Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure today to talk about leadership in rural and regional Australia and to welcome into this House eight outstanding leaders from Bright in the beautiful Ovens Valley: student leaders Max, Claire and Ben; teacher leaders Jean and Jenny; and parent leaders Gerard and Jason. Leaving home this morning at four o'clock and travelling to be with me today in Parliament House, they will return home this evening. Thank you.

The students of Bright P-12 College tell me it is a wonderful place to play sport, to be in the concert band, to do arts, to study Japanese and to play in the beautiful school grounds. They tell me that one of their favourite things has been going off and learning about leadership through the Halogen program.

Bright is in the foothills of the great Australian Alps. Just to its east is Mount Hotham and over the valley is Falls Creek. As you can imagine, Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, coming from Queensland, skiing is very important. Dinner Plain hosts another campus of the school, where over 100 students from P to 12 go to continue their education over winter. One of the other features of the Bright P-12 College is a community partnership between Wadeye in Central Australia and Bright—a wonderful success story of integration, exchange and enhancing Australian culture.

Today in this parliament I would like to acknowledge and thank the work of the parents, teachers and students of Bright and surrounding communities. Thank you for all that you do to make sure that our community has a resounding education program.

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