Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 10 December last year I had the honour to acknowledge 57 outstanding young students from 55 schools at the 2012 Holt Community Spirit and Leadership Awards ceremony. The Holt Community Spirit and Leadership Awards have been held for about 11 years. I host these awards because I basically want to bring our community together to celebrate what is very good about our community, which is the young people who are making a contribution to their schools and their communities. I want to emphasise that Casey and Holt are great places to live, to work and to raise a family. The award winners are nominated by their schools; they are given a framed certificate and also a gift voucher. It is great to bring the community together and watch the very proud parents, teachers and students celebrate the achievements and contribution each of these students has made.

There are 57 of these students whose names I would like to read into the parliamentary record to acknowledge their contribution: Ahdia Taher, Carly Wadsworth, Olivia Henry, Samuel Lui, Samantha Chapman, Alia De Savery, Richelle Smith, Chloe Stone, Yasmin Yassin, Bonin Sok, Mikayla Laffan, Courtney Zurek, Kevin Tangga, Bonni-Lee Hovey, Anh Thu Nguyen—Anh Thu is a very special person, and if I get time I will tell you why—Jamie Lewis-Milaetis, Anjali Mahesh, Alana Cole-Surjan, Mansor Yaqubi, Justin Smith, Rebecca Herft, Mikayla Newton, Sara Forte, Emily Flentjar, Martin Zengbean, Melissa Lot, Kathryn Hazell, Alyssa Jeffrey, Monique White, Jayden Bull, Ashleigh Jones, Elli-Dion Martin, Brandilee Norris, Noor Sarai, Rebecca Jenkins, Luther D’Sa, Maria Pereleshina, Liam Madden, Joel Rogerson, Natalie Francois, Natasha Aulia, Hannah Halton, Samantha Malamatin, Dion Elefantis, Brooke Rackham, Joel Keating, Bridget Rae, Taylah Algie, Marie Alevizos, Jessica Hannan, Gurshan Dhaliwal, Lachlan Buckanen, Zoe Exner, Michael Stevens, Resalene Lavaka, David Huezo and Will Height. That is a long list, isn't it?

It is a long list of names and I wish that I could also read to you the testimony of each of the students that appeared before us to be presented with the award. Too often we hear about what our young people do wrong, but we really need to emphasise what they do right. The City of Casey in my electorate is the future of our country. These young people are coming through and they are going to be our community leaders, they are our next generation. When I read articles about young people in the paper, very rarely do I read about the positive contributions that they are making. I hear the bad stuff. We need to keep on emphasising the good things and, as I said on Australia Day, I am going to keep talking positively about my electorate until the general media understands what a great place it is to live, to work and to raise a family.