Year 12 Exams

This statement is to the year 12s of the Perth electorate. I congratulate you on your achievement. Finishing high school is one of the hardest things you will do. That six years might feel like it was an eternity, because it was—the average tenure in a job in Australia today is just three years and four months. Across your working lifetime you will face challenges far bigger than anything we know today. You will face automation; some five million Australian jobs are due to be automated and eliminated from the economy over the next 10 to 15 years. You will face the impacts of climate change; every year since you were born the average annual temperature in Australia has been above the norm. And as you approach retirement this nation, Australia, will have practically doubled in size, with the ABS projecting that by 2026—by 2066, unless you're planning an early retirement—we will be an island of potentially some 49 million people.

This is a time to be excited. It's a time to be scared. It's also a time to remind yourself that you will have failures and setbacks in your life. That sucks, but sometimes it turns out for the best. Me, I did year 4 twice. So for anyone who had to repeat a year, a shout-out to you. It pays off in the end, and it's worth it. I was a December baby, the youngest in my class by a number of months, and I was falling behind. I repeated year 4 and I'm so glad I did, because it enabled me to get the grades to go and study aviation, which was my first passion before politics. For those of us who are thinking about TEE scores, I got 0.5 per cent less then I had set myself as a target, but, I'll tell you what, in a couple of years time no-one will care. No-one in parliament ever asks you what your ATAR was, and if you went around telling people they'd think you were a complete loser. When you find yourself at international conferences and things, people don't care what school you went to; they just care about what is in your heart and what is in your head.

I was also very lucky when I was at high school to have had a gentleman named Allan Blagaich as principal. Allan, or Mr Blagaich, is now the head of the education department's standards and, therefore, is in charge of your exams if you're doing your ATAR. You now know who to blame if you think that the test is unfair! Allan is a great guy. He was a brilliant school principal and he is a fantastic educational leader.

Finally, to the students of Aranmore Catholic College, Chisholm Catholic College, Cyril Jackson Senior Campus, Durham Road School, Hampton Senior High School, John Forrest Secondary College, Mercedes College, Morley Senior High School, Mount Lawley Senior High School, Perth College, Sir David Brand School, Trinity College and School of Isolated and Distance Education: good luck!