Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday afternoon, I had the pleasure of attending a ceremony hosted by Moorooka's Clifton Hill Scout Group, alongside Minister Mark Bailey. It was a warm afternoon, but the local scouting movement had plenty of excitement and pride over what was to take place: Venturer Scout Georgia Thomas was being presented with a Queen's Scout Award. This is the highest youth award achievement in the Scout movement in the Commonwealth. It has four main areas, including leadership development, personal growth, outdoor activities and community involvement. Georgia joined the Scout movement as a Joey when she was six years old. Her two brothers are also Scouts and both spoke yesterday. It's taken Georgia two years to complete the work needed for this award and she was very gracious when accepting this honour. While the Queen's Scout Award is an individual award, Georgia very generously attributed her success to the Clifton Hill Scout Group. She talked of the support and friendship she has gained over her years as a Scout and how the Scouts helped her overcome her shyness, develop leadership skills and team work, and gain the confidence to speak to audiences.

Becoming a Queen's Scout is no mean feat. Georgia's also just managed to complete her last year of high school last week in a most difficult year—in fact she was taught by my good friend John Carozza who Georgia spoke very highly of. Georgia is the eighth Clifton Hill Venturer Scout to receive a Queen's Scout Award in the last three years, so it shows that the leaders at Clifton Hill Scout Group are doing great work. Congratulations, Georgia.