Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week on 6 February I was reading my local paper, the Bunyip. The Bunyipcovers the areas around Gawler and the city of Playford. It is a very notable paper, has a long history and first formed out of the Humbug Society, where two members sued one another after one of their newsletters was distributed—so it has a contentious history as well. In the Bunyip last week, there was an article headlined 'Mayors ready for election' and it involved the Mayor of Playford, Mr Glen Docherty. I will say at the start of my speech that I have always had a constructive relationship with the mayor for the good of Elizabeth and places like Munno Para, Angle Vale, Craigmore, Hillbank and all the other towns and suburbs in the city of Playford. At the heart of the City of Playford is Elizabeth, which is a unique place, a great working-class community and home to Holden and the Central District footy club. It is a city with a great deal of strength but, of course, it also has its share of struggle streets. It needs all of its publicly-elected officials to be 100 per cent dedicated to the area. When Mayor Docherty was elected, he remarked to me on more than one occasion that the only job he wanted was the Mayor of Playford. That is why it was a bit of a surprise last week when I opened the Bunyip and read about his selection for the marginal seat of Newland for the Liberal Party. Newland is up over the hill on the other side of Adelaide. I do not think you can be mayor of Playford, which takes in the Adelaide plains—including places like Elizabeth—and then seek public office in another part of the city up over the hill, which represents places like Tea Tree Gully, St Agnes, Ridgehaven and Highbury. I think these are two fundamentally different parts of Adelaide. They have different outlooks. They have different demography and they service different people. Anybody from Adelaide will tell you that is the case.

It has often been said that you cannot serve two masters, and I do not think you can serve two places at once. You cannot really be an independent, non-partisan mayor of one part of the city and a partisan party candidate of another part of the city. I think Elizabeth, with all its special needs, needs a mayor that is myopically focused on its needs and not distracted by a candidate who is only focused on their next political motive.

Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Primary Healthcare) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Are you offering yourself?

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Boothby asks whether I am offering myself. I can assure him I am not. I would avoid local government like the plague. But I do think Elizabeth deserves a non-partisan, full-time mayor myopically interested in its own affairs. Every day when I am back in the electorate, doing street corner meetings and shopping centre stalls, I hear from people about the footpaths, about trees that need to be removed, about local neighbourhood issues that they are concerned about. These are issues that I do not mind bringing up with the council, but they really should be attended to by mayors and by local councillors. I do not think it is appropriate to have a local mayor who is focused on the next move in state parliament. It is fair enough that that is what he wants to do, but it is completely unfair to the City of Playford. I think that, particularly after the big rate rises in the last couple of years, people are entitled to demand that all of their elected officials are completely committed to the local area and are not off campaigning in another part of town for a different group of people in a partisan way. I urge everybody in Elizabeth, and Munno Para and places like Hillbank/Craigmore, to express this view to the council and to the mayor to make sure that we get our money's worth out of local government.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak tonight about the highly successful Tumbatrek bushwalk through the high country of Tumbarumba in my electorate on Saturday. Some members may recall this great tradition of an annual walk along the Hume and Hovell track in the beautiful Snowy Mountains was started by former Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Nationals, Tim Fischer, when he was the member for Farrer in 1985. With a group of 60 keen trekkers, we set off for the nine-kilometre walk, starting along the Mount Garland Fire Trail and then covering part of the Hume and Hovell track to Tumbarumba Creek Bridge, Big Hill Lookout, Burra Creek Falls, the Chinese Mining Tunnel and finishing at Henry Angel Trackhead.

Tim Fischer maintained this tradition of showcasing the best of the Tumbarumba Shire for many years. When Tim asked me to continue the tradition, I could hardly refuse the call and I now have possession of his iconic Tumbatrek stick. Rating highly amongst Tim Fisher's marvellous legacy is Tumbatrek. When Tim joined us at the dinner in Tumbarumba on Friday night, he recalled how his annual trek through the Snowy Mountains became the stuff of political legend. As the Acting Prime Minister, he sometimes ran the nation from the slopes of Kosciuszko while the press gallery watched with delight. Quite famously, Tim used to take a dip in the creek to entertain the press gallery by using his trademark Akubra for a bit of modesty. While I certainly did not follow in Tim's lead in this, a great day was had by all who attended and it will generate some much-needed publicity for tourism in the Snowys.

Among the 50 trekkers was the Premier of NSW, The Hon. Barry O'Farrell; Deputy Leader of the Nationals, Senator Nigel Scullion; state member for Albury, Greg Aplin, whose electorate includes Tumbarumba; Tumbarumba shire mayor Ian Chaffey; Wagga Wagga mayor Rod Kendall; and Tumbarumba Councillor George Martin and many of his colleagues. The indefatigable George Martin entertained us with many of his great stories along the way.

I was also very impressed with a delegation from Tumbarumba High School who attended the walk and carried home-baked supplies for morning tea and lunch. The group is training to trek the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea for a fortnight in April and honour the people who served during the war on that same trail. Sponsored by the local Rotary Club in Tumbarumba, the 12 year 11 and 12 students have been in training for many weeks, getting ready for the more than 90 kilometres of arduous trail which await them in April. I commend Tumbarumba High School for its 'Tumbarumba2Kokoda' initiative and I wish them well with their trip. I will report back to the House upon their return.

Having the Premier join us on this Tumbatrek—the second since my election to this place—was a great opportunity for the local mayors and councillors to speak with the Premier about their day-to-day concerns. It was also very pleasing to hear the New South Wales government confirm $4.9 million funding for the reconstruction of Mannus Dam, which was destroyed by a flood on 15 October, 2010. It is my hope the legacy of Tim Fischer can continue with the annual Tumbatrek and that our delegation will continue to grow. I offer my congratulations and thanks to Tumbatrek organiser Marilyn Gilbert, Kokoda Trail leaders Grant Harris and Glen McGrath and Tumbarumba High School Deputy Principal Fiona Jackson.

While speaking about young people and achievements, the Temora and District Education Fund recently announced the 17 Temora shire youth, who have a genuine commitment to achieve their career or education goals and who are the recipients of this year's grants. The mission of the Temora and District Education Fund is to foster further education, career and personal development opportunities of Temora Shire youth through community based encouragement and financial assistance. The fund is led by the Mayor of Temora, Rick Firman, who is very enthusiastic about this particular fund and all things Temora. The recipients this year were Jordan Barrett, Ashleigh Breust, Ashleigh Cartwright, Moran Durham, Brad Foote, Mikayla Heinjus, Chris Hoad, Mardi Hornby, Aimee Lanyon, Kaitlin Maguire, Sarah O'Callaghan, Tiarne Pattison, Guy Piltz, William Robinson, Michael Stacey, Lisa Stacey and Bethany Taylor. Guy gave a wonderful address to thank everybody who attended the night, particularly the interview panel, which comprised Chairman Councillor Denis Slay, Secretary Eileen Derrick and board member Darryl Williams. The time and effort of these individuals who contributed was most appreciated by the recipients because the money will be put to helping them through those important week-to-week and day-to-day things that students continuing their tertiary education often get confronted with. It is certainly going to help them realise their dreams. They were advised on the night by those who spoke at the function to make sure that they did not forget their origins, did not forget their wonderful home town Temora. It is a wonderful community and, with the enthusiasm shown on the night, I am sure that those young people will go on to bigger and better things, but they certainly will not forget where they came from and nor should they.