Speech delivered on 12 May 2026 at Admiralty House

I always mention all the team here at Admiralty House and Government House. The reason you feel so well taken care of is because there are wonderful people here who’ve made sure that your arrival and everything that happens today has been done with a lot of care. So if you see one of the team, you’ll know that they’re here for you, and we’re so proud to bring people together, knowing that so much good work has been done to get you to come and celebrate such an important day with us.

I want to start by acknowledging that we meet on the lands of the Cammeraygal people, the traditional owners of this part of Sydney. And I often think we’re very lucky here on Cammeraygal land, because we look across the harbour, as you might do when you wander around outside later, to see Gadigal land. And it’s a really interesting perspective to think about what’s been happening here over tens of thousands of years. This is a beautiful, beautiful space, so you’re all very, very welcome here today. I pay my respects to Elders past and present, and if there are any First Nations people here, you have my respects as well.

There are a few people I’d like to acknowledge, starting with Sean Gordon OAM, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SchoolAid. Sean, I know for you and your wife this morning is a tough time. You lost your mother just last night, Claire, so I think it’s extraordinary you’re here this morning. I’m sure everyone has a deep sense of love for you and knows how extraordinary it is that you’ve turned up. I know you’re doing it because your mum would want you to, so maybe we think about her this morning as being present, because she made you and the values she had—I think that will come through all that you’ve done. So thank you for coming in such difficult circumstances.

Narelle Barker AM, the Chair of SchoolAid, and your board members who are here today, including your observer board member—it’s lovely to meet you all this morning. Angela Falkenberg, President of the Australian Primary Principals Association—Angela, you were here just last night, celebrating an incredible piece of philanthropy and work on music education called Right from the Start, just like SchoolAid, driven by primary principals and school teachers and music educators to try to ensure that every young person has access to music education in primary school. So, we have been uplifted in the last 24 hours with young people, school and achievement, and it’s been carried forward to this morning.

So, in that spirit, I also want to acknowledge all of SchoolAid’s directors, principals, teachers, parents and families. You make it possible for these beautiful students to be here today, and you translate empathy into practical help for students. But of course, our most distinguished guests today are the award winners. Today is all about celebrating both the achievements of philanthropy and celebrating young people—students who are going to celebrate the moment. You are our most important guests today. We love having you in this house, and I hope you explore the house while you’re here and think about where you might be going in your careers, because what you’re getting today says so much about who you are already.

Now, I am the patron of SchoolAid, very proudly. I’m delighted to have been asked, and I’m delighted to serve. So, it’s a great pleasure to welcome you all here to this really remarkable place at Admiralty House. This is a place of peace and welcome where absolutely everybody belongs. And what we try to do is reflect Australia’s great and diverse stories in as many different ways as we possibly can.

Today we’re reflecting on that very Australian impulse to help others—to see a need, to rise and meet it, and to work towards something much larger than simply ourselves. And before I speak about SchoolAid, something about the house and what we’re trying to do with the story here: as you walk around the house—and please do, and you can take photos wherever you like—on the ground floor, the art is trying to represent some of the great story of Australia. So, you’ll see artists from First Nations through to very contemporary works. Some works in here reflect artists like Sir Arthur Streeton, who actually was painting just around these little bays, so some of them are directly connected to the house itself and our place here. But do have a look around at the books and the artefacts and see what story we’re trying to tell here.

But today we’re adding to our stories the remarkable story of SchoolAid. Sean, you began this initiative in response to a Year 5 student at your school in Bega, I understand, who felt overwhelmed by the bad news in the media. SchoolAid became a way to help students overcome anxiety and hopelessness by giving you and all young people the tools, inspiration and support to invest in hope and the future, and that’s just a simply wonderful example of the Australian value of generosity, giving and helping, always with kindness and care.

We see it right across the country. Actually, we think there are over 14 million Australians over 15 who volunteer every year. I think that number is actually underestimated because it’s more about formal volunteering. And next week will be National Volunteer Week, so we’ll be celebrating all that volunteer work again. Then I think of the millions of people who volunteer in quiet ways—they are extraordinary, particularly those under 15, because the official figures don’t account for them. I think we see the Australian capacity for care and kindness in so many different ways.

We see a strong culture of philanthropy and giving. And in my role, I have the privilege of serving as patron for over 200 organisations, most of them charities doing good work that involves care and kindness. Some are imagined by people who have a very deep personal investment in a cause, others are simply generous people meeting an unmet need and stepping up, just as SchoolAid has done. Australians, I think, have always found ways to look beyond themselves and to strengthen the fabric of our community. What you show us today with SchoolAid is that this tradition of service, care and kindness is strong in our youngest people.

Now, I recently came across the work of Professor Paul Mihailidis of Boston’s Emerson College. And he says that the internet has now shaped our connections with each other and the world, and that’s a good thing. But he says that what the digital world has done, particularly for younger people, is ask us to care about things, looking for signals about what to care about, and we’ve replaced caring for something with caring about something. What he’s trying to say is that you can be pushed in a direction to care about things your algorithm sends to you on social media. And what we need to do is keep caring for things, not just caring about them because something else tells us it’s important.

And I think that’s the difference between what you’re doing and many other parts of the country that face into issues. Caring about things is a bit passive, but caring for things takes action, energy and personal determination. And when I was sworn in as your Governor-General almost two years ago, I promised I’d put care, kindness and respect at the centre of everything that I do and that the Office does. This is very much an example of caring for—showing up and being active in caring for our country.

I talk about it like this: the need to care for each other, to care for those that do the caring of others; care for our continent and its environmental richness—that’s another way of saying care for country; care for our civics and institutions, like our schools, and those that keep our schools going; and importantly, care for the way we discuss really tough issues in our time, without being angry at each other, without judgment or violence—respecting each other, being good debaters, wrestling with ideas but not with the person, always showing respect for people who we might not agree with, but we want to engage with.

Now, before we move to the award presentations, I want to congratulate all of our recipients today. You have done truly, truly remarkable things. I believe this day and the work you’re doing will stay with you for life. And if it’s any inspiration, I was a bit like you at your age, thinking about how I could do things in the community, volunteer, and be a bit better than just focusing on myself. You never know where that kind of kindness, generosity and volunteerism can take you.

I never expected to be in this role, but when the Prime Minister asked me to serve, he said he wanted that care and kindness here, and he wanted a modern, visible and optimistic Governor-General. So, anything is possible with the starts that you are all getting in your schools.

Congratulations to Lucinda, Riley, Jordan, Eleanor, Willow, Clara, Hope, Scarlett, Chelsea and Charles, and to the schools again achieving accreditation today: St Columba’s Anglican School and Narellan Vale Public School. Have a lovely celebration in the moment.

Thank you to every school and everyone who supported these wonderful projects. You’re all here today. You help people who you may never meet, which is an extraordinary act in and of itself, and you strengthen communities—your own and those far away. So, thank you for this extraordinary organisation, the principals and teachers and educators that support it, the philanthropy that sits behind it, and the wonderful students who we will be awarding certificates to today.