Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Rotary Youth Exchange program is ramping up again, allowing students to learn a new language, discover another culture and truly become global citizens. Exchanges for students are sponsored by Rotary clubs in more than 100 countries, including Australia. Thanks to the hard work of the Rotary Youth Exchange committee in my electorate, Rotary District 9790 has been the first to resume the program since COVID and it is the only one that sent students overseas in 2022.

Rotary District 9790 consists of 63 Rotary clubs from Melbourne, north-east Victoria and southern New South Wales. The youth exchange program allows students to spend up to a year living and attending school overseas. These students become ambassadors for their families, for their home towns and for Australia as a whole.

As part of my parliamentarian duties, I delivered Australian flags firstly to Lyndsey Hill, who's off to Argentina—and she's already practising Spanish at home with her parents—and then to Tahji Browne from Beechworth Secondary College. She's preparing for a year-long exchange in Brazil. Lyndsey and Tahji are among 23 students from our district set to depart in January on the adventure of a lifetime.

Thank you to our Rotary clubs for giving young Australians the opportunity to expand their cultural awareness and build lifelong transnational friendships. I'm sure this will be an invaluable experience for them.