James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Friday it was my pleasure to speak at the year 12 prize-giving ceremony at my alma mater, St Peter's College. In fact, it turned out there was a book I hadn't returned from 2001 that was raised with me on the way out, but I think I've been given grace on that! It was a great honour to be back at my old school 19 years after I graduated and to speak to the year 12 students. Obviously we're going into exam period now—certainly in South Australia; I'm not quite as au fait with other jurisdictions. But I know that, for the South Australian Certificate of Education and the International Baccalaureate, the year 12s are doing their exams right now. It's obviously been a very tough year. My message to them on Friday, which I take the opportunity to convey, through this chamber, to all the year 12s in my electorate, in my home state and across the country, is that we all feel for the challenges that you've had this year, of course. No-one could have predicted, at the start of the year, what would confront you in what is, in many ways, at this stage of your lives, the most important year so far. There's probably a temptation for some to decide that they can use the coronavirus as an excuse, perhaps to say, 'I'm not going to bother to make the effort I was going to, because it's not my fault that I've had this year of COVID-19 thrust upon me.' I really implore everyone to do quite the reverse of that and to use this as an opportunity to work harder and to study harder than they ever intended to.

Year 12 students have had a real challenge thrown at them this year. To those of you for whom this is the first major challenge you've had in your life: I promise it's not going to be the last. Challenges like this will confront you all through your life, and in some ways this is an opportunity to take a challenge earlier than you might have anticipated and turn it into a positive; that's how we get ahead in life. No matter whether it's your schooling or your career, or decisions you make in your personal life, life is not going to be easy; it's not meant to be easy. Learning that lesson this year might not have seemed like a good lesson to learn, but I hope that, in hindsight, you will find that you turned this year into a year of opportunity.

To those of you who have got exams coming up over the next few weeks: study hard. We certainly are very proud of the way all our year 12s across the country have confronted this challenge and not turned it into a reason to mope or complain, but, I hope in almost all cases, turned it into an opportunity to excel, to show that they can rise to a challenge and to show that they can handle the unexpected and succeed in life. I wish all the year 12s in my electorate and across the country all the best for their exams.