Thank you very much Bishop David Walker, Brother Tony Whelan, Mr Kevin Turner the Principal of the school, my friend and colleague Andrew Tink, Mr Adam Kirk, the President of the Parents and Friends Association, boys and girls and parents and other members of the school community. In a week that has taken me from Vietnam back to Australia and here to Epping, in the heart of my electorate, it is a reminder to me of what is really important in the life of an elected member of parliament and that is doing good things for the people of his electorate and I am very pleased to be at your school this morning to officially open if you...it looks pretty open to me at the present time, but officially sort of officiate this magnificent shade structure.
But also more importantly than that to pay tribute to the stoicism and the contribution of the Catholic education system of Australia, through the generations to the nurturing and education and the caring for of the young of our community. Many of you will of course know or have learnt from your parents or grandparents when there was a time when maintaining the Catholic education system in this country fell entirely on the shoulders of Catholic parents when no assistance at all was available from governments. Thankfully those days are decades behind us and we now totally and unconditionally embrace, and I assert it again to all of you today the fundamental principle of freedom of choice in education. It's an important Australian right that parents choose the type of education they think is good for their children, and having done that, it's the responsibility of governments and parent communities and teacher organisations to make sure that together that our children get the best possible education. Be it in a government school, and it was my privilege to be educated in the government sector in New South Wales and I always am in debt to the quality of education I received be it in the Catholic system or other Catholic schools or in other independent schools and I don't think there is a country in the world that more effectively exercises freedom of parental choice who does it better than Australia does and I am constantly amazed in my discussions with leaders of other countries that I think are very much the same as Australia, to realise that the level of freedom of choice and the level of government support in those countries is nowhere near as high as it is in Australia.
But to the local school community and a word to the girls and boys here, you are very lucky to go to this school, you have wonderful teachers, you have a dedicated parent community and it is a lovely locality in which to live and in which to grow up. I hope that this little shade structure provides you with plenty of protection, it will. The summer has started early, it's started very hot and I think it's a very, very practical thing for the school community to have asked for. It is the only project that the school community asked to be funded under our Investing In Our Schools program, and that program is sort of salami-sliced into bits and one of them is for little projects under $75,000 and this is one of them. There are bigger projects in other areas and Brother Whelan was kind enough to describe all the other ways in which the Government helps. But this is a gesture; this is a mark of our concern for the daily needs of local school communities. And can I finish by declaring it officially open and say how delighted I am to see so many parents here today because the strength of any school community as my wife and I found when our children were growing up and going to school, is very dependent upon parent involvement and where parent involvement is strong, the school is strong and where parent involvement and parent choice is strong, the children receive the right education according to the values and standards of their parents, and that is how it should be. And in that spirit I say thank you for having me and I declare the shade structure open and long may this school continue to provide a wonderful education according to the values and traditions of the Catholic Church and to raise young Australians to make a wonderful contribution to our nation. Thank you.
[ends]