Subjects: education, Centenary of Federation.
E&OE..................
Students and teachers,
I would first of all like to thank the Plenty Valley Christian School for inviting me here. It is a magnificent view and I can imagine that people's attention might wander during assemblies. It's certainly a great part of the world.
I always like when I visit somebody's electorate, I always like the opportunity to visit a school or a university or a TAFE college which gives me the opportunity for a few moments to talk to young men and women whose future is very much in front of them. And particularly a group like this, you'll be studying for the VCE which is a very important exam, in a very important year for people within the Victorian education system. And the world that you're going to go into, is a world that in one sense is possessed of opportunities and avenues and openings that didn't exist thirty or forty years ago, and the variety of careers that are now available to people are much greater than what they used to be. But in other respects the world, because it's undergoing so much change is perhaps a little less predictable and a little less secure that what it was. And therefore the importance of education and also the importance of having a value system for your future life is even greater now than what it might have been several generations ago.
We live in a world where change and the impact of change is quite unavoidable and what we have to do as a community is to try and manage the change that is important and valuable and unavoidable, but also hang onto certain things from our past which provide us with anchorage and points of reference. And that is why your parents have chosen a particular environment in which you are to be educated. And one of the cornerstones of our education system is to give parents choice in the type of education their children should receive, and they've elected in your case to have you educated at a christian community school.
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And we support that choice very strongly and in a free and open society we believe parental choice is absolutely paramount when it comes to education. And we have in Australia one of the best mixtures of public and private provision of education, perhaps the best that can be found anywhere in the world.
As you know, we're celebrating this year the Centenary of the Federation of Australia and it is a time for all of us to look back on what this country has done and achieved. And when you look back on a century of nationhood, you look at the achievements and the successes and the values that have come through, but you also recognise that errors have been made, and things could have been done better than they were, and that part of the lesson of looking back is to make certain that some of the errors and the failures of the future are not repeated.
Australia has been a magnificent example of an open, tolerant country. It's been an example of a country that's welcomed people from all around the world and we have treated them as part of our community. It's been a country which is now seen increasingly around the world as something of an example. I certainly have found as the Prime Minister of Australia in my dealings with leaders of other countries since the Olympic Games last year, what a tremendously positive image that left about what a modern, vibrant, successful, cohesive country Australia really was. And the moral leadership that Australia displayed just over a year ago in helping the people of East Timor, has also left a very powerful impression on the rest of the world. So there's a lot as we celebrate this year of the Centenary of Federation. There is a lot that we should be proud of in relation to the Australian community.
But of course there remain a lot of big social challenges. The challenges of drug abuse, the challenges of family breakdown, the challenges of violence within relationships. They are things that do remain very significant social challenges. We have them of course in common with societies all around the world. No society in the world is immune and no section of any society is immune from those sorts of challenges. And one of the responsibilities of the education system is to bring younger people to an understanding of the reality that those things exist, but also to equip them with the attitude and the value system that enables them to ensure that it is not something that affects their lives.
Your relationship with your teachers is very important. Teachers are a very important part of the life of young people and never underestimate the impact they have on your lives and never underestimate the commitment that teachers have to the wellbeing of their students. I think teachers represent a very noble profession within the Australian community and a profession that has a very, an enduring impact on the lives of the people that they deal with.
I want to wish all of you well. You are embarked upon a very important phase of your life and I do hope it is successful. - 3 -
I do hope that each of you achieves what you want to in your final years at school, and I hope all of you have the opportunity of choosing and winning the careers that you will hope. Some of you will be disappointed. Inevitably I hope not many and those that might be disappointed the first time, I hope that you will come back and try again. Because persistence and continuing to try even though you may not make it at the beginning, is very much part of succeeding in life. I said to the kindergarten, and I said to another group of school students that I addressed in Gippsland yesterday, that if I could leave a student body of your age with one piece of advice if I may, and that is to always try and find in a relationship you have, either with an individual or even with a group of people that you may not necessarily have a lot in common with, always try and find something positive about that person or about that group of people. If you try hard enough you can normally find something positive about, just about everybody you meet. I know it's a lot harder with some than it is with others, but if you try hard enough and think about it long enough you can normally find something in a person that is positive and is to that person's credit. And that's not only important for that person's happiness, because if somebody's treated well they react in a very positive fashion. But it is also very important for your own happiness and contentment. The happiest people I've met in my life are the people who have positive views and think the best of everybody they come into contact with. The most miserable, disgruntled people I have ever met in my life are those whose instantaneous reaction is to put somebody down and to grizzle about them, and to find fault.
Now you may think it's a piece of simplistic advice. Some of you may even think it is a little trite, it's neither. It happens to be absolutely true. Because by having a positive attitude towards people you relate to, you not only give them something but you also give yourself something and that is far greater enjoyment of life and far greater self fulfillment.
Cherish the education you receive at this school. Thank your parents for the choice that they have exercised to send you here and I wish all of you the very best of good luck in the years ahead.
Thank you.
[Ends]