Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to tell the parliament about a terrific new program in my community called Logan Together. Among the many fantastic programs that operate in my community, I am particularly excited about the program Logan Together. The philosophy is: 'Every child, every opportunity'. It aims to pull together all the resources in our community—our tremendous support groups, our experienced leaders and our committed and devoted community workers—to improve the chances of Logan kids.

While it is true that thousands of kids grow up and thrive in my area, there are some children who start life with greater barriers to success than they should. As a consequence, we have a lot of work to do to improve our rates of in-home reading, attendance at preschool and NAPLAN results of kids so that they get up near the state and national averages. Getting this right is, of course, in the children's best interests but also in the long-term interests of our community.

The director, Matthew Cox, has been a great choice of leader for this project, and he will be well supported by his team and by all three levels of government. I want to take this opportunity to wish Matthew's team at Logan Together all the best. I think I can say on behalf of everyone in our community that we want their project to be successful, and when it does succeed it will be a model for effective social policy across the nation and it will show again that our community in Logan City is a place that looks out for each other and looks after each other.