Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have great pleasure in rising today to speak about the inaugural Petrie Future Leaders Public Speaking and Essay Competition, which I recently introduced in my electorate. The competition was launched at the Petrie schools summit in March this year, with the final event being held in August. Entrants to the competition were required to prepare an essay on the topic: ‘If you could talk to the Prime Minister, what local or national issue would you discuss?’ There were two categories of entry—primary school students and secondary school students. Primary students were to write no more than 1,000 words and secondary students no more than 1,500 words. From these essays the finalists were selected to give a speech on their essay topic at a gala evening.

There were 14 entrants in total—10 in the primary school category and four in the secondary school category. Essay topics ranged from animal welfare, the importance of protecting the environment, the economy, to the benefits of buying Australian-made products. Two accredited public speaking adjudicators judged the speeches. Over 60 people attended the gala evening and all of the students delivered passionate speeches that kept everyone engaged. The students schools certainly would be proud of their students’ performances on the night.

In addition to individual trophies for the winners and runners-up, a perpetual trophy will be given to the schools, to be held until next year’s competition. The main prize was a trip for the two category winners, accompanied by a parent or guardian respectively, to Canberra to spend a day behind the scenes in Parliament House. I would like to welcome in the gallery here today, the two winners, Daniel Williams and Sam Harvey, and Daniel’s father Vivek Williams, and Sam’s father Noel Harvey.

Daniel is 10 years old and is in grade 5 at Southern Cross Catholic College, Scarborough. He won the primary school category with an essay and speech about teaching children values and virtues. Sam Harvey, who is 15 years old and in grade 10 at St Paul’s School, Bald Hills, won the secondary school category, with Sam’s essay and speech arguing strongly for the need for a new Australian flag to represent our modern multicultural society and the general desire for Australia to move to become a republic.

As an aside, Sam’s grandfather, Roy Harvey, was a past lord mayor of Brisbane City Council from 1982 to 1985 and is well known for the amazing things he did during his short time in office. I would like to acknowledge and thank the Brisbane Airport Corporation for their wonderful support in sponsoring the flights for the two winners and the parents for the competition this year. I do hope both students take away from today’s visit an enthusiasm to participate in public debate and to ensure that the youth of today have a strong voice. Daniel, Sam, Noel and Vivek, welcome to Parliament House.

See this speech in context