Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare and Youth) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to draw to the attention of the Main Committee of the House, and indeed to pass on my congratulations, to a wonderful school within the electorate of Adelaide that has recently been given an invitation for two of its year 7 students as well as one of its teachers to represent Australia as the only representatives from Australia to attend an international youth conference in Italy. Earlier this month I was fortunate enough to meet with the two year 7 student representatives from Northfield Primary School, Cassandra Marin and Mira Abushama, who will travel to Italy to attend the Europe and Beyond: Talks about Frontiers conference. This is a five-day conference focused on building intercultural dialogue amongst students from around the globe who will share their ideas and share their work towards action on a whole range of issues, from animal rights and climate change to education perspectives and a whole lot of the issues which are important to these amazing young people. We know that conferences such as this are vital in shaping our future leaders to have unique perspectives, useful insights and important opinions. Particularly for these two young girls, but also for their teacher Jennifer Rossiter, this will be a life-changing experience. They will meet young leaders from around the world who I am sure they will build contacts with and stay in touch with for many years to come.

This is a tremendous tribute to Northfield Primary School. It is a school that flies the United Nations flag as a United Nations Global Peace School. It is an achievement that through this conference some of the school’s key values will be taken to the international stage. I have had the opportunity to work with this amazing primary school on a range of issues, including when I have previously informed the House of the campaign that their students ran to use sports, in this case soccer, to raise both funds and awareness of the plight of victims of natural disasters in our region. The kids themselves put on charity soccer games to raise money to send overseas.

The relationship that Northfield Primary School has had with many of these issues is part of an online friendship with a school in Italy that was built some years ago. It is important that we recognise as a parliament just how far these collaborations between our local primary schools, local students and those on the other side of the planet can have towards breaking down cultural barriers and uniting individuals with a common vision. I would like to take this opportunity to wish the Northfield Primary School students all the very best in their travels as they fly the Australian flag for us at the conference, and I commend the school for another fantastic achievement.

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