Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is my pleasure to inform the House of the achievement of Austin Kozak, a student from Lakes Grammar School in my electorate, who recently won the Chinese bridge speaking competition. The Chinese bridge competition is an international competition for secondary school students, and is organised by the Confucius Institute Headquarters and Hanban in China. It provides a platform for young foreign students to showcase their Chinese proficiency. More than 300,000 students globally participated in this competition. It is a chance to make new friends, explore the Chinese language and culture and of course new open new doors for the future.

Austin, who has only been studying Chinese for a relatively short time, presented a three-minute speech in Mandarin, entitled 'My Chinese dream'. He also undertook a performance showing his passion for the Chinese culture. Austin will now represent Australia at an international level in Yunnan, China, in November. The winners will be given an opportunity to further their studies in China or receive a scholarship to learn Chinese as a second language. Competitions such as this further the good relationships and understandings between China and Australia. Austin's success is a great example of what can be achieved by such a focused student. I would like to wish Austin every success at the international competition in Yunnan in China later this year, and I commend his achievement to the House.