Ms ADDISON (Wendouree) (12:58): Congratulations to Ballarat’s extraordinary and impressive young people who were nominated for and won awards at the City of Ballarat Youth Awards 2022. The achievements of almost 100 young people aged between 12 and 25 were recognised by the City of Ballarat through the nomination process.

The winners were Ruby Lloyd-Vendy for the Personal Growth Award; Ballarat Action Climate Co-op’s Green Fest for the Group Project Award; Rohan McMaster for the Leadership in Sport and Recreation Award; Zara Jarvis for the Creative Arts Award; Meghan Lee for the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Award; Dhuvarrishlanth Veerabahu for the Positive Leader Award; Millie Collins for the Compassion and Care Award; Indya Hayes for the Innovators Award; Liam Ryan for the Youth Volunteer Award; Tarryn Harris for the Influential Adult Volunteer Award; and John Maher for the Influential Adult Worker Award.

And for the major awards, congratulations to Millie Collins for the 12 to 17 age group and Ruby Lloyd-Vendy for 18 to 25.

Well done to Ballarat Youth Services and TEAM youth volunteers Aditi, Amelia, Ardi, Charli, Coral, Ebony, Jo, Sarah, Shannon, Shayla and Sophia for organising a fantastic event. It was also terrific to hear from the 2022 award ambassadors, Gabriel Gervasoni and Harry Buck.

Ballarat’s future is in excellent hands with so many positive, diverse and compassionate young people doing so much.

Watch and read more of my speeches to Parliament here, including responses from ministers on how we’re working for Wendouree.

You can also view videos from Parliament, browse Hansard transcripts, learn about bills and legislation, and much more at the Parliament of Victoria’s website.