STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator GROGAN (South Australia—Deputy Government Whip in the Senate) (13:32): I recently joined the community at Maitland Lutheran School on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula. I was there to open their new facilities. It was so delightful to see the amazing art facilities they've developed, the workspaces and outside areas for the senior students and obviously the support services that get to utilise those areas and the staff working areas.

The project, like so many of the other projects like this, is backed by the Australian government's Capital Grants Program. This particular program was a $1.1 million investment, and it's great to see this school develop. I was lucky enough to be there in 2024 to open their new senior school facilities.

It is a community that has really banded together to provide the best possible support for the children of that community and the development of that school. While I was there, I got to speak to a range of the senior students, and I was delighted to see two of them lining up for medical school, both with a real passion for improving health services across the regional areas of South Australia.

There was also a young man there who is looking to take up an apprenticeship in V8 supercars and hoping to one day be a Formula 1 driver. So I give a big shout-out to those guys; they've got excellent ambitions. There are also some excellent young ones looking at psychology, engineering, tourism and hospitality.

It was a real pleasure and a real boost to have that time talking with them about their ambitions and about how they see themselves in those regional areas training, developing and remaining in those areas to support that community. So I give a big shout-out to the Maitland Lutheran School, all of those students and that excellent community.