CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr HAMILTON (Groom) (16:54): The new member for Bass, I can reveal to the parliament, is a Tolkien nerd who, like me, spent far too much of her youth reading big books. I found this out today at the Parliamentary Friends of Children's Literacy, a very important parliamentary friendship group. I thank the new member for Bass, and Senators Duniam and Tyrrell, for organising the event.

It's an important topic, and we need to talk about just how much this matters to Australia's future and to our families. At the event, a young girl from my electorate, Charlotte, got up and spoke. She did a fantastic job, and I said to her, 'If you write a two-minute speech for me, I'll give it this afternoon.' She did it, so I'm going to give it.

Imagine me as a 14-year-old girl from Toowoomba. Charlotte writes: Hello, my name is Charlotte. I'm 14 years old, and I live in Toowoomba.

I am here today because reading changed my life, and because it should be able to change every child's life, not just mine. When I was born, I was very unwell, and later I was diagnosed as profoundly dyslexic. Reading didn't come easily for me at all.

But I had something many children don't: people who kept reading aloud to me, even when I couldn't yet read for myself. I had teachers who believed I could get there, and parents who never stopped putting books in my hands, even when I rolled my eyes at them! There is another girl whose story began almost the same time as mine.

I'll call her Millie. We were born only a day apart. Today, we live only a few streets apart.

But our lives grew in very different directions. I grew up in safety and stability. Millie entered child safety care at six months old.

I am on the Premier's Reading Challenge awards list. She is no longer enrolled in school. The only difference between us is opportunity, not ability.

I see Millie each week at The Lighthouse Toowoomba, which is a creative literacy centre in my community. When she is there, she helps write thank-you letters, sorts books for other children, and shines in every moment she is safe. She is bright, strong, and capable.

She isn't failing, the system is failing her. That is why I am asking you today to protect something very simple, but incredibly powerful: the daily habit of reading aloud to children, from birth, before school, and throughout childhood. Reading aloud is not a "nice extra." It is the foundation of a child's future.

It creates language, connection, belonging, and confidence. It builds the bridge into education before a child can build it for themselves. This is fantastic from Charlotte.

I think these are very important words. She continues: The Lighthouse believes the only way to reach children like Millie is to reach all children, without stigma and without barriers. When books are normal, belonging is normal too.

I am here asking on behalf of the next generation, who do care, deeply, about every child having the same chance to stand beside us, not behind us. Please keep championing this work. Please help make sure every child is read to, every child, every day.

Because access to literacy should not be down to the luck of the cards you are dealt and the family you are given, it should be a guaranteed birthright for every child. Thank you so much, Charlotte, for those wonderful words.