Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on an exciting local program aimed at assisting young people on the North Coast. The StoryBoard Bus is a travelling creative-writing program—in a bus, of course—that brings authors and illustrators into schools right across our region. It is in fact an outstanding, inspiring local initiative that really has the capacity to transform lives. The final product, the bus, was recently unveiled by author Leigh Hobbs, on 28 April, at the Byron Bay Public School. The StoryBoard Bus is an initiative created and developed by the Byron Writers Festival, a remarkable local event in itself.

The StoryBoard Bus is an amazing project that will give stories and the power of stories back to the children. Its aim is to make them better readers, to find joy in reading and, of course, to encourage them to further their education with confidence and a greater interest in reading.

The StoryBoard Bus is an interactive, interesting and exhilarating education program that helps young people to improve their creativity and literacy skills. The bus, coordinated by Coralie Tapper, will run more than 100 free school visits and master classes each year for the next three years. This will be done with assistance from many authors, including Tristan Bancks, Samantha Turnbull and program lead, Jesse Blackadder. I commend all of them for their dedication to this wonderful project. The authors will travel around in the bus, which is in fact an interactive learning hub. It is important to note that the bus itself is indeed an artwork, decorated by artist and animator Justine Wallace.

The program aims to excite young people about literature and influence and boost their creative characteristics. This is a crucial program for our area, because the Northern Rivers social profile in our region has high vulnerability rates for children's communication skills and general knowledge. The fact is, many of our children are not reaching the literacy levels that allow them to fully participate. This is precisely what this project is aiming to do. The project was achievable due to a range of funding initiatives, particularly assistance through federal government funding of $300,000 over three years through the Australian government's Catalyst program. As the local MP I was very proud to deliver funding of $20,000 through the Stronger Communities Program, as well. I would also like to acknowledge funding provided by the New South Wales government. The fact is that without all this government funding this program just would not have been able to exist. I acknowledge all those who contributed to it, because this program provides skills and confidence to young people, as well as providing them with those literacy and creativity skills.

One of the many great parts of this program is the ease of booking the bus. It is very simple. You just access the Byron Writers Festival website, email the coordinator with dates, and, once approved, the bus will conduct workshops free of charge to the school. The ease of booking is a really appealing aspect of the program. This service is provided at no cost to the schools and to parents. This community program will really make such a huge difference. I look forward to seeing the work conducted by the StoryBoard Bus and the results of this program. Can I finish by congratulating everybody involved. It is an exciting initiative for our region.