Reception for the Training and Education Sector

Former Governor, Ms Leneen Forde; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen. Kaye and I are delighted to welcome you all tonight to Fernberg as we continue to show our unstinting support to Queensland’s illuminatingly transformative and uplifting education and training sectors.

When I was very young I would see my parents go off to work and I would hear their stories when they came home. Like many of you, they were teachers. And so I have grown up with the very greatest of respect and admiration for those who work in education.

It is one of the most challenging areas in which to work – with long hours and many demands, but it is also one of the most important.

It is through education that people’s lives are transformed.

Every one of you here has a story of that ‘light bulb moment’ in the classroom. Or when you finally got through to a student who had been hitherto unreachable.  

These stories deserve celebration.

I hope that today you will enjoy the hospitality of Government House and take the opportunity to share those stories with each other.

I am honoured to see so many people here from the different facets of training and education – from early education providers and children’s festivals; to primary and secondary schools; to teacher, school and Parents and Friends associations; from the tertiary, TAFE and training sectors; from our government agencies; and there are representatives from lifelong learning and adult education facilities, research and development institutes, and our major cultural institutions. 

Your daily experiences are very different from each other. But whatever your area and whatever your position, you share a commitment to excellence, and to the students and Queenslanders whom you seek to educate, thereby ensuring the future of this State.

I myself have had the privilege of experiencing first-hand the benefits of different sectors – state and private; regional and metro; primary, secondary and tertiary – and the lessons I have learned remain with me. 

From Longreach State School as a young boy (and a School to which Kaye and I will return later this month as part of Regional Government House), to Ithaca Creek State School, to Albert Park State School in Maryborough, then to Churchie and on to UQ – each institution, each teacher, has had a profound influence on my life. 

When I was at Ithaca Creek State School, just up the road from here, I didn’t say to myself, “One day I will return to the area and live up there, at Fernberg, in the ‘people’s house’.”

But that is the true power of education. That is the true power of the choices that become possible through education.

And it is thanks to all of you that this power is put in the hands and minds of the students in your care.

It is an incredible responsibility.

And alongside the students and parents of Queensland, I thank you all for the tireless efforts you make and the dedication you display to help our young people create their futures.

We are in your debt. Thank you.