Sharryn Jackson (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a member of parliament you are often privileged to meet local heroes who champion great ideas. Tonight I want to share a very special idea with the House. In my electorate of Hasluck, the youth group Youth Action Kalamunda Inc. and the Rotary Club of Kalamunda have combined to offer year 12 students in the shire of Kalamunda the opportunity to participate in an exciting alternative to the infamous ‘schoolies week’. These students will spend 10 days in Timor-Leste providing much needed assistance to community projects, including painting a medical clinic, repairing a village community hall and local houses, as well as constructing a youth sports area. This journey is likely to be the journey of a lifetime for these students, or Team Timor-Leste, and they will be well and truly stepping out of their comfort zones.

This opportunity is the brainchild of Peter Kenyon, of the Bank of IDEAS, assisted by local community activists Juliana Plummer, Steve Hall and Lyn Harris. These people hope that the students will come away with a sense of achievement, new life skills and new friends. Apart from wanting members of Team Timor-Leste to have the time of their lives, the organisers are hoping it will encourage these young people to think and act as global citizens. I would like to acknowledge the organisers, YAK and the Rotary Club of Kalamunda, as well as the sponsors of the initiative, ConocoPhillips, Bank of IDEAS, Community Vision Kalamunda, the Kalamunda Chamber of Commerce, RU Mad and the Darling Range Rotary Club for supporting the project. I applaud everyone involved in the project. I wish them every success for their trip and I look forward to supporting this wonderful initiative. (Time expired)