Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Friday was a very good demonstration of just how varied this job of being a federal parliamentarian can be. In the morning, I chaired the first public hearing of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics Inquiry into Foreign Investment in Residential Real Estate. As soon as the committee heard from the final witness, I was on a plane back to Melbourne and straight to Little St Margaret's Kindergarten to celebrate their 85th anniversary.

After negotiating the Friday afternoon Melbourne traffic, I arrived at the small kindergarten in the back streets of Malvern to be greeted by a welcoming committee that included teachers, parents, directors, past students, and of course, current children. I had the great privilege of joining former pupil, Jan Dimmick, in unveiling a plaque celebrating 85 years of Little St Margaret's shaping our nation's young.

I would like to congratulate the entire board including: Andrew Gaffney; Bianca Smith; Julia Stanford; Raj Heenetigala; Lyndal McVie; and a special mention of Nicole Morgan for organising such a wonderful event. I would like to congratulate them for the tireless work that they do, often volunteering their time while working full-time and juggling family life. These volunteers, and other people like them, manage to fit 25 hours into every day.

I would also like to acknowledge and congratulate the educational team headed Caroline Bargent, with Loretta Sepe and Hayley Pallister. The work they do, educating our young people, is very important and gives them the very best start as they should.