Tuesday, 18 March 2025

 Ella GEORGE (Lara) (13:00): Last week I attended a leadership panel with year 12 students at Lara Secondary College, which was organised by Petra Youssef, the school’s incredible personal development teacher. The students had been focusing on leadership and prepared some tough questions for me. It was a thought-provoking session, highlighting the maturity and thoughtfulness of this wonderful group of students. Questions were really varied and covered things from ‘Do you have any advice for young women in leadership?’ to a question from Ethan, who asked, ‘What is your leadership vision?’ It is safe to say I was kept on my toes and I thoroughly enjoyed connecting with this incredibly bright group of students. I left feeling safe that our next generation of leaders are certainly thinking ahead for their futures and about their vision for the Lara community. One highlight of our discussion was talking about election commitments, and I asked students what election commitment they would make if they were running Parliament? Their responses included more bus routes and bus stops, a basketball stadium for the Lara Giants and more than one student said they would promise to build a KFC in Lara. Thank you to all the students who participated for your respect and maturity throughout these sessions but most importantly for sharing with me your views, thoughts and visions for our local community.

While I was at Lara Secondary I caught up on the latest news from the new rugby academy. The Lara rugby team had their first game last week, and I am proud to tell the Parliament that Lara beat Narre Warren 56–7. It is wonderful to see the rugby academy thriving. Now in its second year, it is attracting even more students to have a go at rugby.