Stuart Park Primary, Darwin Middle, graduation, museum, pharmacy, carols, Haileybury, Rotary, Alana Kaye, VET, Flinders medical, complementary pathways, Starlight SuperSwim.
Dr RAHMAN (Fong Lim): Mr Deputy Speaker, December seems a long time away, but wonderful things happened between December and now in my community that I took part in and which I must mention today.
Stuart Park Primary School is a wonderful place to spend time. My favourite thing to do every year is participate in the school’s music assembly at the end of November. That is closely followed by its Year 6 graduation, which is a super fun event that I loved attending on 1 December. Stuart Park Primary is turning 60 this year, so it will be a big year. I look forward to being a part of a range of activities over the course of the year.
People are graduating school apace in December. It was wonderful to be alongside my colleague the Member for Fannie Bay on 2 December at the Darwin Middle School graduation, which was fantastic with excellent musical and dance performances.
Likewise—a theme is emerging—with my team Darwin colleagues, the Members for Fannie Bay and Port Darwin, it was great to be at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory on 28 November, where we saw a fantastic exhibition, Tracy’s Echo: 50 Years of Resilience. It was also lovely to see there— Mr Deputy Speaker, as I am sure you will appreciate—the Waters Ward Darwin City Councillors. I had a lovely time catching up with them about all the things we have in common and look forward to accomplishing for the electorate over the course of the year.
I am delighted that a lot of us could attend the National Pharmacy Awards of the Northern Territory auspiced by the Pharmacy Guild on 4 December. I extend my gratitude to Peter Hatswell the president and to Keely Quinn for being such great hosts to me and the Members for Fannie Bay and Drysdale—I am forgetting one more. We had a fantastic time. It was great to celebrate Elijah Callis, the NT Student Pharmacist of the Year—what a powerhouse that guy is—and, likewise, Hibiscus Day & Night Pharmacy, a compounding pharmacy and the Community Pharmacy of the Year. I think we all know how important community pharmacies are and to have ones of that calibre is extremely important.
On 7 December it was pure joy and delight, albeit at smaller scale, to play a small part of the program in the 50th anniversary of the City of Darwin Carols by Candlelight celebration. It is a joy for me to be a part of that, in any small part. Although it would have been lovely to have the 50th anniversary with 8,000 people in the amphitheatre, it was still great to have 3,000 in and around the Waterfront and the Convention Centre. To Nora Lewis AM, who I am predisposed and slightly biased towards, as I think everyone knows, and Captain Natalie Dajski who led the band of the 1st Brigade so ably, thank you so much for letting me be a part of it. It is lovely when all of us can get out and about in the community and flex our wares in different capacities, whether it is making team of the decade like the Member for Fannie Bay—I could go on; there are lots of people we could shout out to in that regard.
I love attending the Haileybury Rendall School Celebration of Excellence. On 9 December I did so again alongside the minister for Education and the Member for Gwoja. Hats off to all involved for the many books that we hand out at that ceremony. It is great that hard copy books are still given as prizes to kids. I tell you what: a library’s worth of books are given away at that ceremony, and so they should be because in addition to phenomenal music and entertainment, exceptional academic results are coming out of that place, as the Chief Minister alluded to in her adjournment.
It would be impossible to try to name all the people who performed out of their socks, but I was pleased to get to know a lot of the kids at Haileybury over the last year in relation to their advocacy on their petition on the Berrimah Road duplication and by just getting out there. I look forward to having some time in the classroom with kids at Haileybury over the course of this year.
I extend my gratitude to Principal Andrew McGregor and CEO Derek Scott, both of whom are great advocates for the independent school sector but also do a huge amount to support our public school system. Haileybury does phenomenal over-recruiting, quite frankly, in providing teachers to that school, and a lot of them end up in our public school system as well. Their social impact and their community impact—it is a fantastic school led by fantastic people, and I am privileged to be a part of their community.
On 11 December it was great as always to get down to the Rotary Club of Darwin. You will not find a finer collection of Hawaiian shirts in the Northern Territory than if you attend a Rotary Club of Darwin meeting.
Jokes aside, club members were great supporters of mine as a kid. They provided me with many great educational opportunities, so it is wonderful to go back and share a meal, say a few words and contribute something in the thought space. I am particularly grateful to John Brears, who is active in my Fong Lim electorate, and Peter Hopton, who is another great contributor to civic life in the Northern Territory, for inviting me repeatedly to come back and say a few words.
On 12 December it was great to work under the auspices of the minister for Education alongside the Minister for International Education, Migration and Population and the Leader of the Opposition at the Alana Kaye College graduation. Our VET sector is important, and the graduates we are pushing through VET are often not recognised in the same way as university graduates. It was wonderful to recognise the connections with the Philippines, the support network surrounding that and all the people who contribute towards providing a sustainable and durable workforce and labour supply in the NT by providing vocational education and training programs.
Having said that, as you all know, I am something of a university-phile, so it was wonderful to be part of the Flinders University medical students’ graduation the following day, alongside the Minister for Health and the minister for Education, under the auspices of the ministers for Education and International Education, Migration and Population—albeit hiding in the background, not in an official capacity, I think. It was probably in an official capacity—my bad. All of us were there celebrating and watching a huge new class of people take the physician’s oath together. That is a wonderful moment, seeing an incoming cohort all saying together that they have chosen a vocation and a path of service.
We know how desperately we need doctors, nurses and allied healthcare workers in the Northern Territory to build a sustainable social and economic future, opportunity and prosperity for all. Flinders is playing a critical role in that regard and has been for some time. It will be great in coming years to be at graduations for CDU having a program in its own right.
Speaking of the healthcare workforce, I allude to the fact that on 27 November I spoke in adjournment briefly about my motivation for coming to parliament and my link with migration policy work in the past, complementary pathways and utilisation of the federal skilled refugee labour agreement. On 20 December and again last Saturday, 31 January, it warmed my heart to welcome at the airport 10 new Territorians who have come to live in Darwin and who are now, I am pleased to say, starting work in our healthcare and correctional services systems, supporting nursing and pharmacy. There are also five kids, a couple of whom just started preschool and two who have gone into high school. It will be great, and I cannot wait to bring them here and have you all meet them soon. I hope that in time they will be joined by others.
I cannot say enough how grateful I am to the Minister for Health and the Minister for International Education, Migration and Population for allowing, in my assistant ministry capacity, to continue work in earnest on that fledgling program.
This is the month of the Starlight Super Swim. On behalf of team Darwin, the Members for Fannie Bay and Port Darwin, I encourage you all to join us in our quest to raise the $4,000 we have targeted, but it might be more, and 40 kilometres, which might be more. Please join our collective effort to raise money for sick children. It is a wonderful cause and a great time of year to get in the pool. I look forward to fundraising and participating in more community events together going forward.