Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Housing) Share this | Hansard source

Today I rise to celebrate a wonderful occasion that was held recently at Gainsborough State School where the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Hon. Milton Dick MP, visited as part of the Australian Parliament House National Flag Roadshow. I want to thank Principal Clay McCann and all of the school community for such a wonderful and warm welcome. We spoke with year 5 and 6 students about the role of parliament, the importance of democracy and why every Australian, no matter their age, should know that their voice matters. Students were very engaged, and interestingly we were able to unfurl one of the flags that sits on top of the Parliament House inside the school hall. Of course it's the same size as a double-decker bus, which was quite impressive for the students.

The interesting thing was the vote in relation to whether or not pineapple should be on a pizza. I would like to record for the history books that apparently the first ever dead heat was held—it was 99 votes all—and I was given the great honour by the Speaker of the casting vote. Now, do not mention this to the Premier of Queensland—just keep it between us in this room—I said that pineapple should be on pizza, and so of course that side won. But, in all seriousness, thank you to the Speaker and his team for a wonderful experience.

I rise today to pay tribute to the wonderful community event that is the Paradise Point parkrun. On the weekend they marked their 500th event, and I am very proud of this one because, back when I was in the local council at the Gold Coast, we started this event on 17 October 2015. All these years later it's still going strong and getting hundreds of participants each week. It's a great community event, and I'm so very proud of it.

On Friday of last week I attended the Arundel State School leadership induction ceremony. I was joined by my state colleague the Hon. Sam O'Connor and by local councillor Joe Wilkinson for what was a very great event for our local students to recognise their leadership that they will offer this year. Now this doesn't happen without some serious work behind the scenes by the staff. So to Principal Landon Dare and to Deputy Principal Bridgette O'Donnell, thank you so much for getting these students ready for leadership. I was very proud to be there to hand out some badges and certificates.

Last week, I had a visit to Parliament House by one of my local schools. Kings Christian College from Pimpama visited my office as part of their recent tour to Canberra, and I was joined by a roundtable of grade 12 executive captains together with one of their deputy heads of high school, Mr Ralf de la Mare. It was great to discuss with them the importance of parliament and the leadership that they can offer.

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