Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Comet Bay College and the south of my electorate of Brand, located between the equally beautiful Secret Harbour and Golden Bay. Comet Bay College is an independent public secondary school, which hosts an Australian Rules education program and a Defence Transition Mentor Program, which supports secondary students of Defence Force families as they move through the lives of those who serve and their families, which are understandably challenging because of extended absences and family moves due to the deployments around the country and around the world.

During my visit, I got to speak to a group of year 11 and year 12 Comet Bay students who were studying politics. They were not only studying politics; they were very interested in politics. They were terrific and keen to learn more about the parliament, how it works and the actual work and practice of what we do—or try to do—every day in this place. I explained the extensive system of parliamentary committees, of which I am on five, and assured the students that parliamentarians regularly work together in a bipartisan fashion in the interests of the community.

I would like to thank their teacher Mr Wayne Lanham for letting me into his classroom and I would like to thank Renee, Tamsin, Hannah, Kaitlyn, Chloe, Jet, Claire, Leah, Liam and Jaxon. I want to wish them all the best in their ongoing studies at Comet Bay College and beyond that in vocational education or at university. Thank you for welcoming me into your classroom. There is nothing that you young people of Comet Bay cannot do, so long as you apply yourselves, work hard and pay attention to your education. And do not spend too long at the beach, although it is very tempting in your beautiful part of the world.