ANZAC Spirit School Prize

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:51): My question is to the Minister for Education. Can the minister update the house in relation to the 2019 Premier's ANZAC Spirit School Prize?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (14:51): I'm very pleased to have this question from the member for MacKillop, and hot off the press is some good news for some students in the electorate of MacKillop, which I will come to shortly.

I know that this is a prize that is supported by members right across this parliament. I'm sure that members across this parliament appreciate the opportunities that teachers in their schools give to students in their local areas to be able to participate in this prize, to engage with our service men and women, returned service men and women and, indeed, potentially historical service men and women, family members and others who have served our country so that they can better understand what the ANZAC spirit is and what it is to be a key part of Australian history, and to understand it.

This year, more than 1,000 years 9 and 10 students across South Australia took part in the ANZAC Spirit School Prize, and 16 of those students have been successfully chosen to participate in a 14-day study tour to Vietnam later this year. This is an opportunity for all 1,000 students to be able to undertake studies and do research on individual service men and women, soldiers and nurses, people who have given for our country and made sacrifices during those two significant conflicts in particular. Previously, it was World War I. During the centenary of ANZAC those were highlighted.

This year, the poster featured Sir Ross and Keith Smith, Wally Shiers and their other crew member in the centenary year, recognising their extraordinary flight across the world. That's relevant here, too, because 1919 was the year after the end of the First World War. One of the themes they were looking at was the way the nation recovered and the way the spirit of the nation was supported by the Prime Minister's prize offered for that trip around the world. That's one of the things students considered. Indeed, World War II subjects were also available.

I am really pleased also to note this year that the entries submitted by schools for judgement have been submitted to the RSL Virtual War Memorial to contribute to that. But on to the winners. I am really pleased that the member for MacKillop has asked the question. I can advise him that the Kingston Community School has provided two of our winners this year: India Little and William Wiseman. Indeed, the Meningie Area School has been honoured with Charli Medlows' performance, but members right across this chamber can be pleased with the performances of their local students.

We also congratulate Sophie Baker from the Central Yorke School, Melissa Campbell from Glenunga International High School, Laura Cassell from Xavier College, Matilda Cotton from Glenunga again, Lily Farrell from Loreto College in Marryatville, Montana Foster from the Wudinna Area School, Liam Kay from Cardijn College, Shreyas Khanna from St Peters College, Sophie Lipman from Loxton High School, Ryan Schwarz from Endeavour College, Elise Tutur from Roxby Downs Area School, Daisy Yates from Saint Martin’s Lutheran College in Mount Gambier and Tabitha Zdanowicz from the Loxton High School.

All these students are worthy of our congratulations, and I think that they will be joining all the previous students who have gone on this trip on 5 July when, at Ayres House, we will be holding a reception for many of those students who have undertaken those study tours. I think that it is going to be an amazing group of young South Australians who have done this work over the last decade and a half or so. Their research and their participation in the community have added to our state's understanding of ANZAC, but I think that this trip, and this prize in particular, is an aspirational opportunity for so many young people to give some thought to what this country has been built on over the last one hundred years of that ANZAC tradition and what feeds into that spirit.