Margaret May (McPherson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Earlier this year I had the privilege once again to be chairperson of the judging panel of the Lions Club of Palm Beach-Currumbin’s 45th Lions Youth of the Year contest. I was joined this year on the panel by Mr Ken Lydiard, the Principal of Currumbin State Primary School, and Mr Alex McColm, who was representing the National Australia Bank, a major sponsor of Lions Youth of the Year nationally. The seven contestants this year were Jaeden Haas, Lachlan McCarthy, Sophie Hoffman, Timothy Gear, Thomas Litfin, Georgia Gardiner and Luisa Di Pompo. All these students came from schools on the southern Gold Coast.

This annual event, which is sponsored by the Lions Club, aims to foster youth development in community speaking. Contestants were examined on local and international topics over several hours during the day and then had to come back at night to speak in front of their family, friends and the local community on two questions posed by the judges and on one topic of their own choosing. The high calibre of the youth participating certainly showed that these young people will be the leaders of tomorrow, and I can assure the House today that Australia will be in safe hands in the future.

Five of the seven contestants were school captains, and all contestants showed a remarkable array of academic, personal and community achievements. Sixteen-year-old Georgia Gardiner, from Elanora High School, was the overall winner, and she will go on to represent the Lions Club of Palm Beach-Currumbin at the next level of the competition. Georgia is a true all-round achiever. She has received academic awards, including junior dux in 2006, as well as cultural, sports, citizenship and speaking awards. The competition was extremely close, with Georgia only winning by one point.

Special commendation was awarded to 15-year-old Luisa Di Pompo from Marymount College, and 16-year-old Thomas Litfin from Somerset College won for best-prepared speech. The national ceremony for the Lions Youth of the Year Quest will be held in Darwin in May, so sometime this month we will have a national winner. I would like to put on record my thanks to Lions president Brian Mattingley, secretary Terry Gunton, and Merv Rose, who looks after the media for the Lions Club, along with all members of the Palm Beach-Currumbin Lions Club, for what is a wonderful event that they host every year. I would also particularly like to thank Harvey Crooks, a Lions Club member who is the coordinator of this event each year.

The Lions Club’s continued support of young people locally is truly inspiring. It is certainly a great event and something to be looked forward to in my electorate every year. I join the Lions Club of Palm Beach-Currumbin in wishing Georgia well at the zone finals. She will be an outstanding contestant and a great achiever for the southern Gold Coast. We wish her well in the national finals this month. She will be a worthy opponent to all other competitors.