Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending the special opening of the Mount Whitestone State School healthy learning facility and edible garden. The Mount Whitestone State School currently has 21 students enrolled, and it belongs to a community of around 150 people. So it is not a large school with an abundance of resources by any measure, and yet it has been able to give its students and its community access to state-of-the-art facilities.

This has come to fruition as a labour of love for the school management and P&C. Over $150,000 worth of grants and financial support were offered by local businesses and organisations. The facility is part of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program, which aims to create a food revolution from the ground up. Around 50,000 children Australia wide are enthusiastically getting their hands dirty and learning how to grow, harvest, prepare and share food—in particular, seasonal food. The program aims to provide positive and memorable food experiences that will form the basis of positive, life-long eating habits for children who might otherwise just become childhood obesity statistics. Twenty-five per cent of children in Australia are obese, and 25 to 50 per cent of obese children will grow up to become obese adults.

At the Mount Whitestone kitchen garden, students are learning important life skills which will take them into the future, as well as important healthy habits. Principal Matthew Taylor said that, as part of the healthy living facility and garden, the entire school now has a sit-down meal once a fortnight where a class group cooks for the rest of the school. Everything else the children are learning directly combats factors which lead to obesity. They are learning to prepare nutritious, low-fat, wholefood meals whilst also spending structured time outdoors in their own vegie patch.

However, what is so great about the Mount Whitestone facility and garden is that it is open to the entire community. Principal Taylor and the Mount Whitestone P&C have extended an open invitation to the broader community to use the kitchen. So far the local Blue Care respite group and a playgroup have taken them up on the offer. After the community open day I attended I have no doubt that the word will have spread through Mount Whitestone and that soon the entire community will be coming together in the kitchen to cook and share wholesome, nutritious food which tastes great.

In addition to that, there are the eating habits of the children. I had the pleasure of spending an hour with them beforehand, perusing the gardens. They knew what fennel was; they knew what broccolini was; and they took great pleasure in preparing that dish for the palates of much younger children.

I know this is a great program. Stephanie Alexander, before this, was relatively unknown, and I commend the program. (Time expired)