For the past month I've had the privilege of hosting Ms Ava Steinicke as an intern in my parliamentary office as part of the Australian National University internships program. As it's her last day interning with us, I believe it's appropriate to give her a big shout-out for the tremendous work she's done in my office. Ava is a bright, charismatic young woman who is in her final semester at ANU and about to complete a double degree in international relations and development studies.

Since arriving in parliament in 2016, I'm proud to have been a participant in the ANU internships program, hosting interns in my parliamentary office. I think that they have learnt a lot. But I've also learnt a lot in this program. It's given the students a valuable insight into the shaping of national policy, particularly around health but also other areas, and in letting them know how our parliament works and how our parliamentarians themselves work. It's been an invaluable experience for me, and I've learnt a lot from our interns. Many of them have gone on to careers in public service and I'm proud of that.

I'm a strong believer in education and in empowering young people to become the leaders of tomorrow. I've really enjoyed my time in politics. Part of that is learning how other people and new generations are working and how they look at public policy. One of the reasons that I've enjoyed my time in this place is that I'm proud that the students that I've hosted are so talented. They are Australia's future and I'm really impressed with them. I'm impressed with how the parliamentary program works. The interns all produce a thesis at the end of their time with me, and some of the information has been incredibly valuable. During the pandemic we had ANU students who also gave really valuable insights into the pandemic and the work in parliament.

During her time in my office Ava has shown initiative, engaged in a highly professional manner and has continued to remain diligent in her studies. I'm very impressed with her. As part of the national internships program, students are required to complete a research project and a research report. Ava has chosen to report on a key interest of mine, that being the evaluation of Australia's official development assistance in Papua New Guinea and how it's affected health outcomes. I look forward to reading her final report in the next few days.

Whilst ANU has been in the spotlight recently, along with the whole university sector, I've been continually impressed by the students, such as Ava and the many I have hosted before, who demonstrate a great knowledge of how our system works. I encourage all my colleagues to take part in the ANU internships program in this parliament. It's been a great benefit to me, and I think it will be of great benefit to Australia's future.