CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr THOMPSON (Herbert) (10:00): It's been a busy time in Townsville over the last few weeks. First we saw the Townsville Titans claim victory in a nationwide tug-of-war competition that was held in Townsville. They had back-to-back victories, as they travelled to Cairns the next day to do their tug of war.

I went to Aitkenvale State School. Aitkenvale State School is a great school within the Townsville boundaries, and they asked me to come and speak about what different levels of government do—through their humanities, or HASS, education. But then they said to me: 'We have an idea.

We have a policy that should become law. We're going through the process of writing it up now, but we will tell you a little bit about it.' They told me that they wanted to make school a four-day week. They debated long and hard with each other and against me, and they said they're going to make sure that they have a policy wrapped up so that I can bring it to Canberra and talk about it on the floor of parliament.

These young people were very excited, not just because they're trying to develop a policy to make sure they only have to go to school for four days a week but because they want to be involved in the process. They learnt about different levels of government. They spoke about how many councillors we have, who the mayor is, the Premier, the state government, the opposition and also the federal government.

They knew who the Prime Minister and the opposition leader are. They knew parts of what our roles are. I thought it was just fantastic for a primary school to be so well-informed on how the process works.

I told them I'll have to go back when they've got their policy ready to go. I also attended the Challenge Games. The Challenge Games is a fantastic event that is for young people who have disabilities and all abilities to compete in an Olympic-style event where you have people who may need aids like wheelchairs and walking aids to manoeuvre around.

They were running up and down the red track, and they were participating in games, but, most importantly, they were cheering each other on. It was great to see all these young people from around northern Australia come to the Challenge Games in Townsville and support each other, knowing that sport is a way that we all connect together. This weekend, we have the Wallabies playing in Townsville at our world-class stadium, Queensland Country Bank Stadium.

It's just fantastic that Townsville is getting such spectacular and massive events like having the Wallabies there, having soccer and having different events. As we go forward to the Olympics, it's fantastic to see Townsville being the capital of northern Australia.