Canterbury Boys High School Prefects Investiture

Ms LINDA BURNEY (Canterbury—Minister for Fair Trading, Minister for Youth, and Minister for Volunteering) [5.53 p.m.]: I speak tonight as the member for Canterbury but also in my capacity as Minister for Youth. On 12 September I attended the investiture of school prefects at Canterbury Boys High School, which is an event that I attend every year and which I look forward to the most of any of my engagements. The ceremony fills everyone present—officials, parents, teachers and students alike—with a great deal of pride in the vitality, diversity and identity of the Canterbury area. Lesley Mitton is the Principal of Canterbury Boys High School, and she provides fantastic leadership and instils a great deal of pride in the boys at the school. David Springbett has been the prefects coordinator for several years and does a wonderful job. He obviously has a great rapport with the many prefects who have passed through Canterbury Boys High School.

The evening was made particularly special by the contribution of Feras Karem, who was school captain in 1995. He made a touching speech to the outgoing 2007 and the new 2008 prefects. The outgoing school captains, Joel Campbell and Manaf Al Momani, headed an outstanding prefect body. They spoke about teamwork and the inspiring individual journeys of the 2008 prefects. These young men who are about to enter adulthood also spoke to their parents, teachers and peers about truth and honour. That bodes well for the future. They explained to the assembled young gentlemen that the experience of being school captains, vice-captains and prefects will change them forever. Matthew Brown, a year 10 student representative council member, made an inspiring speech about worthy leadership.

The 2008 school captains, Saif Al Momani, who is the brother of Manaf, and Mark Healey also made inspiring speeches. They told the story of a donkey that was knocked down seven times and got to its feet each time and used that as an analogy for leadership in the school. The Canterbury Boys High School prefects for 2008 are Mark Healey, Saif Al Momani, Brenald Kumar, Shane Lo, Shahzad Jamal, Nikola Saisau, Osamah Anwer, John Lagounaris, John Kortikis, Vi Van Sze, Roger Amacha, Peter Pham, Zack Tran, Michael Perelini, Sonny Satuala and Cang Huynh. The evening concluded fittingly with a wonderful musical item by Sonny Satuala, Nikola Saisau, Taumara Aukino, David Palu and Tesimoni Taufa.