St Bernard State School

Principal, Ms Hoskins; staff and students, thank you for your very warm welcome.

I too, would like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we gather and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging and any First Nations people here today.

I’m so pleased to be able to visit you today. I believe you’ve had a few quite exciting visits of late, including from the Gold Coast Titans recently.

I know things have been pretty tough for many of you since the Christmas storms so it is wonderful to see the community getting behind you.

Fortunately, one of the great things about living in Queensland is that one of the things we do best is support each other in times of adversity.

Supporting and acknowledging Queenslanders is certainly an important part of my role as Governor, and one that I consider quite a privilege.

Before coming here today, I visited the Gold Coast Disaster Management and Emergency Centre, where I had the opportunity to meet and thank many of the wonderful frontline emergency services personnel, lifeguards, SES volunteers and members of our Australian Defence Force who jumped into action over the Christmas – New Year period to help with the storm recovery efforts. I’m sure many of you and your families were very grateful for their assistance.

On behalf of all Queenslanders, I thanked everyone in that room for displaying the characteristics we value most as a community – courage, altruism, and of putting others before ourself.

These are also qualities we look for in our leaders, and I must congratulate your School Leaders Miette, Kaliah, Lola and Amity on being awarded that important responsibility this year.

It is indeed an honour to be chosen as a leader.

It is also a wonderful opportunity for you to make a positive difference and, perhaps more importantly, help others develop their potential as leaders, too.

If you look around, you will also see that an important part of leadership is surrounding yourself with friends, teachers, parents, carers and mentors who support and encourage you, too.

It is clear to me, that at St Bernard State School, you have many great mentors and role models to aspire to.

You only need to look at the wonderful efforts of Mr Reed, and his army of teachers, parents and volunteers who all worked tirelessly to make sure your school was storm-ready to see leadership in action.

Remember, no matter your age – whether you’re in Prep or Year 6 – you all have the potential to lead.

Spending time with someone who really needs it, sharing good ideas, helping others, volunteering your time, trying new things or making sacrifices for others – these are all wonderful ways to demonstrate leadership.

It makes me very excited and proud as Governor to have the opportunity to come and visit you at your school and get to know more about you, as the future leaders of our State. I hope that one day perhaps you can visit me at Government House in Brisbane, which is where I live and work – but it is also a special place I share with the people of Queensland.

I have actually brought with me a book that tells you a little more about it, called ‘A Place For All Queenslanders’ that I would like to read to you now.