Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I had the privilege of attending the General Sir John Monash Awards this week. They are annual awards presented to up to eight young Australians who graduate from Australian universities and enable them to study abroad at some of the world’s best universities available in their field of study. These awards, which were first granted in 2004, are Australia’s only national postgraduate study awards offered across the whole country and in all disciplines. They are the Australian equivalent to international awards such as Britain’s Rhodes Scholarship and the United States Fulbright Scholarship. Indeed, they were an important part of the previous government’s education funding. Up to $5 million was presented in the last term of government by the member for Higgins, who was in attendance at these awards, and this was strongly supported by the Speaker as well, who was there to recognise the particular achievements of these young Australians.

The General Sir John Monash Awards are not limited by age, gender or academic field of study, which makes them unique. However, they recognise and promote something in young Australians which is very important—that is, in a global economy they promote our ability to lift our best and brightest young people and make them internationally competitive in a sustainable way within our own country. Hopefully they return and provide us with benefits in a whole range of disciplines. They are a remarkable group of young people who provide an enormous diversity of disciplines in areas that they are working on. For instance, some of the people who were there this year were from crucial areas like viral pandemics, biotechnological approaches to sustainability, biomedical research, law, risk management, water and environmental law, engineering for earthquakes, natural disasters, policy development around refugees and mass population movement. It was an incredible experience to meet these people and understand what they seek to achieve through their education.

I had the privilege of meeting Shaun Lin Yow and his family from my own electorate. He has first-class honours in a Bachelor of Commerce degree and received the University Medal from UNSW. He is going to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is studying the application of public policy for managing the economic consequences of demographic change. I think that is something that all members in this place would agree is a vital area in an ageing population and with the demographic challenges that we will face in the future. Mark Schembri from the neighbouring electorate of Greenway—and the member for Greenway was also present—has a Bachelor of Veterinary Science degree and is working on viral pandemics. He explained to me his work at the Easter Show in Sydney every year. It is the biggest gathering of animals in the country at any one event. All of these young Australians are fantastic people and their education is very important.