OPENING OF CANTEEN REFURBISHMENT AND NEW PLAYGROUND FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

_{12 July, 2007}

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Senator Macdonald: Good Morning to you Liana and Angus and your Principal Mrs Jackson and all of the teachers and parents who are here today, and most importantly, to you boys and girls-boys and girls.

Well my name is Ian Macdonald and I am a Senator in the Federal parliament and with me I have a colleague who is also a Senator, Senator Sue Boyce. We work in Canberra with the Prime Minister. Do any of you know who the Prime Minister is? You just call it out. That is right. John Howard.

We work with Mr Howard in Canberra in the national government and Senator Boyce and I sit in one of the houses of parliament. We are here today to celebrate with you some new additions to your school and we are doing that as well on behalf of the Education Minister, the person who is in charge of schools for the Australian Government, Mrs Julie Bishop

We understand that they have been open for a few months, but Mr Howard and his government made some money available for your canteen and for the play area that will very much help you in your work here at school. We also provided some money for some shade areas over some paved parts of your school.  Mrs Jackson, are they up yet? They are. We can see them behind.

We wanted to celebrate with you the new additions to your school, which will hopefully make things easier for your school and help in your learning.

Whilst the Federal Government has provided this money, there has also been a lot given by your mums and dads who form the Parents and Citizens group. They do a fabulous job in your school in helping to get a lot of facilities here, and I did want to particularly acknowledge Tina Daniel who is the President of the Parents and Citizens group, who I understand is also one of your teachers, so she has two jobs. So congratulations Tina to you and the P and C association for the great work you have done for raising the funds for the project.

Boys and Girls I just did want to mention two other very important people, Adam Matheson from BMA, the big mining company that probably employs a lot of your parents and they have certainly put some money into these projects as well and also Marcia Volavich who is representing Mitre 10 your big hardware store in town, and also a group called QUATO who is made up of women who do a lot of good work for the community, both of whom gave money to your school as well, so thankyou to them, and thank you particularly to the Parents and Citizens.

Boys and Girls, we do have to make sure that all young people in Australia have a good education so you can go on and get a worthwhile job in the future and that is why the government and BMA and Mitre 10 have all been working very hard along with the Parents and Citizens Association to provide funds for you.

It is a very chilly day today. Is it always this cold in Moranbah? Who thinks it is always this cold? A few of you! I am sure it is not this cold always.

Do you all play a lot of sport and run around? That is very important that if you are having a good time and run around that makes you healthy and we are very keen to see that happen at your school, and I know Mrs Jackson and her staff are keen.

Talking about running around, we must congratulate Harry on the selection for the State Team. Well done Harry. What position do you play? Centre! So you are pretty fast and pretty speedy. Look I know that the Cowboys will be looking for someone to replace Jonathan Thurston in a few years time, so it might be you do you think? Congratulations, you have done very well for your town and particularly your school and that is a great honour. Very well done.

Boys and Girls, it is really my job to officially open the covered area. The outside play area and the canteen.

Have you all noticed that the canteen has been upgraded in the last few months? Is it better than it used to be? That’s the way. I hope one day some of you might be able to get in behind the canteen and do some work there and that helps you learn how to cook food and how to use food in the healthiest way.
Boys and Girls, just before I do say that those facilities are officially open, I just want to ask my Colleague, Senator Sue Boyce, to say a couple of words. Sue is a mother of three children as well, and she knows how much you enjoy school. Sue, can you just say a few words?

Senator Boyce: Thank you Senator Macdonald, Mrs Jackson, School Captains, School Community  my name is Sue Boyce and I am a very new Senator for Queensland, so this is the first time that I have got to come to a school and help celebrate having lots and new good things for the school. So thankyou for letting me share in that.

As Senator Macdonald said, yes I do have three children, but they are a little bit older than everybody here. Mine are all grown up now and I hope that soon I will have some grandchildren.

When I was your age and went to school, I never really thought about all the work the teachers and parents and all the business do to make things great for you at school. But you really did think how much fun it was to play and I am pleased to hear that you have all these good things now to make it easier and better to play and I think that is what you should be getting on this morning as it is far too cold to sit here for very long. I hope you all really enjoy using all the things that money from the federal government and all the people in Moranbah have helped to give the school.

Thanks kids.

Senator Macdonald: Thanks Senator Boyce. I declare the upgraded canteen, the outside play and work area and the shades cloths officially open and I hope you use them well and happily and good luck to all of you in the future.

Now, back to you Angus.

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