Trent Zimmerman (North Sydney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The North Sydney school Christmas card competition is a great tradition started by my predecessor, Joe Hockey, which I've been delighted to continue. This year, the theme was 'What I love about Christmas', and I was overwhelmed with over a thousand inspired drawings—a wonderful insight into those things that children cherish and what makes Christmas so special to them. Very often, the entries focused on spending time with family and friends; enjoying iconic Australian activities, like surfing and the beach; presents and gathering around the Christmas tree.

Many also focused on the religious and spiritual meaning of Christmas, including the winner of this year's competition, Leif Ingwersen of St Aloysius College, a great school in my electorate, who submitted an engaging modern image of the baby Jesus under the stars of the Australian flag. A very big 'Congratulations!' also goes to Charlotte Gray from Lane Cove Public School for second place and Ella Hook from Willoughby Public School for third place. I have to say the most unique entry was one from Minseo Kim of Mowbray Public School, which featured the House of Representatives decorated for Christmas—although I was a little perturbed by the number of turkeys she placed on the front benches! Thankfully, however, she was bipartisan in her distribution of those Christmas turkeys! I want to thank all those students who entered. It was a very tough choice.

Finally, I want to give a plug for the Scout groups that will be selling beautiful Christmas trees across my electorate. It has certainly become a tradition in my home to support the Scouts by buying a Christmas tree from the 1st North Sydney Scout Group, and I look forward to joining them this weekend to make my 2019 purchase.