Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Firstly, a shout-out to Mount Nelson Primary School: hey! It's Book Week. This year's theme is Reading Is Magic. Reading can transport you to a different world, and that's magic happening right there. I love a good James Patterson thriller, but I'm also happy dipping into a children's picture book. I hate knowing that half of all Tasmanians are functionally illiterate, but we're working on that, especially at Mount Nelson. The Tasmanian Toast for Kids Charity is campaigning for us to read aloud to children every day. Reading aloud helps develop children's brains and understanding of language. Besides promoting reading, Book Week is a legitimate excuse for dressing up. I can't get my kids to dress up for Book Week anymore, so I've been planting ideas throughout the chamber this fortnight.

This Book Week I'm channelling The Rainbow Fish. Rainbow Fish is bright and shiny. He has beautiful metallic scales and loves swimming around in his part of the sea. All the other fish admire Rainbow Fish's scales. Some ask for a scale for themselves, but Rainbow Fish loves his scales so much he doesn't want to give them away. After a while, Rainbow Fish realises he has lost almost all of his friends. He is lonely and has nobody to swim with. This makes Rainbow Fish sad, so he asks the wise octopus what to do. Of course, the answer is to share. When Rainbow Fish does share his metallic scales, he sees how happy he can make his friends and then realises he is happy too.

Kindness is one of those underrated attributes, in my opinion. I love that the story about the rainbow fish wraps up the message about kindness in a sparkly little bow. Sharing can be hard, especially when we really love whatever it is people would like us to share, but being willing to share spreads happiness and magic. And guess what! It's cool to be kind.