Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the great joys of being a federal member of the Australian parliament is, of course, the opportunity to meet so many different kinds of people in our electorates, from businesspeople to older and senior citizens, to students at the various schools, whether that be primary school, high school or at university. The University of Queensland is in my electorate at St Lucia.

Tonight I want to acknowledge and put on the record the names of some outstanding young Australians who live in the western suburbs of Brisbane and in the Ryan electorate. I acknowledge them because they are recipients of the Australian Student Prize, formerly known as the Lord Florey Student Prize. This is a very prestigious Commonwealth government initiative that recognises the academic excellence and achievements of secondary students around the country. As the member for Ryan, I have had the privilege of hosting events honouring many of the students in Ryan who have won this award in previous years. I look forward to meeting these students later in the year when I have the opportunity to host an event for them. Tonight in the House of Representatives chamber I want to put on record their names, the suburbs they live in and the schools that they attended.

The students are: Miss Isabelle Brieffies of Riverhills, who went to Centenary State High School; Miss Rebecca Buffington from Brookfield, a Kenmore State High School student; Miss Lauren Burrage from Chapel Hill, who went to St Peter’s Lutheran College, which is a very fine college indeed—in fact, it was my old school at Indooroopilly where I was a boarder many years ago; Mr Richard Cotton from Pullenvale, who went to Brisbane Boys College; Mr Bradley Gooding from Jindalee, who went to Ipswich Grammar School; Mr Michael Hsieh from Chapel Hill, who went to Brisbane Boys Grammar School; Mr Benjamin Lazarus from The Gap, who was another Brisbane Boys Grammar student; Miss Sandy Lee from Indooroopilly, who went to Somerville House; Mr Man Chun Simon Lee of Westlake, who went to St Joseph’s College Gregory Terrace; Mr Nathan Lim from Chapel Hill, who went to Brisbane Grammar School; Miss Ann Mathews from Kenmore, who attended All Hallows School; Mr James McNicol from Toowong, a Brisbane Grammar School student; Mr Daniel Moloney from Indooroopilly, who went to Indooroopilly State High School; Mr Wouter Mostert from Chapel Hill, who went to St Peter’s Lutheran College; Mr Rhys Ryan from Varsity Lakes, who went to Ipswich Grammar School; Miss Jacqueline Stacey and Ms Clare Stephens, both from Bellowrie and who both attended the very fine Kenmore State High School; Miss Shu Su from Indooroopilly and Miss Yuan Tian from Oxley, who both went to St Peter’s Lutheran College in the western suburbs of Brisbane; Mr Matthew Tunbridge of the Gap, who went to St Joseph’s College Gregory Terrace; Miss Kathleen Wilson from Indooroopilly, who went to Kenmore State High School; and Miss Yin Yuan from Middle Park in the Centenary suburbs of the western suburbs, who also went to the school that I attended, St Peter’s Lutheran College.

I acknowledge them in the parliament because they are fine young Australians. They have great lives ahead of them. Australia is a land of marvellous and abundant opportunity. With hard work and self-belief, these young people will be able to fulfil their dreams and achieve their goals in life, whether that is in business, industry, commerce or global affairs. Some of these young people might want to play a part in great organisations like the United Nations. Amongst these fine young Australians there could be a future Prime Minister or Speaker of the House of Representatives. I know you yourself, Mr Speaker, honour young people in your electorate. I certainly pay tribute to young people in my electorate. I pay tribute to you. I also pay tribute to the parents of these young people. We all know that studying can be quite a stressful task, especially coming up to exam time. As a student myself in the past, I know that academic challenges are quite significant.

Congratulations to these young Australian students from the western suburbs of Brisbane on winning the Australian Students Prize, formerly known as the Lord Florey Student Prize. It is a tremendous honour. I look forward very much to meeting you and I look forward to your contribution in making this great country of ours even greater than it is today in the years ahead when you become young adults and citizens with great potential to enhance this wonderful country of ours.