Pusillanimous is a word that is not easy to say, let alone spell. But not for 13-year-old Charlotte Edwards from Braddon—in fact, from my home town—who entered the Prime Minister's Spelling Bee competition and went on to win the years 7 and 8 spelling category. She's the first ever national winner from Tasmania. Charlotte travelled to Canberra with her mum, Anna; her dad, Shaun; and little sister Lexie on Monday this week. The competition is in its sixth year, and it received a record 90,000 entries. This year, for the first time, the wins in all three categories were taken out by girls.

Charlotte attends Leighland Christian School in Ulverstone, where I'm sure they're all bragging about having the first ever national winner of the competition as a student of their lovely school. Charlotte brought along her dictionary, which she asked the Prime Minister to sign. I was there while he signed it, and she said to me:

It was very exciting but I was nervous because he is the Prime Minister of the entire country.

So I want to thank our prime minister for taking that time to sign Charlotte's dictionary, because I know it meant a lot to her. Charlotte said that, when she told her friends that she was coming to parliament, they were all pretty proud of her for getting so far in the competition. We are also very proud of you, Charlotte. Well done to you and good luck for your schooling future.