Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

():

Waiting and

Time, what are they? What do

they mean? They are a lot alike

but they are different. They

are like an hourglass and

a clock, both represent time,

and both can represent waiting.

Waiting and time can be repre-

sented by a person as well,

the older they are, the longer

they've lived and the more they've

waited. Waiting and time, they

are the start and the end of

everything. Forever the spectator of life.

That is a poem called Waiting that was written by 10-year-old Manni Doar, a Yarralumla Primary School student in my electorate. This poem won Manni the very prestigious Assisted Learning Primary division at the national Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards just recently. This is a highly prestigious award and I commend Manni for such a beautiful piece of work here. It is an incredibly sophisticated piece of work and the fact that a 10-year-old has written it is quite extraordinary.

When the judges judged Manni's fabulous poem, they wrote that it was a:

Very clever poem, original both in form and language, philosophical and well-observed. Congratulations Manni!

I say congratulations on behalf of the people of Canberra, Manni, for such an extraordinary composition, well above your years.