Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week, hundreds of kids descended on Maryborough in Victoria to put themselves and their vehicles to the test at the 2024 Energy Breakthrough. This edition continues the tradition of innovation, excellence and overcoming epic challenges. Since 1991, the Energy Breakthrough has provided opportunities for students, teachers, parents and local industry to work together to design and construct human-powered vehicles. The program is unique in that all teams must compete across three areas of assessment—design and construction, display and presentation—as well as doing trials. School groups work throughout the year to design, build and test machines with detailed specifications. In the A2 class, which is primary-school-aged students from schools with above 200 students, our Laurimar Primary School again took the chocolates, with Laurimar Phoenix taking out first place and delivering the Holy Grail of a 'three-peat'. The Laurimar Griffons finished seventh, and the Laurimar Dragons finished 10th. The Mernda Central College Samurais finished 19th, and the Spirit of Diamond Creek Primary School finished 30th. In the triathlon, New Gisborne Primary School finished eighth. In the energy efficiency vehicles pedal-electric, Mernda Central College finished first. With temperatures in the cars soaring up to 47 degrees during the 24-hour trial, it's a testament to the tenacity and spirit of these young people. They all enjoyed their custard showers afterwards—not sure how that'd go on such a hot day! This is a very special event that brings the whole state together for a great lot of fun and innovation.

See this speech in context