Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I wish to praise the quality, the enthusiasm and the capacity of our young people in the Casey region. It was again on display in two recent events. One was a Grand Prix event at Mossgiel Park Primary School in Endeavour Hills last week, and another was a visit by the City of Casey Australia Day Study Tour students to the Australian parliament this week.

Last Friday, I had the pleasure of attending a special event at Mossgiel Park Primary School in the lead-up to the Australian Grand Prix. Students at Mossgiel Park Primary School were invited to make a cardboard Grand Prix car, and prizes were awarded for the best car and the most money raised for charity by the students. When I walked into the school I was presented with an eye-opening display of the students' creativity. I saw a virtual car park full of incredible cardboard car displays in every conceivable colour and configuration. I saw a brilliant red Ferrari, I saw an ice-cream truck that had speakers—it was a six-person ice-cream truck that was almost fully functioning, but it was pretty heavy for the young student to carry around, though—and I saw a blue Transformers truck that would not have been out of place in the movie itself. There was amazing creativity from a young group of students.

It was a great testament to the students, to the parents and to the school. I commend the parents of those students, who turned out in very large numbers to support their sons and daughters. I also commend the enthusiasm of the teachers, particularly the principal, Jenny Scott. I want to thank them for inviting me to this event. It really was a wonderful way of finishing off a week, and it gave me great confidence in the young people of the area that I represent.

I was also delighted to have a great discussion with some of Casey's future leaders, and this was part of the City of Casey Australia Day Study Tour. We had a really fruitful discussion and, as can happen with intelligent young people of that age, they put some challenging questions to me about the future of the city and Australian contemporary politics. There were 10 young people from year 11: Leia Burrough, Trent Buxton, Arashdeep Dhaliwal, Miriam Fares, Jasmine Gonzalez, Liam Jolliffe, Lauren Murrant, Jarrod O'Donnell, Thomas Velican and Olumide Yinka-Kehinde, who is from Gleneagles Secondary College. They are a very talented young group of people who were very keen to understand about parliamentary life. Some students can ask you very penetrating and confronting questions, and these students are a great credit to the City of Casey and their parents. These are two great instances of groups of young people who show what a great area it is to represent.

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