Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Lovely words, Member for Hawke—we all share your pain and your local loss. May God bless both boys and take them into his safe arms.

Mine is a happier story—a very happy story. Paul Phillips from Forest Hill has shared a story about his lovely daughter, 34-year-old Penny MacKay, a former apprentice chef in the Riverina region who decided to dedicate her professional career to the training sector, becoming a vocational education teacher/trainer. Not only was she named 2025 Riverina regional VET Trainer/Teacher of the Year; she has gone on to receive the New South Wales state title. She now progresses to the Australian Training Awards, to be held in Darwin, in the Northern Territory, on Friday 5 December.

Whilst this accomplishment on its own is outstanding, what makes this story particularly unique is that Penny was joined at the regional event by her VET business services student, whom she nominated in the VET in Schools Student of the Year category and who reached the finals, and by a previous hospitality student from the year prior, who had won the regional 2024 VET in Schools Student of the Year award. As you can appreciate, this is an outstanding display of a teacher's passion for her trade and the power of vocational education within not just the region but indeed our nation. We all know that teachers are the great enablers. If you have good teachers, it can put you on the pathway to success. It opens doors for you. Obviously, Penny is not only doing great things at Kildare Catholic College but indeed providing inspiration for students and inspiration for our region.

I recall Penny from the 2019 training awards evening. I spoke at this. Two out of the three finalists in the VET in schools category were Penny's students. The winner, Grace Mattingly, was a business services student of Penny's. She went onto the state level. She's now successfully running two local dance studios, which are thriving not just in Wagga Wagga but indeed throughout the entire region. Grace is doing amazing things. She's only 24 years old. She describes having Penny as one of her mentors as being the motivator for her career and for the great things that she's doing and that she will go on doing. As I said, when you have good teachers, it opens up so many opportunities. So well done to Penny Mackay. Thank you to Paul Phillips for bringing that story to me—that attention about his wonderful daughter. We look forward to seeing her succeed—potentially, hopefully—at the national awards in the member for Solomon's electorate. I wish her every success both in those particular awards and in the future.

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