Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On Monday, 4 May I was pleased to visit Ormond College at the University of Melbourne to meet a number of dedicated students as part of the college's Pitch Project. The Pitch Project enables teams of Ormond students to pitch a policy proposal to federal or state members of parliament. This group of students worked over many weeks on a pilot program to assist people to start up a small business. It was focused on young people. They focused on an area of my electorate, the Upper Yarra Valley.

It was a very impressive presentation. It was so impressive that I spoke with local councillor Jim Child. He is super keen to meet with the group because, like me, he thinks there is real potential that this project could be rolled out and make a difference. I want to pay tribute in the House to the Ormond College students for the work they did and for their commitment—Felicity Gent, Charles McIntosh, Sam MacIntyre and George Threadgold—and to the facilitator of the Pitch Project, Saskia Holloway. They have done a great job. Hopefully, I will be able to come back into the House in the coming months and talk about the next steps.

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