Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

I want to just say to the member for Boothby that, while we may be political combatants, our democracy is strengthened by being able to challenge ideas in a way that do not resort to what we have had to see experienced in this place. Certainly, as someone who has experienced it in their own way, as a result of their own faith, I do appreciate that this is a completely unacceptable standard and we must do better. We must strive for better.

Year 12 is always a challenging period in students' lives, but imagine layering on top of that the impact of a pandemic. From remote education to uncertainty around exams, 2020 has been exceptionally stressful for a lot of schools, students, teachers and the families of those students, and what I admire is that amongst all the obstacles that were faced, students persevered and showed determination to get through those tough times. Full credit to them.

I recently attended the Australian Islamic College's HSC achievement ceremony in Mount Druitt to congratulate the 2020 cohort on their results. Numerous students received band 6s and ATARs above 85, and over 35 students received early university offers at the end of last year. Congratulations to the dux, Hira Farid, Iman Khan, Imran Rather, Uzma Mansur, Hiba Farid, Aisha Shabbir and Fatimah El Dannaoui. They were all among the students recognised. I also want to send my gratitude and thanks to the hardworking teachers, led by Principal Sherin Mohamed, and to the supportive parents and families, without whom none of this would have been possible. Congratulations to you all.

Chifley is full of incredible educators like Dr Amanda White. She is a business school academic at UTS and known to many accounting students, through her social media platforms, as 'Amanda loves to audit'. She was recently given the teaching excellence award for law, economics, business and related studies. Amanda runs her own YouTube channel where she provides 46,000 subscribers free resources to help teachers and students learn about auditing company financial statements. She creates learning environments that tap into the emotional and social aspects of that learning. Her approach is that failure in the classroom is part of the learning process and experience and is not something to be feared.

Through her dedication and unique ways of engaging, Dr White's improved the employability of students, ensuring they have both the knowledge and the skills to be active team members in their graduate workplaces from day one. It was, then, only fitting that Dr White would receive this great acknowledgment of her contribution to education in this country. I want to say a massive thank you to Dr White. Congratulations to her on what she does in improving the lives of many in our local area and around the world.

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