Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of once again dropping into the Power of Speech competition here at Parliament House to listen to two young Canberrans who took part in the public speaking competition. They were Ayham and Saja Nasser. They are brother and sister. They represented the Shepherd Centre, which is an organisation that operates across New South Wales and the ACT to help children who are deaf or hearing impaired and to help families to develop their children's spoken language so they can reach their full potential.

The Power of Speech competition has been going for a number of years. I always love attending it here at Parliament House. It has student participants from all around Australia—every state and territory—as well as from New Zealand. The children who participate in this competition have a profound hearing loss, have a cochlear ear implant and have been through years of intensive therapy to learn to listen and speak just like the hearing peers. Yesterday we heard from children about some of the craziest thing that they have been asked, and there were some pretty crazy things! They have been asked, 'Can you listen to music?' The answer is yes. They have been asked, 'Can you play music?' The answer is yes. We also heard about some of the tricks that they can play with the magnet in their cochlear implant, like the party trick of putting paperclips on their heads! The kids had a great time. I congratulate them all on their performance. (Time expired)