It was great to congratulate the St John’s Woodlawn First XIII in Parliament last week for winning the prestigious 2017 GIO Trophy.
The win means Woodlawn has the best open’s schoolboy rugby league team in NSW, excluding Sydney’s 16 elite sport schools.
Congratulations to the players: Jake Petty, Guy Wolton, Jordan Sly, Jordan Lee, Ethan Mumford, Matthew Buttenshaw, Kel Sheather, Jess Gibson, Dane Pratt, Aidan Kennedy, Matt Doyle, Justin Bleakley, Matt Bentley, Angus Spencer, James Durheim, Lachlan Kennedy, Liam Bleakley ,Jack Doulgas-Brown, Jared Roder and Mitch Brown.
I would also like to congratulate coach Simon Andrews and trainers Bernie McDonald, Nic Jones and Peter Jeffery.
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Last week I also spoke in Parliament about 25-year-old Liam Bellman. He has been accepted into the Masters of Fine Arts programme at the prestigious Ivy League Yale University in the United States.
What makes this even more amazing is that out of an international pool of applicants, Liam was the only student selected from outside of the United States.
Liam completed his HSC at Trinity Catholic College in Lismore.
The musical gene runs in Liam’s family. His mother – Anita Bellman – is the executive director of the Northern Rivers Conservatorium.
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I announced a contract to deliver another 34-kilometre section of the Pacific Highway upgrade between Devils Pulpit and Richmond River last week.
This will deliver upwards of 400 jobs.
CPB Contractors Pty Ltd had been awarded the works contract.
Almost two-thirds of the highway between the Queensland boarder and Hexham has now been duplicated. This means we are well advanced in completing this huge project by 2020.
