Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about some of the great things that are happening in my electorate of Werriwa. At the end of term 3, year 12 students finished 13 years of schooling to prepare for their Higher School Certificates and make plans for their future. Many want to go to university but still more others are looking at other career paths such as TAFE.

It was a privilege to join the graduating class of Miller Technology High School on Wednesday, 26 September for their final school assembly. Graduation day was an enriching and emotional day for the students, their parents and the teachers. The children they had nurtured for so long readied themselves to face the challenges ahead. I was honoured to present the leadership group with books to acknowledge their hard work. I had met the captains and vice-captains earlier this year when they visited me in Parliament House. Many of the students, including the leadership group, are graduates of the Intensive English Centre at the school. Some of them have been speaking English for only the past three years. The results and achievements of this graduating class are amazing given how quickly they've learned English.

These young people are role models not only academically but also in leadership and citizenship roles in Australia. I thank Dr Ken Edge for the invitation to join the assembly, and recognise the outstanding work of Ms Sally Atkins and the other teachers at the school. I give my best wishes to year 12 at Miller Technology High School and to all the other year 12s in Werriwa about to embark on their HSCs. I know you're ready and will achieve exceptional results.

Earlier this month I spent Sunday afternoon, against my better judgement, singing Aretha Franklin's 'Chain of Fools' at the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre with the Welcome Choir. Not wanting to let the member for Grayndler or the member for Sydney have all the fun in Newtown, the Welcome Choir has now begun meeting on the first Sunday of each month in Casula. The choir brings together singers of all ability—I being one of those!—from semiprofessionals to shower singers to those of us who might be much better at scraping paint off walls with our voices. All the singers learn a song together, and then they perform it for YouTube—so, therefore, it's probably up there somewhere!

It was a really wonderful afternoon. I congratulate Craig and his team at CPAC for bringing this initiative out to the south-west of Sydney. There were about 40 people who turned up for this first event, and I'd like to let everybody in my electorate, in the wider south-west of Sydney, know that it will happen again on the first Sunday in November. Come along and have a go. You get to meet lots of wonderful people.

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call a person who can belt out a tune: the member for Durack.