OFFICIAL OPENING OF SHADE STRUCTURES AT MOUNT ARCHER STATE SCHOOL

_{15 February, 2007}

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Thanks very much Mr Rilette and Mr Wilkes for your very warm welcome to my wife and I to your magnificent school and good morning boys and girls or perhaps I should say good morning young men and young women.

It is a real pleasure for me to be here with you today to officially open these shade structures which will be very useful to the school and to all of you.  But before I get on to that, can I say Happy Birthday to your school because I understand that your school is 25 years old this year.

As Mr Wilkes mentioned, many of the teachers that you have, have been here for a long time as well, and that shows they have made a great contribution to the school and that they are very happy here teaching you and the people that have come before you.  I particularly want to mention Ms Chong, Mr Swanson and Mr Peg who I understand have been here quite a long time, more then 20 years.

That really shows a great commitment to this school, so Happy Birthday to Mt Archer state school.

My purpose today is to officially open these shade structures on behalf of the Australian Government and on behalf of the Education Minister, Ms Bishop.

We have provided the money for these structures and that comes from the Australia Government.  There are many governments in Australia that make rules and provide services to your school and I guess that you could almost say the government that is closest to you, is the government of this school.

This school makes rules and regulations and provides services so that you can get a good education.  We are a democratic country and so is your school, I understand you just recently elected your school captains.  I particularly want to congratulate them, Taylor O’Leary and Corey Hardy as your School Captains who I understand were elected just yesterday and your Vice Captains are Tory Braithwaite and Lewis Smith.  Congratulations to them all.

How about a big round of applause.

Well done I know what its like to stand for election - we politicians have to stand for elections all the time, but these four are your representatives - you have elected them to work with the Principal, the Deputy Principal and the staff to make sure the right things happen at this school.

There are other levels of government involved in your school of course.  The Local Council provides the roads, the water and the sewage to your school, the State Government provides the school itself and pays the teachers and provides for buses and trains to get you to school and the Australian Government, where I work, actually looks after the defence of our country with the army and the navy and the air force.  We also look after the economy and try to make sure everyone has a job.  We look after things which are the big picture items.  But we also help the State Government with schools.  Does anyone know who the leader of the Australian Government is?

John Howard, that’s right, well I work with John Howard and he’s the Prime Minister of Australia, he looks after the whole of the country.

In the Australian parliament we have two houses of Parliament, what’s called an upper house which is the Senate where I sit and the lower house which is the House of Representatives where Kirsten Livermore, who represents this area, sits and between us both we help to represent this area.

Has anyone ever heard of a Senator before?

How many senators do you think we have in Queensland?

8?

10?

No, we have 12.  Every state has 12 Senators and I am one of those 12 Senators that represent Queensland.

I live in the north of Queensland.  Most of the other Senators in Queensland live in the south east but it is important that we get around all parts of the State.

Now boys and girls, the Australian Government helps the State Government.  We know providing for schools is very important, we provide something like a billion dollars in this particular programme to provide for things like shade structures, $700 million of that goes to State Schools.  We want to make sure these little extra things are available to you.

I understand as Mr Wilkes mentioned, or Mr Evans mentioned, that you will be getting some more equipment from the Federal Government, a playground, some more shade and a drinking fountain.

I want to congratulate all of those who have been involved, particularly the Parents and Citizens Association.  Your mums and dads are part of the P and C Association.  They form a very important part of the school.  They help get facilities for you.  Mr Evans I particularly want to congratulate you and all the mums and dads who do such a marvellous job here.  Michelle Rickson who is the Treasurer of the P and C who helps get the money.  They have already been mentioned but I want to mention them again, Martie Richardson and Deb Percer who have actually done the hard work to get all the paper work together to make the applications so that the Government understands this is a good project and actually provides the money.

Now boys and girls can I again get you to - I know that you have already done this, but it is very important that you understand what a great job your mums and dads and the teachers around you do in providing all of these extra things for your school - can we again give them a big round of applause to show your appreciation.

Well done to the P and C.

To the builders who have built these structures, congratulations to them.

I know that your school provides a very welcoming atmosphere and these shades will allow you and your teachers to work together in a comfortable environment.  They keep you out of the sun, which is very important in the Central Queensland heat.

So boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, congratulations to all involved.  It is a delight for me to be with you and to be in Rockhampton again, it is a lovely feeling to be here on a wet day, and I hope it does rain even if you do get a little bit wet.  It is so important we get that rain.

Congratulations to all who were involved in this particular shade structure project.

With that, I am going to cut these lovely ribbons.  It almost seems a shame, they look so nice but with the president of the P and C and the Principal we might all get together and cut the ribbons to Officially open these Shade Structures.

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