Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Monday I had the pleasure of attending the morning assembly of Blacktown Girls High School, in my electorate of Greenway, to confer badges on two of the school’s new flag monitors and present them with a new Australian flag. I was enlightened to discover how prestigious it is at Blacktown Girls High to hold the position of flag monitor. This is because at the beginning of each school day three flags are respectfully raised in the school grounds: the Australian flag, the Aboriginal flag and the flag of a different nation. This third category of alternating country flags honours the 57 different nationalities that are represented by the 725 students enrolled at Blacktown Girls High.

Over 50 per cent of students at Blacktown Girls High have a language background other than English. As I looked out over the assembly at the beautiful, diverse faces of these young women gathered together in the middle of Blacktown, drawn from virtually every continent on earth and including many Indigenous young women, my belief in the strength of multiculturalism as a practical, living thing was reinforced. These young women are united both in their differences and in their common goal to pursue the highest educational opportunities and make the best lives for themselves and their families.

In order to be selected for the Committee of Flag Monitors at Blacktown Girls High, potential candidates must submit an essay which demonstrates their understanding of the importance of multiculturalism and the significance of the national flags of other countries. The role of flag monitor includes selecting the other national flag that will be flown on any given day and ensuring that the arrival of each new student from a different country is greeted by the purchase of a corresponding flag. As I was informed by the school’s fantastic principal, Mr Peter Flowers, the total number of such flags from other countries continues to grow each year.

It was also fitting that the occasion of this new flag handover was on Monday, 14 March, which the students honoured as Commonwealth Day. The two fine school captains of Blacktown Girls High, Loloma Sagote and Rachel Ferret, delivered a most appropriate address on the official theme of Commonwealth Day 2011, being ‘Women as agents of change’. I was deeply touched by their comments that, as a woman born and educated in Western Sydney, they considered me to be an example of an agent of change. I say right back to those 725 young women of Blacktown Girls High that you, your principal and your dedicated teachers are the finest models of agents of change in my eyes.

Finally, I congratulate the community of Blacktown Girls High School for an outstanding 2010 academic year. The school became partially selective last year and recorded the highest number of university placement offers in its history. I know these young women are the next captains of industry, leaders of people, sports stars and scientists. I again praise the efforts of Principal Peter Flowers and his team and, of course, the young women of Blacktown Girls High, who have worked so hard, and their supportive families. The school is a credit to the Greenway community. It is my honour to represent them in this place.