Peterborough Golf Club

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (15:49): It is a great pleasure for me to share with the house the wonderful event that my wife and I attended in Peterborough on Saturday evening: the Peterborough Golf Club's end-of-year presentation night. I have very regularly been able to go to the season-opening events for the Peterborough Golf Club, but this was the first time I have been able to attend their end-of-season presentation night. I have to say it was absolutely fantastic to see the achievement of the golfers, particularly the young golfers in that club. It is a family club.

One member, Carol, when receiving an award herself, described the club in her short speech as a family. That has been so clear to me from my many visits to this club, whether directly for a golf club event or for one of the other community organisation events held at the club when club members are all pulling together to host and provide that service and of course raise some funds for themselves.

The most pleasing thing for me was to see the extraordinary achievement of the young golfers in the Peterborough Golf Club. Life member Peter O'Dea is the convener for the young golfers' program. He can be incredibly proud of what he and other members have achieved. A Peterborough Golf Club young male player and a Peterborough Golf Club young female player each won the Sand Greens Championship for state juniors.

Sand greens exist where you have a golf course in an environment where a green green, a grass green, is not practical because of the climate, so sand—or scrapes, as they are often called—is used instead. It happens all over our electorate of Stuart. For a young male golfer and a young female golfer from the Peterborough club to each be the junior state champion in that category is absolutely extraordinary.

Of course, Mal, as the male captain and Janina, as the female captain for the club, deserve to be very proud of what they have achieved. President Jeff Oakley can also be incredibly proud of the club that he leads. It is a club that provides an enormous amount of fun, a club that provides an enormous amount of camaraderie and a club that has a particular focus on the junior programs, as I have mentioned.

Lydiah Borowicki and Alex O'Dea were the two extremely high achievers recognised on the night—both young players. In fact, if I have this correct, Lydia is still a junior golfer technically and Alex might be just on the cusp of leaving juniors and becoming a senior golfer. I apologise if I have that wrong, but those two were essentially the most successful male and female players in the club. Two relatively young players were the most successful two players in the club, which again speaks volumes for the club itself and for the junior program.

It was also fantastic for me to see the other more senior male and female players who were pipped at the post, at least on the female side of things. I think the competition was not quite so close on the male side of things. The more senior male and female players were very happy that players significantly younger than them had won through to be so successful in that way, and that is again another outstanding illustration of how this club works together.

The club has also progressed incredibly well in the last 10 or 12 years that I have had an association with them with regard to their organisation, their governance and their finances. They are a strong and stable club now. They always had the esprit de corps, the right people and the right reasons for existing. They have improved with regard to their governance and organisation as well, and their overall financial management. That has paid dividends for the club with regard to the programs that they can actually deliver, the support they can deliver to the younger golfers.

They have two driving tee netted areas which came in about three years ago. They are putting a lot of effort into coaching programs, so not just the more senior by age golfers taking aside the younger ones but actually getting proper coaching programs for them. They have invested in furniture and carpets. They are about to upgrade their kitchen. The sky is the limit for the Peterborough Golf Club and with those young golfers coming through, soon to become senior golfers, this club will only get stronger and stronger.