Queensland Overseas Foundation 2024 Awards

Speaker and Member for Mulgrave, the Honourable Curtis Pitt MP; Queensland Overseas Foundation Chair, Mr Geoff Favell and the Board of Governors; industry partners and sponsors; scholarship and bursary awardees, your family and friends; distinguished guests.

We come together for this significant awards ceremony in the Premier’s Hall here at Queensland’s Parliament House on the Traditional Lands of the Turrbal and Jagera people, and here, I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and to any First Nations people with us this evening.

I am proud to be Patron of the Queensland Overseas Foundation, as a wholly voluntary, not-for-profit organisation, driven by an enthusiastic and highly professional Board of Governors, supported by many of you here tonight, our generous and community committed, industry partners and sponsors.

The Foundation provides a unique opportunity for our highest achieving trainees, apprentices and VET graduates, along with mid-career trainers, to look beyond the comfort of the familiar and prepare for the challenges that lie ahead. 

I congratulate this year’s Scholarship Winner and Bursary Awardees as you embark on what I trust will be a life changing career journey.

We look forward to you returning to Queensland enriched with what your international experience will have provided both culturally and professionally.

These scholarships and awards encourage all recipients to look beyond the horizon and open themselves to a world of opportunity. This is the challenge the Queensland Overseas Foundation has laid before you – to seize this opportunity; to continue to develop and to seek excellence in your personal and professional life.

If you succeed in this, you will have fully justified the confidence the Foundation has in you, and Queensland will be a significant beneficiary.

As proud Patron of the Queensland Overseas Foundation, I thank the Board of Governors for selecting another inspiring young group of Queenslanders whose talent and drive give me every confidence our future is in good hands.

You are fine ambassadors for our State and on behalf of all Queenslanders, I extend my congratulations to you on your achievements and wish you all the best for your future endeavours. I will be following along with interest!

I also extend my gratitude towards the corporate, vocational education and training partners and sponsors for your continuing efforts in support of this excellent initiative, which brings so many benefits to Queenslanders and to Queensland.

Thank you.