on Saturday night where the pitch and putt—pitch and putt is a modified golf game—national championship awards were given out, and I was pleased to see that it was hosted by South Australia, with the presentation at the Para Hills Community Club.