Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week, awards will be going out to our year 12 students for the Mallee Encouragement Award. One year-12 student from each school can receive one of these awards. One of the things that's very important to me about this award is that it's not about scholastic achievement; it's about encouraging year 12 students who are doing their best. I want to say to the all the students doing year 12 at the moment: 'Just do your best. It doesn't really matter whether you get the perfect score. What matters is that you do your best. The one thing that you must graduate with is a sense of self-worth, a sense that you've done your best.'

When I was first running for the electorate of Mallee, I wrote two things on my wall: you build wealth by building capacity in people—that was one of the things I said I was going to do—and you build community by bringing people together. The Mallee Encouragement Award is really about building wealth by building capacity in our people. We produce great food in the Mallee and we produce great manufactured goods, but the best thing we produce is our young Australians—young Australians who love Australia and who have a belief in the future. And I want to say to them: 'Even if you didn't get an award, be encouraged. You're doing a great job. You're doing your best. Thank you for your contribution. The future is yours.'