Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Frequently, over the last little while, we've heard an awful lot about the crisis of youth crime, not just in my state of Queensland but, as I have seen, in other parts of the country. One of the great things about this time of year is that we get to go and attend our school graduation evenings, particularly at our high schools. As I said to many of those students at those graduation evenings, thank you for being the people that you are. The vast majority of our young people are terrific people who have enormous skills, enormous talent and enormous capability. We should spend far more time celebrating that. That's what I would like to focus on tonight in my contribution. It's always an honour to join the teachers and students who are the foundation of our future at these special occasions. In particular, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of the year 12 students across my electorate of Forde and, by extension, across the country who are graduating high school this year. As I said, I have had the privilege of attending several graduation ceremonies over the past few weeks and look forward to attending a few more next week—or even later this week—when I'm back in the electorate.

These evenings mark such an important milestone in the lives of our graduating students. It's a tremendous time, to see the culmination of the efforts they've put in over 12 years of schooling. As I look back—I've said this previously—at my old high school, Kingston State high school, if you'd asked me when I was graduating in 1982 if I would have been in this place, I would have said, 'You are kidding, aren't you?' But those are the opportunities that we have in this country, and these are the opportunities that I speak to those students about. You can never say never to anything, because you just never know where life can take you. I want to congratulate them for their efforts and say that completing high school education is also not possible without an incredible team behind each and every one of those students. I also recognise that this has been a time of learning, exploring and contemplation. Importantly, they've made friends and, possibly, lost friends along the way, as you do as a teenager. Many of those peers will become life-long friends, and, sadly, others you may never see again. But all have been a tremendous influence on your development.

I would like to thank the teachers, the principals, the school volunteers, the parents and the carers in my electorate for their hard work and dedication in supporting the graduates of 2023. We have some enormously talented students across my electorate who are achieving amazing things. Among them are leaders of the future, CEOs, innovators, inventors, athletes, academics and advocates, all who have the potential to change the world for the better. I have the privilege of sponsoring a number of awards through the schools across my electorate, and I'd like to read out some of the winners of those awards.

The School Leadership Award at Beenleigh State High School went to Harmony Te Hau. The Community Spirit Award at Calvary Christian College went to Julia Lang. The Middle School Leadership award at Chisholm College went to Rachael Senini. The Achievement in Arts award at Coomera Anglican College went to Annabelle Stone. The Above and Beyond Award went to Milla Vidakovic Milic at Loganlea State High School. The School Spirit Award at Marsden State High School went to London Anae, and, for the senior years, the School Spirit Award at Marsden High went to Clarah Tuimavave-Gerrard. The Community Service Award at Parklands Christian College went to Akshath Nadan and Florentina Mariuta. The Resilience Award at Park Ridge State High School went to Jacqueline Tran. The Positive Community Contribution Award at Rivermount College went to Harry Boulter. The Junior Dux at Shailer Park State High School went to Kate Whitman. The Influence Through Action Award at St Stephens College went to Lily Grimes. The Junior School Citizenship Award at Upper Coomera State College went to Maya Kotoda. The Senior School Citizenship Award at Upper Coomera State College went to Anton Manser. The Above and Beyond Award at Windaroo Valley State High School went to Kurt Blackburn. The Above and Beyond Award at Beenleigh Special School went to Lucas Emmott.

Congratulations to all of our fabulous students across the electorate of Forde and across the country for their efforts in graduating in 2023.