With the countdown on to Christmas and the end of the year, I have enjoyed visiting many local schools and celebrating the achievements of our wonderful students.
Congratulations to Sophie Ahn from Year 6 at Varsity College, whose stunning drawing has been selected as the design for my 2019 Christmas Card. More than 400 entries were received this year and the talent shown was outstanding.
It was also wonderful to engage with students at All Saints Anglican School during their Power of Engineering Day, where some remarkable young engineers explained how versatile an engineering degree can be.
One of the key priorities of my portfolio is to see more females involved in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths). So I was thrilled to speak in front of a room full of brilliant women at the Advancing STEM conference. I also had the pleasure to address Science meets Parliament.
My priorities as your local Member include transport infrastructure, jobs growth and supporting our veterans. This past month has seen positive steps forward in each of these sectors:
The Morrison Government has brought forward $45m of the funding we have already committed, for work to begin next year on upgrading the southern stretch of the M1, from Varsity Lakes to Tugun, allowing us to fix that bottleneck sooner. Plans for the $1 billion upgrade have just been released and you can take a look at them here.
An additional $157m in funding has been allocated to Stage 3A of the Light Rail extension to Burleigh Heads, with $62m brought forward to get that project up and running immediately.
For the fourth-straight year I helped local employment agency, BUSY at Work, launch their GC150 campaign, with the aim of placing 150 local job seekers into apprenticeships or traineeships by 31 December 2019.
It was also terrific to take a tour of the Vege Chip Co manufacturing plant, in Currumbin Waters, and hear about their outstanding success over the past year.
On 11 November, I joined our local Veterans and wider community for a Remembrance Day service at Currumbin RSL to pay tribute to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. As a thank you for their service, the Morrison Government has released a new Veteran Card. You can find more information here.
I would also like to take the time to thank Stage IV Melanoma patient, Karen Dunks, as well as Melanoma Patients Australia, for being part of my recent Melanoma Awareness Morning Tea. We shared personal stories and urged Gold Coasters to have their skin checked regularly. I encourage you to listen to Karen's incredible story and heed the warning as we step into Summer.
Until next month,
