Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before discussing the achievements of one of the Forde electorate’s public schools, I wish to draw the attention of the House to an important issue. Australia currently recognises the importance of intercountry adoption to family creation and is a party to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. However, there are countries not on the list of countries that our nation can adopt from. One such location is the small African country of Burundi.

With an estimated population of almost 8.7 million, Burundi is one of the 10 poorest countries in the world. The children living in this country are privy to a poor legal system, an eight out of 10 chance of living below the poverty line and a lack of access to education. And they are at risk from the proliferation of HIV-AIDS. Nearly 57 per cent of children under the age of five suffer from chronic malnutrition.

The issue of intercountry adoption with Burundi was brought to my attention by constituents Carolyn Bird and her husband Ray Spiteri, a couple in my electorate who spent over five years attempting to adopt their now six-year-old son from Burundi. After fighting the Queensland and federal governments, they are now the only Australian couple to successfully adopt a child from Burundi—because there is no agreement between the countries.

Ms Bird has handed me a petition with 438 signatures of people who call on the Attorney-General to initiate an intercountry adoption program with Burundi to allow Australian parents to adopt Burundian orphans. According to UNICEF, there are over 500,000 of these orphans. I present this petition.

The petition read as follows—

To the Honourable the Speaker and members of the House of Representatives

This petition of the Australian adoption community

Draws to the attention of the House:

The need for the Attorney-General to initiate an intercountry adoption program with Burundi to allow Australian parents to adopt Burundian orphans. According to UNICEF, there are around 500,000 orphans in Burundi, while the National Council for the Fight Against AIDS recently concluded that there are more than 830,000 Burundese orphans living in extreme conditions. Burundi is a signatory to the Hague convention for the protection of children and has been since 1993. Burundi orphans have been successfully adopted in Italy, France, the USA, Canada and Australia.

We therefore ask the House to:

Implement an adoption program with Burundi.

from 438 citizens

Petition received.

Along with determined and inspiring residents, the Forde electorate is fortunate to be home to many brilliant and innovative public and private schools. One of our primary schools, Waterford West State School, my old school, has come up with the clever idea of teaching pupils business skills. Year 5 teacher Cassandra Bruce decided to teach her students about business skills early in life, by instructing them to create, market and sell their own line of smoothie drinks. Mrs Bruce wanted to create a project that tied real-life experience with the students’ English, maths and science studies. For the project, the students had to investigate the best way to create healthy yet tasty and cost-effective smoothies.

Mrs Bruce is very proud of her students and has said that they have worked so much harder this term as it is a real-live project. This project has also introduced some friendly competition between two groups to see who can sell the most products and has provided the students with an insight into the realities of business and the importance of an effective marketing campaign. The students also learned the importance of giving to the community by donating a percentage of the profits to the Queensland flood relief appeal.

The year 7 students of teacher Mrs Stokes are learning to make cheese. These students hope their cheese will taste good enough to enter the Brisbane exhibition show competition later this year. They are learning measurement, chemical reactions of different ingredients, where raw products come from and how to be self-sufficient. They are developing confidence in their own abilities.

It is truly inspiring to see children become so excited about business and health. As a small-business owner previously, I find it exceptional that schools would teach their students at such a young age the importance of understanding business skills. I would like to commend the principal, staff, teachers and students of Waterford West State School on their willingness to teach and learn important life skills in a fun and inviting way.