Motion on Her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC

Mr FATCHEN (Mount Gambier) (16:04): I, too, support this motion and rise to join other members in acknowledging the remarkable service of Her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC as Governor of South Australia.

As a relatively new member of this place, I have only had the privilege of meeting Her Excellency personally once, shortly after I was sworn in as the member for Mount Gambier, but the community I represent has come to know her much better. Throughout her term, Her Excellency has demonstrated a genuine commitment to regional South Australia, and Mount Gambier and the Limestone Coast have certainly benefited from that commitment.

In fact, barely two months after being sworn in as Governor, Her Excellency made one of her first regional visits to our part of the state in December 2021. During that visit, she took the time to gain a genuine understanding of the Limestone Coast and its communities. She met with local government leaders to discuss regional priorities and projects, visited community organisations, including the Mayor's Christmas Appeal, Boandik Lodge and Ryder-Cheshire Homes, and spent time with residents, volunteers and service providers.

Her visit also highlighted the importance of our key industries and natural assets, with tours of Timberlink, local agricultural enterprises and iconic locations across the region—and she kept coming back. By April 2025, Her Excellency had made eight official visits to the South-East, meeting our civic leaders, visiting our schools, community organisations and local industries, and taking the time to speak with the people who make our region what it is.

During one visit, for the 60th anniversary of the Lions Club of Mount Gambier, Her Excellency reflected on the strength of volunteering she had observed in our community and the remarkable number of the Medal of the Order of Australia recipients who call Mount Gambier home. I think that observation says something about Mount Gambier, but it also says something about Her Excellency: she noticed. She took the time to understand the community she visited and to recognise the people quietly contributing to them.

One particularly meaningful example of that is the relationship Her Excellency developed with the Ryder-Cheshire Mount Gambier Home Foundation. Ryder-Cheshire has a very special place in our community. Its two purpose-built homes provide supported accommodation for people living with disability, with a focus on independence, dignity, respect and compassion.

Her Excellency first visited Ryder-Cheshire during that initial South-East visit in 2021, where she toured the homes and met residents and those involved with the foundation. Just a few months later, in early 2022, she agreed to become the patron of the Ryder-Cheshire Mount Gambier Home Foundation. Importantly, it was not a patronage in name only. Her Excellency maintained that connection throughout her term. When the foundation celebrated the centenary of its co-founder, Sue Ryder, in 2024, Her Excellency sent a message saying she was proud to support the organisation. Reflecting on its mission of being 'dedicated to the relief of suffering without discrimination', she said that a more eloquent and humanitarian statement of purpose would be hard to conceive.

When Her Excellency returned to Mount Gambier in April 2025, Ryder-Cheshire was again part of her visit. She met with foundation president Matthew Dixon and treasurer Stuart Stansfield, who updated her on the organisation's operations and its plans for new homes. Her Excellency did more than simply listen. Following that meeting, she helped connect the foundation with the appropriate connections to progress those discussions. That relationship is a wonderful example of the way Her Excellency has approached her role. She visited a small but incredibly important regional organisation early in her term, recognised the value of its work, became its patron, maintained that relationship and continued to take an active interest in its future. Her commitment to our region has extended across many areas of our community—from schools and community organisations to volunteering, industries and major events.

As recently as May this year we were privileged to welcome Her Excellency back to Mount Gambier for Generations in Jazz where she met students and performers and heard about the enormous contribution the event makes to our region. For those of us who live a long way from North Terrace, that willingness to come to us matters. Her Excellency has ensured that the office of Governor has felt like an office for all South Australians, regardless of where they live.

While my own opportunity to meet Her Excellency came towards the end of her time as Governor, I know from her many visits and the relationship she has built, that she has left a long-lasting impression on the South-East community. On behalf of the people of the Mount Gambier electorate, I sincerely thank Her Excellency for the interest she has shown in our community and our region, for her distinguished service to South Australia, and for the warmth and commitment she has brought to the role of Governor. I wish Her Excellency and Mr Rod Bunten every happiness for the next chapter.