Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to speak about and congratulate a wonderful young South Australian on a great achievement and to extend to him the very best for what will be an amazing experience over the coming months. Liam Flanagan has been chosen as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development. He recently left Adelaide to work in Vanuatu as a sports marketing officer for the Vanuatu Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee. I wish him all the very best on the coming adventure. The Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development Program is funded through AusAID. I am very pleased to see that not only Liam but two young South Australians have recently been chosen to take part in such a program.

Liam went to and completed year 12 at Mercedes College, where he was sports captain. He then went on to complete a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in marketing, at Adelaide University as well as a certificate in market research. He is a highly motivated and resourceful young man, although I am told by his father that his cooking skills still need a bit of work. Hopefully, he can work on these skills while he is away.

The opportunity for Liam to contribute to this program and to go to Vanuatu and gain skills, expertise and experience will benefit not only Liam personally, although it is a great opportunity for him, but many within our community. He will come back and contribute to our community and show the leadership skills he has picked up on his overseas posting. In this way, this program is investing in the skills of young Australians, which will eventually be of benefit to all Australians. As someone who regularly talks about the need for this government to invest in skills, particularly in the skills of young Australians, I am pleased on this occasion to congratulate Liam and to wish him all the best.

The Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development Program aims to strengthen mutual understanding between Australia and countries of the Asia-Pacific region and to make a positive contribution to development in countries within the region. It aims to skill up Australians aged between 18 and 30 on short-term assignments in developing countries. These chosen youth ambassadors work in their host organisations with overseas counterparts in a broad range of areas that include health, environment, rural development, gender, governance, education and infrastructure. It is my hope that the skills that they will pick up—in particular, Mr Liam Flanagan, resident of Adelaide—will, for many years to come, offer very positive experiences for them in their chosen careers.

I would like to finish by wishing Liam all the very best. I congratulate him and wish him and his family the best of luck. I hope that we get to hear what he is up to and see the results of this wonderful experience within the electorate of Adelaide upon his return.