Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I join in acknowledging the member for Herbert for bringing this most relevant topic to our House. My engagement with cadets is somewhat less indulgent and quite bizarre. When you think of cadets you think of the organisation that you would have had a link to—whether it be the Navy cadets, the Air Force cadets or the Army—and mine was the Army.

I was playing football for a Christian Brothers side and during winter the coach thought it would be a great idea if the whole side joined the cadets. His position was that there would be less damage done in training to hamstrings because, during cadet season, which overlapped football season, you were able to wear your greens, your camos, to school and so you were warm all day. Anything in Rockhampton under 22 degrees deserves a cardigan, and so we were in our full greens all day.

One of the by-products of being involved in cadets and aspiring to the dizzy ranks of corporal was the discipline that was instilled in you as a leader. Those extraordinary qualities and fundamental underlying principles on how to deliver a speech, command men and earn respect were all taught by and underpinned the ethos of the cadet movement Most importantly, the cadet movement taught you about respect. It taught you to respect rank. It taught you to respect the office of senior personnel. You may not necessarily have agreed with what they said or enjoyed the outcome of what they said, but nevertheless you were taught from a very young age to respect the office.

In the cadet movement in my electorate we are so blessed. The school cadets movement has shifted away from a very strong group of organisers through the reservists or paid school staff to now being a completely volunteer organisation. I want to acknowledge some of the outstanding people in my electorate who contribute to developing the lives of these young people in my electorate who will go on, I am sure, to be future leaders of their communities, their state and, hopefully, most impressively, their country.

I want to congratulate the Logan City Community Cadets, led by commanding officer Trevor Shulze, the entire Parents Support Group, led by Mrs Raelene Griffin and her vice-president Mrs Lynne Bell, and the individual company officers, Andrew Griffin and Brett McCreadie, for the stellar job they are doing in changing these kids' lives. We should never dull it down. That is exactly what they do. They are taking these children and instilling in them direction, ethos and purpose and spending an enormous amount of time with them.

Also, over in the western part of my electorate we have the Lockyer Valley Army cadets, known as the 139 Australian Army Cadet Unit, operating out of Gatton. This particular cadet unit is 21 years old and is a regular fixture at the local Anzac and Remembrance Day ceremonies.

Finally, I would like to recognise the work of Wing Commander Gordon French. Gordon is an exceptional gentleman whose posture, delivery and mode of communication can be described as nothing other than militant in its precision. Coming, as he does, from the Air Force, there is a poise and panache about the guy. Gordon has been an invaluable asset to my office in the selection of the Anzac Day Centenary grants. However, he is also heavily involved in the air cadet school of aviation. the school of aviation is an important step for air cadets who wish to join the RAAF and delivers a strong base of knowledge which best prepares the cadets for flying duty in the future. Gordon has been instrumental in raising capital. The air cadets at Amberley have an enormous asset base of aircraft. The catchment area from there comes as far as Rockhampton. I support this motion and commend the member for Herbert to bring it to the House.

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