Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to share with the House a trip I did on Friday, visiting both campuses of Baden Powell College. The culmination of Baden Powell College's Education Week was a day celebrating diversity, with the theme 'Diversity Is Our Strength'. I attended the launches at both campuses with community members, Wyndham City Councillor Heather Marcus, Rotary representatives and Judy, who did the welcome to country.

I would like to thank Principal Julie Mason and school council president Rebecca Bruest for inviting me to this extraordinary event. At the Tarneit campus we heard a Koori lullaby, we had the Pacific Allsorts present a haka, we had African dances and at both schools we had the bagpipes playing the National Anthem and choirs joining in. The theme was strength in diversity, and there were 50 countries and 61 languages represented in this great school community. I went to celebrate the work the school does in social cohesion, in building this country's prosperity, and the excellent educational outcomes. You could not help but be optimistic looking into the faces of that multicultural community at both campuses and knowing what a great future this country has in their hands.

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