The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley) (15:21): I would also like to take this opportunity to update the house about the 20th anniversary of Co.As.It. Many of you in the house may be aware that the idea for Co.As.It. came from the
Hon. Mario Feleppa, a member of the other place, who has known my own family for many decades
now. He was National President of the Patronato INCA. I know that he made several trips to Melbourne to the Co.As.It. interstate to study that model there, pick out the best parts and implement them here. I think it was a good initiative that was started here in South Australia.
I believe it also enjoyed the bipartisan support of Robert Lawson at the time and also MPs
like Joe Scalzi, my predecessor. It is important that these things are bipartisan. You would appreciate,
sir, that there are over 100,000 residents in South Australia of Italian origin, many of them elderly,
and there will be many more in the not too distant future. Organisations like Co.As.It. that specialise
in running activities to make sure that people can age gracefully, providing culturally sensitive and
appropriate services to people in their elderly years, are so vital. I congratulate Tina Taddeo, the
President of Co.As.It., and I wish them all the very best moving forward. I know that they will enjoy
the support of both sides of parliament in the future.
