Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I start by recognising the great efforts of the Queensland State of Origin side last night and wish them well for the next two games, particularly my new constituent, Israel Folau. In acknowledging the Maroons’ hard work, I also want to acknowledge the hard work and successes of students, parents and teachers at schools in the Moreton electorate. As I get around to local schools on Brisbane’s south side without fail I come across passionate teachers, principals, support staff and active students who are full of potential—schools like Stretton State College, where I attended their student leaders’ induction ceremony recently.

I want to congratulate the student leaders from the Gowan campus, Praveen Balayasoderan and also Kyle Lotz. And also from the Illaweena campus: the Community Service Leader, Deni-Rae Keough; the Sports Committee Leader, Blaike Hall; the Arts and Entertainment Committee Leader, Meke Lavaku; and the Environment Committee Leader, Lauren Hess. Congratulations also to the house captains and class representatives who have been elected this year. I wish you all the best.

Stretton State College is a very young school. It was only opened in 2006 and already has grown to more than 1,000 students from prep to year 11, with year 12 to come on board next year. In this short time they have also developed a strong and vibrant school community, with passionate advocates like the P&C president, Katie Rowley, and the college director, Tracye Cashman, and the rest of her wonderful leadership team.

I have spoken to some in this school community who are concerned for the safety of their students on Gowan Road, which separates the primary campus from the secondary campus. Gowan Road is a busy local thoroughfare that links Stretton with Sunnybank Hills. The pedestrian crossing is currently controlled by traffic lights but, knowing what young kids can be like—sometimes a little bit too much like sheep—the parents and teachers believe that more should be done to separate the student pedestrian traffic from the vehicle traffic. Occasionally we do get traffic that speeds along this road. Even though the lights control the crossing, sometimes the first kid steps out safely but the last student in a line can sometimes step out into a dangerous situation. That is why I have written to the member for Stretton, Stephen Robertson, to call on the Queensland government to investigate an overpass for this road. Already, there have been too many near misses, I have been informed, and I would hate for a fatality to occur.

Another school making its mark on Brisbane’s south side is the Robertson State School, a wonderful school that I also visited recently. Last month the school choir did a fantastic performance on our local ABC breakfast program, Spencer Howson’s show, with their rendition of a song called Raindance. With Brisbane’s dams now at more than 70 per cent, obviously they are doing something right. This is a very musical school and I look forward to their performance at speech night. Also yesterday I was visited by students from Warrigal Road State School, one of the best schools in Australia. They were very passionate about looking at democracy, and the parents and teachers did not even look tired. (Time expired)