Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is the time of year when new school leaders get to put on their badges, and last week I attended the New Farm State School leadership ceremony. The year 6 students there took up their leadership positions with pride and enthusiasm, with their school community looking on proudly. I congratulate the New Farm State School leaders for 2017: school captains, Elise Ridoutt and Frode Sindel; school vice-captains, Meg McAllister and Jade Kingston; house captains, Katelyn Logan, William Fletcher, Desiree Fernandes, Eli Jones, Dane Mulder and Clea Hall; and project captains, Ashton Jones, Coco Garton, Jack Whittam, Zia Stevens, Claire Le Saveant and Holly Bell. I congratulate them and I congratulate all of the new school leaders across the primary schools and high schools around Brisbane.

Next month I will host a student leadership forum, where students from Brisbane schools will hear from local leaders from business, sports and the arts. We hope to inspire leadership and community engagement in some young people who one day soon will hopefully be making their own mark in our community. We will look at leadership, public speaking and conflict resolution—skills increasingly important to making a real difference. We may or may not discover the next Malcolm Turnbull or Julie Bishop in this forum, but maybe—just maybe—this will be the first of many times that we get to hear of the achievements of these Brisbane school leaders mentioned here in the official records of this parliament.