24 August 2020 - Federation Chamber

Mr DICK (Oxley) (15:59): I'm grateful to share with the parliament this afternoon the fantastic visit that the Queensland state member for Jordan, Mrs Charis Mullen, and I had with the grade 5 students of St Augustine's College in Augustine Heights last week. A few weeks ago, Mrs Mullen and I were honoured to receive handwritten letters from grade 5 students in Mr Keegan Peace's class at St Augustine's College, as the students were learning about state and federal parliamentary processes. The letters asked about what had inspired us to be in our role today, how the different parliamentary processes worked and even questions that only keep us human like what was our favourite food. For the record, for me, it was pizza. Charis and I then organised a visit to the whole grade 5 cohort and, much to their excitement and anticipation, ran a mock parliament with them and got to answer their questions in real life.

I would like to take this opportunity to place on record my gratitude to the principal of this college, Mr Graham Meertens; head of early and junior years, Helen Leeson; and Mr Keegan Peace, Ms Cara McLaughlin and Mr Zachary Templeton—the fantastic year 5 teachers—for taking the time and resources to invest in our next leaders, who could in fact stand in this very place one day.

I applaud the phenomenal teachers, principals and support staff in all the local schools throughout my electorate of Oxley for the fantastic effort they have put in this year. It's been incredibly different to what we imagined, yet they have risen to the challenge. I thank them for their dedication and their passion to see our next leaders excel in their education.