The Australian Defence Force Academy
- Minister |
- Navy |
- Army |
- Air Force |
- Department
Acting Prime Minister Congratulates Graduates
12 December 2007
The Honourable Julia Gillard, Acting Prime Minister, attended the UNSW@ADFA Degree Conferral Ceremony for Business and Humanities and Social Sciences, giving an inspiring speech in which she congratulated the graduates and wished them success and luck in their future careers in Defence and elsewhere.
Ms Gillard told graduates they were about to begin a journey that would "take you to many places and confront you with many challenges. When those challenges come, can I say to you, I ask you to remember the camaraderie of this place, the joyfulness of this day and the fact that you have the support and the best wishes of the Australian people with you."
After the Ceremony the Honorable Julia Gillard talked to three graduating students: Navy Sub Lieutenant Amanda Buckland – Master of Management, Army Officer Cadet Hailey Smith – Bachelor of Arts and Air Force Officer Cadet Karen Brown – Bachelor of Business.
OCDT Smith joined the Australian Army to go overseas and help people, and is glad to be one step closer to realising her goal. "Unfortunately, there is a requirement for humanitarian assistance. God willing there won't be in the future, but history has shown there will be and I would love to help people overseas, whether it be through tsunami assistance, earthquake assistance, it doesn't really matter as long as I can help people," she said. Like most of the graduates, OCDT Smith was congratulated by proud parents who will stay for the Graduation Parade on Thursday.
A total of 253 undergraduate midshipmen and officer cadets (40 of them female students) and 377 postgraduate students (50 of them female students) were presented with their degrees in Arts, Business, Science, Engineering and Technology from the University of New South Wales.
The degrees were presented to undergraduate students – Midshipmen and Officer Cadets of the Australian Defence Force and to postgraduate students, both coursework and research – domestic and international students from the general community and Defence personnel.
Dr Leeora Black, founder and managing director of the Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and an honorary research fellow in the Faculty of Business and Economics at Monash University gave the Occasional Address for the Business, Humanities and Social Science conferral ceremonies.
The Engineering, Science and Technology Occasional Address was delivered by Dr Steve Gumley, an internationally experienced senior executive and entrepreneur, who has successfully built, managed and directed many national and international entities.
