Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Nearly half of the Australian population struggles without the literacy skills to meet the most basic demands of everyday life and work. It is a sad and very concerning fact that 46 per cent of Australians cannot read a newspaper, follow a recipe, understand a bus timetable or comprehend the instructions on a medicine bottle. The National Year of Reading is all about turning Australians into a proud nation of readers. It is about students learning to read and keen readers finding new sources of inspiration. It is about supporting reading initiatives and it is about helping people discover and rediscover the magic of books. By the end of this year and into the future, the National Year of Reading hopes to achieve its aims for all Australians to understand the benefits of reading as life skills and catalysts for wellbeing, to promote a reading culture in everyone's homes and to establish an aspirational goal for families, parents and caregivers to share books with their children every day.

There is a wealth of evidence to support the fact that children who are read aloud to on a regular basis when they are young are readily able to learn to read once they start school. Reading opens up a world of educational opportunities for our students, providing the foundation for learning for the rest of their lives.

Every year, Brisbane City Council libraries help children in the electorate of Ryan and the wider Brisbane area to discover the joys of reading through its Gold Star Reading Club program. The Gold Star Reading Club is designed to encourage and develop reading and literacy skills for children. The program is run for four months of the year, beginning this year on 12 May and continuing until 31 August. Membership of the club is free. Children only need to be a member of their local library. Participants are challenged to read two books per month and record them in their activity book as they go along, with prizes and book vouchers awarded when they pass different milestones. At the end of the program each child is presented with a gold star medallion and a certificate to recognise their achievement at a local awards ceremony. Last year, the program attracted a record number of participants, with 6,479 children taking part. Among the participants were more than 500 primary school students from Brisbane's north-western suburbs in my electorate of Ryan. I would encourage every primary school in the Ryan electorate to become involved in this fantastic literacy program.

Earlier this month, Queensland Premier Campbell Newman and education minister John-Paul Langbroek launched the 2012 Premier's Reading Challenge in a bid to encourage more Queensland primary students to open a book. Last year more than 78,000 students completed the challenge and read more than one million books. It is a great chance for students, parents and teachers to share a commitment to reading more in schools and at home. The challenge is for every state and non-state school student from prep to year 2 to read or experience 20 books, years 3 and 4 to read 20 books, and years 5 to 7 to read 15 books between 22 May and 7 September. In this, the National Year of Reading, I would ask every school student in Ryan to consider taking up the Premier's Reading Challenge.

The complexity of today's world means that everyone needs to have some level of proficiency in reading in order to understand important public issues and to fully participate in society. Strong literacy skills are closely linked to the probability of having a successful career, a good salary, and access to training opportunities. A highly literate population can boost a country's economic performance as well as better equip citizens to address any social challenges they may face by being able to participate in informed public and governance debates.

I commend the organisations, supporters and the local libraries in the Ryan electorate who are involved in this, the National Year of Reading. This is an important nationwide initiative in which I hope all Australians will participate in their own way.

Debate adjourned.

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