Subjects: 'Youth at the Centre'; social coalition.
E&OE.............................
Well thank you very much Kay, Kevin Lingard, the State Member for Beaudesert, the Mayor, ladies and gentlemen.
This is a wonderful example of something that I have talked a great deal about in the time that I have been prime minister, and that is the notion of what I call a social coalition. And that is where you recognise that the only way you're going to get anything done is for everybody to work together in a co-operative way at a local level with each person, or each group contributing what they can do best. TheGgovernment has a role, the local community has a role, public spirited and philanthropic individuals have a role and organisations that have a speciality in getting things done also have a role.
And if you look at the ingredients of the 'Youth at the Centre' project, you find all of those things present. You find that the Commonwealth Government contributed $200,000 out of the Stronger Families and Community project in order to provide some capital for the setting up of 'Youth at the Centre'. And that was augmented by a contribution of $50,000 from the foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal and that is a foundation established by probably the greatest philanthropic family Australia's ever seen and that is the Myer family. That money comes, originally out of the Sydney Myer Trust. Then of course you had this magnificent community and of course spearheaded by the energy of young people. They're joined by their peers and their colleagues from all around Australia today, but the driving force behind this particular project which stands behind me. I understand it's been sold to the local school and I'll come back to that in a moment. But having been inside and having observed the view, I think there'll be an application to the Queensland Education Department to shift the school up to here rather than shift this magnificent building down to the school. And then on top of that and you've heard quite a bit about it from the previous speakers, there has been the fantastic support from local businessmen and women from all of the local communities and as I look out on this audience everybody's here, in this beautiful Queensland afternoon, everybody's here. I mean you've got the young people, you've got the service organisations, you've got the people who care for the disadvantaged, you've got the mayor, you've got the businessmen and women, you've got my magnificent colleague Kay Elson who's about the most energetic representative in any federal electorate, any where in Australia could possibly have.
And you've all come together to make a statement about the importance of retaining young people in rural and regional Australia. Now as a person who spent his young days growing up in the suburbs of Sydney, I can understand the sense of despair that people feel when their young people think they have no alternative but to leave the community they've grown up in. And I understand the desire of so many local communities to try and reverse that trend. And a lot of things can bring about a reversal of that. A lot of things can . you have better economic conditions, you have lower interest rates and all of those things that we talk about quite properly in the national political debate, they're very important. But another thing that is very important is for every local community to have a sense of its own capacity to make a difference and to make a contribution. And what is so remarkable about this project and this concept run by an organisation magnificently called, can I say, Bank of Ideas, I think that's a wonderful description for any organisation, I wish .you know I think there'll be a lot of people Mr O'Meara who would have wished they had thought of that name long before you or whoever it was who thought it because it is in a way is what the future is all about. If you have a bank of ideas you will always find a solution to problems and a solution to challenges. And I really do want to congratulate the young people of Boonah. I want to congratulate the young people of Australia who are associated with this project.
I have little doubt that the current generation of the young people of this country are as well equipped to make a contribution, in many ways better equipped, to make a contribution than previous generations of their age cohort. They face different challenges. Thankfully they'll never have to face the challenge of war as earlier generations of young Australians had to do. But they have other challenges. And the important thing is that we all feel part of one community. Australians have a great capacity as we colloquially call it, to pitch in and get something done because we can all work together. We're better at working together than any other country in the world because we've had to do so from the very beginning. We faced distance, we had small populations and we had to try and cope with those problems. And because we're a relatively classless, egalitarian society we don't have any difficulty at all working together no matter what our different backgrounds may be. And that is why you get projects like this that are so enormously successful.
So I am really quite touched by the enthusiasm of all of these young people and this magnificent structure put up in two or three days - incredible, great view as I said and it will make a great contribution. I understand you've struck a bargain with the local school, get $25,000, I am very happy to say we'll match that $25,000 from the Federal Government, so there'll be another $25,000 on top of that to go into the local foundation.
But it's the concept that's involved here that is so terrific. This is a concept about people grabbing hold of their own, making their own opportunities. I was asked this morning on radio just before I came up to Queensland, I did a radio interview in Sydney and the interviewer said, you know just before you go are you going to tell us about the sort of things that you think are in important for the future of our country. And I said well I'd like to see a country where people are given plenty of choice, they're given plenty of incentive, they're encouraged to be self-reliant. And being self-reliant is a very important thing. We've always had to be self-reliant in this community of ours and we're very good at it and you've seen a wonderful example on display. And of course I also said we had to be a community that cared for those who are less fortunate and those who are disadvantaged. And you put those four things together and you drape all your future actions around those sorts of values and I think we'll get most things as a community right.
I have great optimism about Australia's future. Tremendous optimism. And an occasion like this just sends that optimism even higher because I'm warmed by the enthusiasm of the young. I am warmed by the generous support of the local business community. I am encouraged and enthused by the way in which community leaders have got behind this project. But most importantly of all it's always an inspiration to look out on a group of Australians, different backgrounds, different views, different interests, but all coming together to achieve a common objective for the betterment of their local community. And I think that's fantastic and if 'Youth at the Centre' is about that then it has my and my government's total support.
Thank you.
[Ends]