Speeches
Tuesday, 08 September 2026
Launch of Estara’s Community Wheelchair Sports SA Program
Rod and I are pleased to be here today to mark Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week 2026 and to officially launch Estara's new Wheelchair Community Sports SA Program.
We warmly welcome everyone gathered this morning, including people with lived experience of spinal cord injury, their families and carers, clinicians, researchers, advocates, sporting organisations, community partners, and the staff of Estara.
As joint patrons, it’s deeply meaningful for us to support an organisation that has stood alongside South Australians living with spinal cord injury and disability for more than 60 years - including as patrons of its predecessor, Paraquad SA.
Since 1963, Estara has combined specialist expertise, lived experience and practical support to help people participate fully in community life.
Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week offers an important opportunity to deepen our community's understanding of the lifelong impacts of spinal cord injury, and of the barriers that can still stand between people and full participation in society.
I thank the many people with lived experience gathered here, whose voices, expertise and determination make such an important contribution to improving services, research, policy, and community attitudes.
I am heartened by the profound impact that recreation and sport can have on physical wellbeing, confidence, independence, friendship, and a genuine sense of belonging.
We’ve seen that through daughter’s love of wheelchair basketball, developed as part of her rehabilitation after a spinal injury. Nothing will keep her away.
As Governor, Rod’s and my first engagement with wheelchair sports was watching local wheelchair rugby which grew into the Wheelchair Rugby World Challenge which, as you’d be aware, Adelaide has hosted for the past two years.
Watching a game in action, several words came to mind: fast, furious, intense, yet clearly underscored by skill, tactics, strategy, instinct, and tenacity.
Like a large number of South Australians, we also enjoyed watching on television the most recent winter and summer Paralympics and marvelling at the skill of athletes with and without wheelchairs.
It’s great to see that Australia has well established paths for people with disability to pursue elite level sport.
However, I was surprised to learn there are fewer opportunities for people with disability to play community sport.
I offer my heartfelt thanks to Estara for identifying this gap, and for taking bold action to remedy it for South Australians who wish to play social wheelchair sport.
It’s great to see the Community Wheelchair Sports SA Program encompass a range of wheelchair sports, starting with Come and Try days for basketball, bocce, and volleyball, with the expertise of lived experience practitioners to inform its further stages.
It’s also great to see the program will also encompass a scholarship program, to support people with disability to overcome financial barriers to participation, as well as a ‘one stop shop’ database on the Estara website for people to identify disability friendly sports facilities and programs in SA.
Friends,
Inclusion is not simply about removing physical barriers, but about building communities where everyone has a genuine opportunity to participate, connect, contribute, and pursue their interests.
I thank all conference attendees - researchers, health professionals, sporting organisations, government representatives, community groups, volunteers, and industry partners - whose cooperation and understanding are turning innovation and lived experience into practical opportunities and better outcomes.
Rod and I are encouraged by all that has been achieved, and I invite everyone here today to carry the spirit of this conference beyond these walls, by continuing to challenge barriers and build a South Australia where disability is never a barrier to belonging and participation.
To Estara, and to this vital new program, we extend our gratitude and best wishes: may every court, track and field you open up become a place where South Australians find confidence, connection and belonging.