Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to speak about a number of activities and events that I have been involved in over this past month, and to speak about the outstanding achievements of one of my constituents who has also been a member of this place. This constituent is the Hon. Grant Tambling, or Tambo as he is affectionately known. Grant was recognised in the 2011 Australia Day honours list as a Member of the Order of Australia. This honour was bestowed upon Grant for his outstanding service to the parliament of Australia and to the communities of Norfolk Island and the Northern Territory, through his contributions to local, state and federal government. Grant’s outstanding political career spanned an amazing 30 years, from 1972 to 2001. Most interestingly, his career involved all levels of government—local, state and federal. After what we all thought was his retirement from politics he was appointed to the vice-regal position of Administrator of Norfolk Island in January 2003, a role he held until 2007.

As mentioned in my first speech, Grant is a mentor of mine and he has made an enormous contribution to the development of the Northern Territory in a way that I strive to emulate. I congratulate him on receiving this Australia Day award. Grant is held in high regard and many of his past colleagues still in this place talk of him fondly, as do many Territorians.

I would now like to mention a number of activities I have been involved in over the past month. I joined many volunteers in the 21st annual Clean Up Australia Day. I would like to pay special tribute to Hayley Fletcher, who coordinated the clean up of Dripstone Park. It was surprising that in just under an hour more than 20 garbage bags were filled with rubbish. I was impressed at how the community came together and particularly by the number of young people involved in the day. It is really great to see young people who are passionate about keeping the Territory beautiful.

I was also a guest shaver at the Leukaemia Foundation’s World’s Greatest Shave fundraising event at the Mitchell Centre. At this event the Jacob’s Terrors, a family trio, were acknowledged for raising $3,300 between them—not a bad effort considering that Connor Randazzo is 12, his sister Imogen is 11, and little brother Jacob is eight. Other outstanding fundraisers included local Scott Van Loon, who raised $7,100—the highest individual amount raised in the Northern Territory. As a cancer survivor, I believe that the World’s Greatest Shave is a vital event for Territorians to be part of to help raise much needed funds and to raise awareness of this disease. Shelly Ryan from the Leukaemia Foundation did a fantastic job in coordinating events in my electorate.

I joined students from Marrara Christian College for the National Ride2School Day. It was wonderful to see almost 70 students take part in the 3½-kilometre bike ride to the school campus. Students were accompanied by Principal John Metcalfe and Assistant Principal Adriaan, along with some parents and local community police officer Linda Farrand. According to National Ride2School Day organisers Marrara Christian College was the first school ever to register in the Northern Territory and the only school that participated formally this year. A special thankyou goes to Mrs Glenda Nyhuis from Marrara Christian College for her assistance in coordinating this event. I am hopeful that next year many more schools across my electorate will participate in this event.

This past weekend I was very privileged to attend the St John’s College presentation ball. I was honoured to be involved in the presentation of 44 year-12 students, alongside Bishop Eugene Hurley. It is wonderful that such a tradition is still carried out, even with a modern twist. The students were incredible and were a credit to their families, teachers and school community. I would like to make special mention of teachers Bronwyn Graham and Tony Walton, who worked with the students to teach them special dances and appropriate etiquette for the evening.

I would like to mention one final thing. I have again been asked about the Indigenous funding guarantee program which the Gillard Labor government committed to in the lead up to the 2010 federal election. St John’s College is affected by this program and, like other schools I have previously mentioned, the delay is costing jobs in the Indigenous education sector in my electorate. These schools seek further assurance that the promised, but delayed, payment of the remote rate for remote students based at their school will indeed be backdated to include 2010. I pose this question to the Gillard Labor government: when can schools in my electorate expect to hear the government’s decision on whether the payment will be backdated or not?