BABINDA STATE SCHOOL FLAG RAISING CEREMONY

_{24 February, 2006}

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Well thanks very much to the school captains for those kind words and for the presentation.

Ms Berger, Mayor Kevin Byrnes, David McGuire, Councillor Paul Gregory , parents, teaching staff and most importantly the fine group of young people who we saw earlier this morning inducted as school leaders – those who are the future leaders of the country.

We are all very proud to be Australian and that pride showed this morning with the playing of the national anthem. At sporting matches around the world we like to support our teams and particularly to show we are Australian – and how do we do it?

We get out there and wave the Australian flag, it’s the symbol of Australia and of our pride in being Australians.

It’s the flag that has taken us into battle, Flanders in the First World War, in Dunkirk or El Alamein or the Kokoda Trail in the Second World War, Afghanistan and Iraq as we speak.  It is the flag we’ve seen flown over sporting fixtures around the world at the major test matches, Turin at the moment and next month I’m sure we’ll see a lot of them at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

Our flag comprises the union jack, not symbolising so much our ties to the United Kingdom, but more demonstrating the origin of our laws and our language, but it also contains the Southern Cross, so typically Australian in its vastness and diversity.

I have some notes here on protocols for dealing with our flag, it must be flown higher then other flags, it may not be used to cover a plaque for unveiling it should not be used as a table or seat cover and it should not be allowed to touch the ground, fortunately I didn’t see anything that said they can’t be flown in the rain. 

But Patrick in raising the Australian flag and the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander flags looked like a real professional.

Patrick you must have a lot of experience with this, because you did it so well and not one of the flags touched the ground as you raised all three of them.

Well done – you are a professional flag raiser obviously. You’ve done a splendid job.

So again, congratulations to all the school leaders who have been inducted today. Congratulations on your new splendid flag pole and good luck to your school and to all of you we have seen today who will clearly play a leadership role in the future of this community our state and our nation.

Thanks very much for having us along.

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