It was beautiful weather this Saturday morning at Hamilton Park Reserve, Warradale, as we celebrated recent upgrades to the reserve by the State Government and Marion Council. 

Strong communities have good public amenities and, as part of the upgrade, the State Government contributed $180,000 to fund fantastic new automatic toilet facilities. 

This afternoon I'm at Brighton Lacrosse Club to celebrate the offical opening to see their new clubroom!

On our tour of their stunning new site, one of the club's life members told me that when the old clubrooms were built many decades ago the besser blocks used cost two shillings each!

Brighton Primary School is one of our great local schools with an inclusive atmosphere clear from the moment you step onto the school grounds. School Principal, Ian Filer and 10 impressive young students on from the Student Executive proudly showed me around their school community in a personal tour.

This year, local arts organisation Tutti Arts moved into their exciting new headquarters in Brighton.

I had the pleasure of visiting their new headquarters and seeing creative artists at work. Tutti’s leadership team including President Andrew Downing, Founder and Artistic Director Pat Rix, GM Linda Williams and board member Paul Kirkwood showed me around the new site, and I was fortunate enough to see several performances including the Thank God Its Friday choir singing Katy Perry’s hit Roar.

Today, the Member for Black, David Speirs, the Member for Morphett, Stephen Patterson, and I were treated to a tour of Brighton Secondary school by Principal Tony Lunnis.

We saw sections of the school where part of a $13.84m upgrade is underway to construct a new two story-building with general and specialised learning areas, as part of the State Government’s Building Better Schools program.

One of the greatest challenges of COVID-19 restrictions has been dealing with separation and isolation, especially among older residents in the community.

When restrictions on social gatherings eased, and with a COVID-safe plan in place, Townsend Retirement Village held a special birthday celebration for one of its oldest residents, Mr Ron Rosenberg, who turned 100.

I had the pleasure of visiting Treasure Boxes, a local not-for-profit organisation that provides vital essentials to disadvantaged babies and children within our community.

CEO and founder Ms Rikki Cooke showed me around their industrial-size warehouse where I saw volunteers packing much-needed items, including clothes, cots, feeding equipment, car seats and toys—all bound for households across South Australia.

On Saturday 18 July, I stood amid a sea of black and gold jerseys to cheer from the sidelines as the Brighton Rugby Union Football Club played their first round of home games for the season.

On this special day, the clubrooms were also officially opened. I joined Holdfast Bay Mayor Amanda Wilson and Club President Wayne Londema in front of a very excited crowd to cut a black and gold ribbon to mark this occasion.

With the Minister for Education, I spent a day visiting several local schools including Seaview High School, Darling Primary School and Marion Primary School.

At Seaview High School, we inspected the site of the school’s new performance arts building being constructed as part of the State Government’s Building Better School’s programme. Student Presidents Rhys and Casey then interviewed the Minister and me, asking all kinds of great questions including our own experiences at school. It was fantastic to speak with such thoughtful young people.

In June, I held a community catchup at the Next Chapter Gourmet Café, Oaklands Park. Local residents and I chatted over coffee about issues affecting our lives and community.

This was the first in my series of catchups at local cafes that I hope will keep people connected and offer the chance to raise issues with me or other community members, all while supporting local businesses. Some issues we touched on at this meeting included housing density, public housing maintenance and visa applications.