Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to express my pride in Katie Marson's Year 5 class at Scotch Oakburn College in Launceston, and to talk about the wonderful impact the class made on Chinese President Xi Jinping during his recent visit to Australia.

Earlier in the year, as part of a writing exercise, Katie's class wrote letters to the President of China and his wife, Madam Peng. There was no expectation on their part that the President would even receive their letters, much less respond in the way that he did. Not only did the President and Madam Peng read them, but they responded by letter. The President mentioned this class during his speech to our parliament. He met some of the children during his trip to Hobart, and he sent them a token of appreciation for their efforts. This class from Scotch Oakburn not only captured the attention of a President, but also of the 1.3 billion people who were enthralled by the President's visit to Australia.

On 21 November, I visited these wonderful children at Scotch Oakburn College and presented them each with a program from President Xi's address to this parliament, and a copy of his speech from Hansard. I was excited to meet them and their teacher, Katie Marson, and to hear firsthand from them what an honour they considered their interaction with President Xi to have been. It is an experience that these students and their school will never forget. I congratulate Katie Marson and her class for their initiative, language skills and creative diplomacy.