Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

) ( I rise today to inform the House of a successful student representative council forum held in the Lalor electorate on Wednesday, 11 March. This is a process that I have initiated within the electorate, where we call together student representative councils, where they exist, or leadership teams from every school across the electorate for two sessions for the year. We held the first of the 2015 sessions last week. It was an absolute pleasure to work with students from across the electorate across the day. They demonstrated a deep understanding of leadership, cultural change and their school community as well as their broader community. They also demonstrated real pride in their achievements and a strong understanding of the challenges that their communities face.

I would like to thank the principals who supported the program. We had 18 primary schools in attendance. Thank you to Baden Powell P-9 College Derrimut Heath, Bellbridge Primary School, Bethany Primary School, Cambridge Primary School, Corpus Christi Primary School, Iramoo Primary School, Lumen Christi Primary School, Manor Lakes P-12, Manorvale Primary School, Seabrook Primary School, St Andrew's Primary School, St James the Apostle Primary School, Saint Mary of the Cross Primary School, The Grange Callistemon campus, Truganina P-9 College, Truganina South Primary School, Werribee Primary School, Wyndham Vale Primary School and Baden Powell Tarneit campus.

We also had 10 secondary colleges attending the afternoon session. I would like to thank Alamanda K-9 College, Hoppers Crossing Secondary School, MacKillop Catholic Regional College, Manor Lakes P-12 College, Tarneit Senior College, The Grange College Deloraine campus, Thomas Carr College, Warringa Park School, and Wyndham Central College.

The participants who support the program help me to get in touch with the issues, concerns, attitudes and opinions of the young people in the electorate. It is an absolute pleasure to spend the day with these young people and listen to their stories, and schools should be very proud of the contributions they make on the day. Most schools went back with a project of some sort to improve their school culture, and I am looking forward to seeing them later in the year to hear about how those projects went. I also make special mention of Melbourne Islamic School, which joined us for the second time, and the terrific contributions their students made. The Grange College hosted this forum this year, and I would like to thank Melanie Whyte and Taki Tuariki, the college captains, and Travis Walsh and Jonathan Lim-I for their support on the day—ushering students, but being absolutely useful on the ground as we began each forum and before they joined those forums.