Launched the ‘Side by Side’ project last week at the Meadows Primary School to unite the community around the significance of ANZAC day, with AFL Collingwood Club President Eddie McGuire, Essendon Club President David Evans, Consul General of Turkey Seyit Mehmet Apak, Maygar Barracks Commanding Officer Craig Bruhn, and the children of the Meadows Primary School and St Dominic’s Catholic Primary School, in the street where I grew up.

This news is historic for the development of our community.

A decade ago Broadmeadows did not even have a public library.

The Multiversity will provide TAFE courses through Kangan Institute and degrees through Victoria and Deakin Universities using cutting edge technology from Cisco Systems at the Hume Global Learning Centre in Broadmeadows, the new Hume Global Learning Centre in Craigieburn and a community hub in Sunbury.

I first learned of the Multiversity concept in California’s Silicon Valley four years ago and campaigned to incorporate it as an extension of the Global Learning Village model of lifelong learning which has now grown from pre-school to university education in our community. It is vital for opportunity and jobs.

Recently I witnessed the signing of the Heads of Agreement to secure the Multiversity deal. Congratulations to Hume City Council and all of the partners for realising this landmark development.

It fulfils the vision in my inaugural speech to Parliament and I will continue to work to develop this project which delivers access to higher education, opportunity and a fair go for all.

For more information visit
www.hume.vic.gov.au or
www.vu.edu.au

It is an emblem for the resilience of Broadmeadows.

Resilience allowed the Alannah and Madelaine Foundation to blossom from tragedy. It was founded in the memory of Alannah and Madeline Mikac, aged 6 and 3, who, along with their mother, were among 35 people killed in the Port Arthur massacre.

The foundation has evolved into a national charity with a driving belief that all children deserve a safe and happy childhood, free of violence and bullying. Walter Mikac’s dignity and perseverance personify resilience. The Alannah and Madeline Foundation is his creative response to his family ’s tragedy.

Children who need to talk to someone about cyber bullying can call 
Kids Help Line on 1800 55 1800
or find help online at www.kidshelp.com.au

Former Premier and member for Broadmeadows, John Brumby, committed Victoria to supporting this program that teaches children and families to grow and cook healthy food as part of the ‘Go For Your Life’ health initiative in 2007.

This commitment from the Federal Government to Meadows Primary School is great news in helping children and families to make informed choices for healthy living.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON STEPHANIE’S NATIONAL KITCHEN GARDEN PROGRAM PLEASE VISIT

www.kitchengardenfoundation.org.au

Twelve students from Penola Catholic College, Hume Central College and Roxburgh College will be representing our community at the ANZAC Day ceremonies, after touring historical sites, including the Dardanelles and the grave of one of the student’s great uncles.

The tour has been coordinated by Dr. John Basarin, chairman of the Friends of Turkey.

ANYONE WHO WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT THE TRIP CAN CALL:
Roxburgh College 9930 8100
Hume College 9066 3600 or
Penola Catholic College 9301 2777

Another key objective was to connect our community to one of Australia’s greatest nation-building projects, the National Broadband Network.

Federal Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, delivered the keynote address describing the importance of building stronger communities for jobs and growth.

When the City of Hume is connected to the NBN, Broadmeadows will benefit greatly from the opportunities it will deliver, proving talent is not determined by demographics.

The Economic and Cultural Development Summit convened leaders in thought and deed from around Australia to turn the vulnerabilities of this diverse and disadvantaged area into strengths. In so doing, we have established a strategic framework for building lifelong learning, jobs and opportunity. The executive director of the Australia Institute, Dr Richard Denniss, spoke of the need to remain flexible and responsive to the challenges of the 21st century.

In the digital age, the survival of the fittest means the survival of those who are best positioned to adapt to meet challenges and embrace opportunities.

Labor has pledged that in power we will create jobs, invest in skills and training and provide an infrastructure pipeline to make up for the failures of the Baillieu Government.

This initiative is vital for Broadmeadows, capital of Melbourne’s North, producer of one-third of Victoria’s manufactured exports.

Labor’s practical Jobs and Investment strategy has been widely applauded. Leader Daniel Andrews also committed that in government he would mandate that locally made cars be purchased for state and local government fleets, welcome news for the car industry and jobs in Broadmeadows.

It is an emblem for that diminishing Australian value – a fair go for all. Parents from 140 countries have crossed the world with children in their arms and hopes in their hearts searching for a better life, as my family did before them. Only the accents, not the aspirations have changed.
Our obligation is to build cohesive communities.

After living in Broadmeadows for 25 years, I returned 14 years ago to establish the Global Learning Village model to connect people to the attributes that largely determine where everyone ends up in life – attitude, education and opportunity.

As the first person to grow up in Broadmeadows to represent our proud community in the Victorian Parliament, I will continue to work hard to co-ordinate the partnerships between governments, business and civil society.

It began in 1999 with my vision of creating the Global Learning Village and has delivered results regarded at the time as beyond the realm of possibility. Since this strategy was launched, the first public library opened in Broadmeadows in 2003 as the cornerstone of the Hume Global Learning Centre – a community hub for lifelong learning.
The following year a maternal and childcare centre that also provided computers and skills training for jobs opened in Meadow Heights – the Visy Cares Learning Centre.

Recently a new Global Learning Centre opened as the iconic feature of the Craigieburn redevelopment. Business partners and sponsors beginning with Visy, the Ford Motor Company and The Age have expanded to include international leaders in information and communications technology Microsoft, Intel and Cisco Systems. The ICT giants collaborated to establish the ideasLab to harness each evolution of technology for
teaching and learning. This initiative delivered a slice of Silicon Valley to Broadmeadows.

Opening the Multiversity extends opportunities so residents can participate in lifelong learning from pre-school reading classes to bilingual story-time and mentoring off computers to TAFE training and higher education degrees from 2013.

This community-based strategy for lifelong learning provides education, training and skills for jobs throughout the Broadmeadows electorate from Glenroy to Coolaroo, Meadow Heights to Campbellfield. It is internationally acclaimed for delivering “practical idealism.”

The juxtaposition is testimony to Faulkner’s insight that the past is never dead and buried – it is not even the past.

Australia and Turkey forged new identities at Gallipoli. Diggers and Turks fought in trenches sometimes only metres apart, shooting to kill then exchanging water and chocolate amid the heat, snow and carnage.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard summed up Gallipoli’s impact as representing to all Australians the deepest values of mateship, endurance and bravery. This theme resonates in Broadmeadows, home of the army barracks where the diggers were trained, which decades later accommodated Turkish migrants calling Australia home.

A study tour to Gallipoli allowed me to discuss the unique place Broadmeadows holds in Anzac history with the man in charge of the centenary commemorations and former head of Australia’s defence forces, Angus Houston.

Dressed in the costumes of their country of origin, students from the Meadows, located in the street where I grew up and St Dominic’s, the primary school I attended, honoured the Anzac spirit by singing ‘I am, you are, we are Australian’.

In Broadmeadows we are marking the countdown to the centenary of Gallipoli in 2015 as an opportunity to commemorate the values that unite us as Australians. AFL clubs Collingwood and Essendon play-off on Anzac Day each year and their presidents, Eddie McGuire and David Evans helped celebrate the planting of our local lone pine with star Essendon forward, Michael Hurley and excited students.

As a community we are determined to demonstrate that, like the lone pine planted in the playground at Meadows Primary School, Australians will grow and thrive beyond the burden of history, side by side.