MOUNT COMPASS AREA SCHOOL

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:43): I am pleased today in this matter of interest to put on the parliamentary public record what a good job the Mount Compass Area School is doing with Cows Create Careers, a program to train and develop young people and thus provide them with opportunities for full-time employment in the diverse area of the dairy industry.

My son Nick has been working with the school for several years now, and I want to congratulate the principal, the staff and all the volunteers who work with these students to give them the knowledge and capacity to make a decision on whether they would like to look at the dairy industry as a career, as well as the other industry sectors available to that school and other schools throughout the state. I see this as a good practical initiative. Particularly at Mount Compass, with the farm that the school has and their linkages through to TAFE, there are some wonderful opportunities for these young people to take on full diversification.

I was invited to the school with some other local people to assess the presentations at the end of the Cows Create Careers program. I was incredibly impressed with the presentations by these young people. It was a daunting task, with the principal and myself sitting there listening to their presentations, and, through an initiative of the school, also to have their parents attend. I was pleased to see on every occasion that the parents attended to listen to their children's presentations.

It was very comprehensive. It went through the history of dairy cows and, particularly with our own calves going to the school, the history of Jersey cows. All these students were involved over the three weeks in rearing these calves, in weighing them, in working with my son and others in the direct farming area of the dairy industry, at the local vet practice and right through to value adding parts of the dairy industry into Alexandrina Cheese Company at Mount Jagged towards Victor Harbor and other companies as well.

I commend these young students on their commitment to this initiative. I commend the school. Mount Compass Area School is providing some really good education, in my opinion, for students in our district, and a lot of this is to do with the commitment of the principal, his leadership and the commitment of the staff there as well. I will not name them on the public record, but one of the teachers whom I know very well volunteers to come to our dairy even on the weekend to pick up the milk and go and feed those calves. These are the unsung heroes who do so much more for education than often the department recognises. I can assure them that our local community recognises and appreciates their commitment to young people's futures.

I want to congratulate Mustapha, Danielle, Courtney, Billy and Mitchell on their effort, and I ask to be forgiven if there are any others that I missed. I know that some of these students will not take a career in dairying, but at least they have had a chance to learn more about the dairy industry and a chance to practically, as well as in theory, see more openly the opportunities for their career paths into the future.

I notice with particular interest Mustapha. I happen to know his relatives. He and his parents and siblings have not been in Australia all that long from Lebanon, but they have embraced the school and embraced the community. I was impressed by all the presentations, but I want to particularly commend Mustapha, because he even put a PowerPoint presentation onto a DVD for us, which I am keeping with a lot of pride. I was simply amazed by these middle school children and their capacity. I commend them, I encourage them and I also strongly encourage the school to keep up this very good program.