Connect - 11 September 2020

Efficient marine response for summer

With the weather warming up and the summer boating safety season set to commence on 26 September, our Marine Safety and Compliance team recently conducted an operational exercise and safety review for a more efficient oil spill response in metropolitan waters.

The exercise saw an oil spill response boom (pictured below) deployed directly from the department’s marine emergency response vessel, Murex.

Previously this boom had been stored in sheds on land and required transport to the water before being used. As a result of this exercise, the boom is now permanently stored on the Murex and ready to be deployed at short notice.

Well done to all involved.

Above: Oil spill response boom deployed on the Port River from the ‘Murex’

Morning tea with Kaurna elders

This week I joined Kaurna elders and leaders at a morning tea hosted at Flinders Street which provided an opportunity to spend some time together and meet leader to leader in a relaxed setting.

As the department increases our activity in and around the Adelaide metropolitan region, the relationships we build and maintain with the Traditional Owners of our capital city are critical to making sure we deliver social, economic and cultural benefits to the Aboriginal community.

Kaurna Elder, Lynette Crocker shared her thoughts about the event: “It makes it easier going into dual naming projects with names and faces – when you know someone, you feel culturally safe to work towards a shared vision for what we are trying to achieve together.”

The time spent together led to many interesting and productive conversations and will help guide future initiatives that support and strengthen cultural identity and the spiritual and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal people and communities.

From left: Michael Scerri, Frank Wanganeen, Lewis O-Brien, Jude Formston, Khatija Thomas and Lynette Crocker.

Securing our information and data

Our flexible working response to COVID-19 has seen us spending more time working remotely with greater emphasis on securing Departmental information and data. Our Information Services team has risen to this challenge and continues to support us through our changing working environment.

We have now switched on ‘Multi Factor Authentication’ for Office 365, which will lower the risk of unauthorised access when you connect away from the SA Government Network.

Friday Flashback

This week’s Friday Flashback was found by a department staff member in a History of Registration and Licensing folder. These files, held at Grenfell Street, hold a range of historical information about registration and licensing in South Australia from 1904 onwards.

The photo below shows the Jubilee Exhibition Building, which was located opposite the corner of North Terrace and Pulteney Street (on what is now the University of Adelaide’s North Terrace campus). Motor Vehicles Department staff and records occupied the building for a period of time from the late 1940s. However, the building had a range of other interesting uses during its time including as an isolation hospital during the 1919 outbreak of the Spanish flu pandemic.