Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Scouting in all its structures is an ongoing success story for this great southland Australia. On 31 August, I was honoured when invited to attend the South Gippsland Scouts annual report and awards presentation evening in Leongatha. Inside the hall nearly 100 people had gathered around a roaring open fire, and this set the tone for the evening as Scouts, Rovers, Joey Scouts, Cub Scouts, Venturer Scouts and Rover Scouts, both young and old, current and retired, all shared the experience of their time in the Scouts. This movement that has endured for well over 100 years has served South Gippsland wonderfully.

After the cup of tea and greetings, it was outside to officially unveil the new signage that was lit up by two large spotlights. This new signage to be rolled out across Australia is giving a new, vibrant and modern face to scouting. Scouting is about action. In the parliament we are about words. In attendance we had District Commissioner Sue Kemp; the Chief Commissioner of Scouts Victoria, Brendan Watson; former Chief Commissioner Bob Taylor; and the grandson of the founder of Scouts worldwide, Michael Baden-Powell.

Michael was there in his own capacity but presented the Baden-Powell Scout Award to Ben Browning. This is the highest Scout award for youth members and was obviously highly prized amongst those present. Only a very few people in South Gippsland receive this award. In fact, just nine were presented state-wide last year. There was warm congratulations from everybody in the hall for Ben in acknowledgement of his remarkable achievement, none more proud than his parents, Janet and Ed Browning. Lucas Wilson from Mirboo North was Chief Scout Ambassador and presented me with this ambassador scarf or neckerchief that I am wearing today, with its woggle. This scarf was presented to me by this group and I was very honoured to receive it.

In his final message before he died, Lord Baden-Powell said to the youth of the world, through scouting:

Stick to your Scout promises always—even after you have ceased to be a boy and God help you to do it.

From what I saw that night, that is exactly what they were doing.

I said before that Scouting is about action. It has been an opportunity for young people across this nation. There was a survey of leadership across the UK, Canada, America and Australia. It found that nearly 90 per cent of people in leadership positions had had some association with Scouting through their lives. Congratulations to all in the Scouting movement across Australia. This new face of Scouting, the new signage and the new opportunities in Scouting across South Gippslanders are going to make a tremendous difference to our leadership into the future and I congratulate all of those who were taking part.