Page 3074 - Week 08 - Thursday, 15 August 2019
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While there, I watched students from a Canberra high school prepare their own fruit salad for morning tea and prep tacos for lunch. Ian and Trish place a lot of importance on students having a balanced and nutritious diet, as well as learning how to cook. When I was talking to the students about what they were learning, they were able to label every part of a chicken, tell me how and where to cut a cow to make a steak—and they even had some hands-on experience with that—and why hens can grow spurs even though they are not roosters. If you are wondering, it is because of a change to testosterone levels.
The students were also really experienced at handling animals. One young woman had a gift when it came to holding and catching farm animals. She knew how to stop the piglets from screaming, the chicks’ favourite food and even how to pick up the flapping ducks so that they stopped flapping.
Madam Speaker, I was given the opportunity to crack a literal whip, but I decided that my role here was enough. Instead, I watched another student who had been attending the program for eight months crack the whip with precision. Tyler himself was taught in a matter of five minutes how to crack a whip as well.
Before leaving, I was given the first opportunity in my life to hold a piglet, as well as a baby chick that the students had been tending to for two weeks. Through being taught about these animals and how to look after them, as well as other very tangible skills like building fences, the students attending Lions Youth Haven have developed a lot of respect for Ian and Trish, each other and, most importantly, themselves.
As a result of the program, some of the students have undertaken CIT courses, trained as butchers and discovered other opportunities that they can take advantage of. It was very easy to see the passion that these students had for working on the farm and with the animals. One student had not missed a day at the farm in two years. He once dislocated his knee but still managed to get to the farm the very next day.
Madam Speaker, the Lions Youth Haven is such a beautiful place, and not just in the literal sense. It provides a safe space for at-risk youth, a space where they can learn not only about animals and farm work and life but life lessons that they can use in the future. We can be particularly grateful that we have people like Trish and Ian, and the support of the local Lions, who are creating these amazing opportunities in our community. Thank you.
Legislative Assembly library fellowship program
MS BERRY (Ginninderra—Deputy Chief Minister, Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development, Minister for Housing and Suburban Development, Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Sport and Recreation and Minister for Women) (6.30): I am pleased today to talk about the ACT Legislative Assembly library fellowship program, which is designed to advance parliamentary, political, legal, social or economic studies of the ACT.
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