Australian Education Awards 2026 Opening Address

I feel like I've got the best job in the world, but you've got the most important. And that's why I did this. This is an advertising campaign that we ran three years ago, right around the country, telling the stories of teachers like Kerri-Ann.

And the impact that you have. How you don't just teach us to read and write and count. They help us to be braver, to be stronger, to believe in ourselves.

That's a superpower. That's what I want more people to want to be, to want to do, to be that teacher. The first thing I did when I got this job was I went back to my old primary school and gave Mrs Fry a hug.

Cathy Fry taught me in Year 1. And she's still at there, teaching Year 1, 48 years later. I did that for a reason.

I wanted to show what I think is important, who I think is important. And how that guides everything I do as Minister. When I was in 2nd grade, Mrs Fry wasn't there for a while.

What I didn’t know at the time was she had been 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. Guess what the first thing she said was when she regained consciousness?

“Will I be out in time for the start of school?” Cathy is no ordinary person. And this is no ordinary job. You don’t need me to tell you that, but I want you know that you don’t just change the lives of the children you teach.

You change of the kids the kids they will have. And the community we are and the country we can become. Because if they finish school, their kids are more likely to finish school too.

And for every child who stop you and says thank you, there are thousands more who think it. About 20 years ago, I was on subway train in New York. And I saw an ad.

A really simple ad. Black background, white writing. “You remember your first-grade teacher’s name.

Who will remember yours?” I remember Mrs Fry. And they will remember you. Congratulations to everyone we will soon see up here.

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