House of Assembly Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3) 51 3 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Grievance Debate Schools SCHOOLS Mr BIGNELL House of Assembly Mawson Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (16:26): This is a great time of year to be a local member of parliament because we get to spend a lot more time in our schools than we do in here. There are 17 schools in and around the electorate of Mawson. Mr Pengilly interjecting: Mr BIGNELL House of Assembly Mr BIGNELL: The behaviour is better in the schools than in here sometimes, I might add. Over the past few weeks, as I am sure a lot of other members in this place have done, I have been attending valedictory nights, speech nights and nights where schools have farewelled their year 12 students and wished them well as they go out into the big brave world. Those nights are always filled with such hope and reflection, as the students look back on their high school and primary school years and as they look forward to getting jobs, going to university or continuing on in the trades that they are studying. Now is a great time to be leaving school. In the last few years, with unemployment levels in South Australia at record lows, there is great confidence among school leavers about getting jobs. As we look with caution at what is happening around us in the wider world and the world economy, we hope that South Australia can remain, to a certain extent, insulated from the worldwide global downturn and economic crisis. Beginning at the end of this week, and into next week and the following week, we will see a lot of grade 7 graduations in the electorate, which are also great nights. It is fantastic to hear the grade 7s speak about their goals and what they want to go on and study at university. A few years ago in some of the schools, in areas like Hackham West and Hackham South, they were not even speaking about going on to study at university, but that is their goal now and it is a fantastic testament to the great teachers, principals and other leaders that we have at our schools. The Rann government is right behind the teachers, principals and schools in this state. You would not understand that from listening to the education union. The education union is in a grab for power at the moment. As a government, we care about the students and the education that these kids get. That is why each year we are spending $12,000 per government school student to make sure that these students leave primary school and then high school with the very best possible education they can get. The union, on the other hand, is all about getting more pupil-free days, which is going down very badly with parents like myself. Parents of kids at government schools are against more student-free days. The union wants more time out of the classroom and, of course, it wants about $2 billion over three years in extra wages. Some teachers out there are becoming disillusioned with their union and they do not agree with the claims that are being made. One of the other great things about this time of year is the Premier's Reading Challenge, and going around to all the schools and handing out the certificates, bronze medals, silver medals, gold medals and, this year, for the very first time, champion medals to those students who have been doing the Premier's Reading Challenge for five years. This year, 106,000 students are doing the Premier's Reading Challenge. That is up about 10,000 on last year. I congratulate all those students who have done the Premier's Reading Challenge this year, and over previous years, because I know how much of a sense of fulfilment they get out of doing it, and they love getting the certificates and medals. Last week, I was at the Hackham East Primary School. One of the good things about visiting the schools is that the students usually put on some sort of display for visiting members of parliament. So, you get to hand out the awards and then you get to see what the students have been doing during the year. Hackham East has a boys' choir with 40 boys. As most people would know, once primary school boys get into grade 5, 6 and 7, they are not necessarily keen on joining the choir. But at Hackham East they are joining in record numbers this year, and part of it is due to a New Zealand family (three brothers) who have taught the other 40 students how to do the haka. I saw them do the haka—it was fantastic—and they sang a few songs. Given the Premier's Kiwi heritage, I have invited the students here tomorrow. They will come to the Balcony Room and perform the haka and sing a few songs for the Premier and also for you, Madam Deputy Speaker, as the member for Reynell, because I know that a lot of students from your electorate attend Hackham East Primary. The Minister for the Southern Suburbs and the Minister for Education will be there. I commend the students at Hackham East, and all the schools that have welcomed us to hand out awards and show us the great work that they have been doing.