Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak about the enthusiastic young students from the Karratha Clontarf Academy, whom I hosted in my electorate office in Broome last week. The Clontarf Foundation aims to improve education, discipline, life skills, self-esteem and the employment prospects of young Indigenous males. Now, in its eighth year, the Karratha campus is one of the most isolated academies in Australia. It has a record 152 students enrolled this year. Twenty year 12 students will graduate from the academy this year. This is not only another record for the Karratha campus; it doubles the previous highest for the campus—another great boon for the team led by director Brad Cox, together with Greg Townsend, the operations officer. Also, in attendance at the event was Nathan Perrin, the regional manager for north-west Western Australia, and Xavier Ennis, the very enthusiastic employment officer for the Kimberley.

The 16 students from years 7 to 9 did a tremendous job in delivering a presentation to me. It was of a very high standard, which was surprising given that all of those young men had never had any public speaking experience whatsoever. It was a great credit to them. Improving hospitals, improving schools, providing clothing for rural and remote communities, as well as providing free school supplies, were some of the objectives that we discussed that the students would deliver if they were to be Prime Minister for the day. It was incredibly insightful.

I want to give a big thanks to these young men for taking the time out to visit me whilst they were visiting Broome. They were all very well mannered, respectful and incredibly engaging. It is a real credit to Clontarf and their families.