Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and Sovereign Capability) Share this | Hansard source

As part of our Raise Our Voice campaign, I'm proud to share the words of Wiremu from Proserpine State High School. He states:

Education should be a doorway—a way forward for every young person in this country.

But for students in regional communities, that door often feels locked.

Each day we wake up before sunrise, travelling for hours to reach school.

Every wet season, flooded roads block our way and we wait to hear if school will even open.

The constant uncertainty, that our education depends on things outside of our control is a barrier to our futures.

Many of us study without the subjects that city students take for granted—ancient history, languages, physics—because there aren't enough teachers.

Some of us study alone, online, without the support that face-to-face learning brings.

It's isolating.

It's frustrating.

And it chips away at our confidence and our dreams.

Unfortunately, we don't have multi-million-dollar research centres, nor do we have access to world-class tutors.

What we do have is determination—a will, to extend beyond our boundaries and defy limitations.

But we can't do that alone.

We are grateful to live where we live.

But gratitude shouldn't equate to limitation.

It's time to open the doors to equal education … because a nation that abandons its youth abandons its future.

Wise words, Wiremu.

See this speech in context