Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On Thursday, 17 September I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Olivia de Koning, one of the 49 secondary school students within Western Australia and one of the 500 nationally to receive an Australian Student Prize of $2,000. These prizes recognised the academic excellence of secondary students across Australia during the 2013 school year.

Having met Olivia, she was a particularly deserving recipient. During the 2013 school year, Olivia managed to obtain outstanding results across all of her subjects, achieving an ATAR result of 99.8, particularly excelling in maths and science, while still maintaining a balance by undertaking studies in English literature, politics, law and French.

Olivia has continued to pursue these interests in her tertiary studies, being currently enrolled at the University of Western Australia and completing her first semester of a Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours). This course will require her to undertake a number of research projects at various stages throughout the degree and will provide her with the opportunity to study abroad for six months at an associated university in France, which she hopes to do next year so as to advance her majors in French, and Law and Society. Upon completing her Bachelor of Philosophy, she intends to complete her Juris Doctor.

Through this award, the coalition government is supporting Olivia in her efforts to obtain this goal, because the government is committed to giving Australian students the best possible education. This is essential in order to ensure that students and high achievers, like Olivia, allow us to continue to remain competitive with our international economic partners by giving them the opportunities and assistance they deserve to pursue a high-quality further education. I strongly commend Olivia for her achievements to date and wish her all the best in her future endeavours.

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