Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They were very fine words from Senator Faulkner about the SCG. It was nice to reminisce with him. The organisation I rise to speak about tonight is pertinent in light of Australia's recent pledge of $50 million to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which seeks to eliminate the remaining global cases of polio. It is known as Novita Children's Services. I have a personal connection with this disease. My father, Brian, contracted polio in 1951 and was nursed back to health by a beautiful young nurse named Elaine. They fell in love, they married and, as they are still together after 60 years and six sons, it would be difficult to say that polio had not changed my father's very full life!

This organisation was established much earlier , back in 1939. The Crippled Children's Association of South Australia was established to care for the children in South Australia who we re diagnosed with polio. From its initial £ 2,000 annual grant, Novita, as it is now know n , provides essential therapy, equipment and family support to more than 2,000 children and through broader work with families and communities it has a direct impact on more than 10,000 South Australians. Novita is one of South Australia's pre-eminent children's charities. It is a world leader in research, development and the provision of quality services to children living with physical disabilities including cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, acquired brain and spinal injuries, spina bifida and multiple disabilities such as intellectual, visual or hearing impairments, communication difficulties and other medical conditions.

Novita's core business is to provide early childhood services, child and adolescent services, regional services and an inclusion support program. These services are delivered by a team of highly trained occupational therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, speech pathologists and family liaison coordinators. They are delivered in partnership with children, their families and their communities and are tailored to the individual child, allowing for a more responsive and flexible program of support.

I would like to draw attention to some of the specific services and programs that Novita delivers. Its services are delivered free to eligible children in their home, at kindy or childcare and at schools right across metropolitan Adelaide. Importantly however, Novita has not forgotten children in the country. Its regional services team provides therapy, equipment and support to children and their families across regional South Australia in towns such as Clare and Balaklava in the Wakefield electorate and even as far away as Broken Hill. They visit regional areas up to four times a year for two or three days to provide information, resources and support to local therapists and information and training activities on a range of topics. They also offer telephone contact between visits.

The Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters, or HIPPY as it is known, is a home based parenting and early childhood enrichment program. Under the guidance of a local Novita coordinator, HIPPY comprises weekly activities that parents and children work through together with the support of home tutors. Following the successful establishment of HIPPY at Mansfield Park in 2010, Novita successfully commenced two additional HIPPY programs in the northern Adelaide suburbs of Salisbury North and Davoren Park, in the Wakefield electorate, in 2011. Novita now provides HIPPY programs to 260 disadvantaged families across these three Adelaide suburbs. Not only does it deliver services critical to improving the quality of life for children living with a disability it also supplies equipment essential to assisting with mobility, speech, play and everyday activities in order to empower these children to connect with their worlds.

Last financial year Novita spent more than $14 million assisting children, and this year it has already delivered 1,650 pieces of equipment. In order to do this Novita undertakes, with the assistance of staff, volunteers and a tireless auxiliary, a large amount of fundraising. This adjournment speech coincides with one of Novita's largest fundraising events, the West End Mighty River Run, which finishes tomorrow, on 25 November. This year 34 boats will form a flotilla in the cruise for a cause, along the Murray River, from Waikerie to Goolwa. This event features the culmination of dozens of fundraising activities held by the 22 participating crews. Each year hundreds of people line the river banks to watch the flotilla and many more boats joining in at river towns en route.

As we head into the festive season it is important to mention Carols by Candlelight, held at Elder Park in Adelaide. It attracts up to 35,000 people, as Senator McEwen, sitting opposite, would know. Novita is one of the charities that benefit from the proceeds raised. This year it will be held on 18 December, and I encourage Adelaideans to enjoy a night of festive cheer and to support not only Novita but the Cora Barclay Centre and the Women's and Children's Hospital.

Aside from providing services directly to children, Novita has a strong history of research and draws on this to provide high-quality services. Core areas of research for the organisation are clinical research associated with conditions like cerebral palsy, technical research like contributing to wheelchair standards and research into the impact of disability and ageing.

Novita completely changes lives, not only those of the children but also those of the parents. The freedom that Novita delivers to the carers of these children is a noble thing. I remember the joy and excitement I felt when my children spoke their first words and took their first steps. I can only imagine how much more profound that moment would have been after thinking that my child might not have been able to do those things. This is the life-changing impact Novita has on thousands of South Australian children.

In conclusion, I would like to commend Novita on the outstanding work it does with children. This is reflected in the meaning of the organisation's name. Novita is derived from two Latin words: nova, meaning new, and vita, meaning life. This goes to the core of what this organisation does for children living with a disability in South Australia: it provides them with new life.