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North Shore Electorate 2021 Bearpit Competition

Published on: February 2022

Record: HANSARD-1323879322-122061

North Shore Electorate 2021 Bearpit Competition

Ms FELICITY WILSON (North Shore) (19:46:03):

Mr Assistant Speaker, I congratulate you on your election today to Assistant Speaker. I had the great privilege of sharing a Temporary Speaker role with you on the Speaker's panel and I know we are in good hands with you presiding over this House. I congratulate you on that elevation and we are all grateful to have your service and leadership in the Chamber. Today I acknowledge some of the amazing students in the North Shore community, especially in light of the year that they all had, who were participants in my 2021 bearpit competition, which was held late last year. We usually hold the competition in this bearpit, and it is one of my favourite events of the year that I host. It brings together local students with a passion for public speaking from primary schools across the North Shore electorate. They go through rounds of public speaking competitions within their schools and then come together and experience the magic, which we all experience on a daily basis, of speaking in this House.

I always enjoy watching the faces of our future leaders light up as they express themselves and their opinions freely in this Chamber in which we govern. I gain inspiration from them and hearing their ideas, their values and their drive gives me faith and hope in our future. Unfortunately, 2021 was another extraordinary year and we were not able to hold the event in Parliament House, but I hope to bring them to this place in the future. It did not stop us from bringing the wonderful event to fruition and we organised for it to be held remotely, with students recording themselves presenting their speeches. I met with all the judges to review the contributions, and we recorded the feedback for our students and collated it into one final video. It was a lot of work for my team, the students, parents and our judges—more work than turning up in this place after practising at home—but we finally got there.

It would not have been possible without the extensive help and support from all the parents and staff at the schools involved. Before I congratulate the students, I thank Sandra Flower and Katherine White from Beauty Point Public School; Carmel Doherty from Middle Harbour Public School; Andy Sewell from Mosman Public School; Beverly Coffey from St Mary's at Marist Catholic College, which I congratulate on its first year joining in as a combined kindergarten to year 12 school; Nick Brierley from Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School Mosman; Daniel O'Brien from Blessed Sacrament Catholic Primary School, Michelle Reay from St Aloysius' College; Christopher Pykto from North Sydney Demonstration School; and Carmen Merrick from Queenwood. The incredible support of those staff made sure the event could go ahead. The real stars of the show were the students. Every finalist in the bearpit deserves to be commended for their excellent presentations. They were inspiring, and they demonstrated passion and eloquence.

We had two stages based on age groups with 16 students in total in the final across both stages.

Mosman DailyNorth Shore TimesWentworth Courier

We had Poppy Grispo, Angus Mansfield, Freddie Atkinson, Mitch Ward, Abby Abrahams, Oliver Lee, Alessandra McWilliam, Alexander Christian-Hare, Sienna Placanica, Monty Douglas, Banjo Lieutenant, Lily Watson, Mia Guillergan, Soraya Christian-Hare and Frederick Kyngdon. The judging panel included Liz Henry, who is the president of Neutral Bay Public School P&C and who is very active in the wider community; Chris Davitt from Mosman Toastmasters, a non-profit organisation teaching public speaking skills, who also runs his own public speaking training company; and Tim McIntyre from News Corp, who is the editor of the , the , and the . I thank them all for their time judging. It was incredibly tough for them to come to a final decision of a winner and a runner‑up in each stage. I congratulate the stage two winner, Alessandra McWilliam, and runner‑up, Mitch Ward, who both spoke to the topic "When I grow up".

The stage three winner was Sienna Placanica and the runner‑up was Banjo Lieutenant. They both spoke on the topic "You can't judge a book by its cover". I congratulate these students on their enthusiasm, articulation and effort. They are deserved winners. I acknowledge all the students who participated in the Bear Pit but did not make the final round. Hundreds of students were involved. They all deserve to be proud for getting up and having a go, especially during lockdown and learning from home. Only one student can go through from each school into the final so it was an excellent competition. I have no doubt the skills they have learned this year and their new confidence and resilience will ensure that they try again in future public speaking opportunities. Sometimes in this place we can forget, because we are so used to speaking and debating, how crucial it is to foster and develop those skills in our children at the youngest age. I am so excited that I get to participate in the development of those skills every year in my community of North Shore and with the fabulous teachers and schools I represent.