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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 2 Hansard (1 March) . . Page.. 477 ..

MR WOOD (continuing):

in sponsorship. Lake Tuggeranong College has received sponsorship and support, but not millions, for its race entries from the ACT community and the corporate sector, notably ACTEW and TotalCare.

Mr Smyth: And Urban Services.

MR WOOD: And Urban Services. Thank you, Mr Smyth. The solar car was designed and built at the college. This was an opportunity for the students involved to work with materials and technologies not usually part of a secondary curriculum. The students come from all areas of study and, as well as the technical skills they acquire, they develop less tangible skills such as problem solving and team work.

Mr Moore: And public relations.

MR WOOD: It is a good product, Mr Moore, isn't it? This year they are planning to re-build the base of the solar car and completely re-build the electric vehicle. The constant quest for improvement, faster times, more reliability, and smarter technology never stops. A project such as this requires a huge commitment from all involved. Both staff and students give up hours of their holidays, weekends and evenings in order to work on the project.

They are all very proud of what they have achieved, and so they should be. I know that members, from their comments, congratulate all involved in the Sun Race for their successful efforts. I know that the students have further events planned for this year, and I will follow their progress with interest. They covered nearly 1,800 kilometres in the Sun Race, and they are great ambassadors for Canberra wherever they go. They have been invited to return to Melbourne in a few days to showcase the Spirit of Canberra at the Grand Prix.

I wish them good luck with their next venture, the 4,000-kilometre transcontinental from Perth to Sydney in November. They will be one of the 15 teams, mostly international, invited to compete. To receive an invitation is itself a great honour. We congratulate those people and wish them all the best in the future.

MR HIRD (5.23): Mr Speaker, this weekend the freedom of the city will be given to HMAS Canberra. For the information of members of this parliament, the original HMAS Canberra was built in the John Brown shipyards in Glasgow, Scotland and launched in 1928. She had a commissioning crew of 679. Canberra was a Kent County Class heavy cruiser. She displaced 10,000 tonnes, was over 200 metres long and had a top speed of 31 knots. In 1931 she became the Australian Squadron flagship and held this role until she was eventually scuttled. She was heavily armed and during World War II she steamed tens of thousands of miles, protecting convoys of troop ships such as the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth. She sank two German ships, the Coburg and the Ketty Brovig, which were supplying German raiders at the time in the Indian Ocean.

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