Speech - Schools Plus Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards

Thank you and welcome to Parliament House.

I begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners and custodians of the lands on which we meet and pay my respects to Elders, past and present.

I would also like to acknowledge:

•    MPs and Senators
•    CEO of Schools Plus Sherrill Nixon
•    Schools Plus Pioneers – David Gonski, John Grill, John Fairfax and Roger Massey-Greene
•    Commonwealth Bank Head of Community Investment Nathan Barker
•    And other distinguished guests here tonight.

And I want to really congratulate the 22 teachers being recognised tonight, out of 320 shortlisted for these awards.

And I want to thank the Commonwealth Bank, Salesforce and other sponsors for supporting these awards and Schools Plus for organising and hosting them.  

I have told you the story before when I spoke at these awards about the first thing I did when I got this job.

How I went back to my old Primary School and gave my former teacher Mrs Fry a hug.

She is still there.

She has been teaching at Cabramatta Public School now for almost 50 years.

What I didn’t tell you is this.

While I was at primary school Mrs Fry was in a car accident.

A really bad one.

It was during the Christmas school holidays.

It put her in a coma.

A priest administered her the last rites.

Both her legs were broken.

And her hips.

Her spleen was ruptured.

Her lungs collapsed.

She was in and out of hospital for the next three years.

She still has partial paralysis on one side.

Why am I telling you this?

Because when she regained consciousness, the first thing she asked the doctors was, “will I be out in time for the start of school?”

Cathy Fry is no ordinary person.

And this is no ordinary job.

It’s why she is still there.

And why you are here.

Like a lot of teachers in the 1970s, Cathy got a Commonwealth Teaching Scholarship.

It got her through university. And got her started.

This year we’ve brought those scholarships back.

They are worth up to 40 grand each.

About 1,000 Australians have got one of these scholarships this year.

One of those is Hugo.

Hugo was at high school last year.

This year he is studying at the Queensland University of Technology to become a music and fine arts teacher.

He is helped by that scholarship, but the real reason he is there is because of his teachers.

These are Hugo’s words:

“I had the privilege of being taught by a new music teacher who was far more than just an instructor. He genuinely cared for his students, supported their aspirations, and made their dreams his top priority. His dedication and commitment left a lasting impact on me, and from that moment, I knew I wanted to follow in his footsteps.”

That’s the sort of power that exists in this room.

This year we have seen a jump in the number of people enrolling in a lot of teaching courses across the country.

People like Hugo.

But the biggest jump has been in people doing the Masters Degree. People switching careers.

People like Dev Tiwari from Katharine High School who we are celebrating tonight.

Dev’s previous roles include a case manager at a humanitarian organisation, and a consultant at Nous.

Now he is a Deputy Principal.

This is what Dev has said about what he does now:

“You have the chance to be directly contributing to Australia’s future. While you may think you will ‘just’ be an educator of three-four classes, you are part of a massive team that has the capacity to shape Australia’s social and economic prosperity.”

This is so right.

That’s why this is the most important job in the world.

Because the power you have to change, not just the lives of your students, but the lives their families will have, the sort of communities they will live in, the sort of country we become.  

This is what we are celebrating tonight.

That’s who we are celebrating tonight.

Nation changers.

About 20 years ago, I saw an ad on a New York subway train.

It was a teacher recruitment ad. It said:

“You remember your first-grade teacher’s name. Who will remember yours?”

I remember Cathy.

People will remember Hugo.

And they will most definitely remember you Dev.

And everyone we are here to honour tonight.

Thank you for everything you do.

It is a privilege to share this stage with you tonight.