Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Nearly two weeks ago the Prime Minister and the Minister for School Education, Peter Garrett, received a rock star reception when she officially opened the trade training centre at St Mary MacKillop in Isabella Plains in my electorate.

The trade training centre is the first of four in the Catholic school system in the ACT. The other three are at St Clare's College in Griffith in my electorate, and at Merici and St Francis Xavier colleges in the electorate of Fraser.

The opening had been months in the planning and was a major production—almost an MGM production—thanks to the event organisation skills of the wonderful team at St Mary MacKillop College. While I am grateful to the entire school community, and those of the schools in the area and region, I would particularly like to thank the principal, Michael Lee, and Sandra Darley, Garry Seary, Karen Hundy, Cindy Dean, Aiden Brunskil, Tony Lazzarato, Kim Maloney and Janelle Maas—all from St Mary MacKillop College—Mark Hogan, from the Catholic Education Office, and Father John Armstrong, parish priest from Corpus Christi—the former Holy Family parish—who did the blessing. He stepped in at the last minute because the Monsignor unfortunately had an accident. I would like to thank all of them for making the day such a success.

The Prime Minister and the minister were greeted by a procession of students at every turn from local schools: St Francis of Assisi, St Anthony's, St Clare of Assisi, Holy Family and the lovely parish of St Gregory's at Queanbeyan. Tyler Friend and Ashley Evans, the school chief captains, did a wonderful job of escorting the Prime Minister 'hither and yon'. Liam Pitt provided the acknowledgement of country and Liam Brown, the Indigenous Support Officer, performed on the didgeridoo. Maria Suraci, who has the voice of an angel, sang an evocative version of the national anthem, and little Joseph Sergi from St Gregory's in Queanbeyan had everyone in stitches with his speech and his reference to Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus as the first working family.

In honour of the Prime Minister's Welsh heritage, the choir sang the Sunset Prayer of Reverend Eli Jenkins from Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas. It was a very, very moving rendition of that beautiful piece.

As if that were not enough, the Prime Minister and Minister Garrett then went on a tour of the new trade training centre. The centre, which was built thanks to a $5.7 million investment across the four schools, trains students in hospitality and construction. The Prime Minister and Minister Garrett mingled with students and guests and shared a brief afternoon tea in Cafe Bella, which had been upgraded last year as part of the construction of the trade training centre. We also had the opportunity to experience and indulge in the wonderful food that was prepared in the new industrial kitchen that has been built as part of this trade training centre. The students did a beautiful spread and many of them are mini master chefs. We all ate way too much for an afternoon tea.

The Prime Minister and Minister Garrett also had the opportunity to speak with students who were developing basic woodwork skills and building a house on site.

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