ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OMITTED

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I love coming to Questacon. I come here a lot. Richie Allan: Richie, you just did what you do at Government House. You offer a welcome, because that's a way that unites people, and you do that for us regularly at Government House, and they're always the most beautiful because you always talk about us sharing a dreaming and walking together, and it always has a huge impact on the people that we are welcoming to Government House. So thank you for your welcome, and I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people and pay my respects to their elders, past and present and to the wonderful infusion of Ngunnawal culture through this wonderful Questacon.  

I do want to acknowledge Jo White, who, of course, is the executive director here, who invites me in regularly. Jo, you and I have a competition going. That's when you get to see some of the 25,000 students who come to Canberra every year. So when I ask them what their favorite place to visit is, I'm competing with Questacon. Sometimes it's the Mint, sometimes it's AIS, always it's Questacon. And I had one this morning who said their favorite thing was going to be coming here tonight. So the night sessions here at Questacon for the school tours are immensely popular, so we just try to compete at Government House. We just don't have as many bells and whistles, so I'm not going to get some of those things. Dr Bobby Cerini, there you are. Thank you for showing us around earlier. I've already painted my first fish and sent it off into the ocean. 

Tegan Cross, Manager of Indigenous Engagement here. As you heard, the calls went out from Tegan to the cultural knowledge office, to bring Ngunnawal culture deeply into this wonderful space.  

I do want to pay respects to the parents and very distinguished guests, which are all the kids. Now you might not know, I'm also Patron of Good Design Australia, and I went to the Good Design Awards last week, where the Good Design Award team acknowledged Australia's Indigenous people as the first designers of the country. I have Corey Tutt’s book, The First Scientists, in the office, the ceremonial study at Government House, so everyone can see it. We need to pay, I think at Questacon, respect to the first scientists. So the First Peoples were the first to use the stars to name and study the natural world. First knowledge keepers, who always teach us about caring for the country and so it's wonderful to be celebrating that here at Mini Q.  

I do love coming here, but today is especially, especially rewarding. The last time I saw little kids like this was when I was swearing-in the Cabinet. And you may recall that one of the ministers, yes, her two little people, three little people, who were kicking a footy up and down the corridor while she was being sworn in as minister.  

I know that for the little people and their parents, the last five months has felt like a very long time when Mini Q closed to have this wonderful upgrade. And while I am the first Governor-General born in Canberra and I grew up here, I didn't get to spend time with you here, because Questacon came when I was in my 20s. So I missed out on all the adventures that these kids are having. And when I was the mother of a little girl (who is now 26), I was living in Sydney, and I've always taken her to the Australian Museum, to something called Kids Island.  

And this feels like a kind of modern, fresh place to come, but typically with First Nations experience at its core. So after 20 years at Mini Q, it was time to fix it all and make it a highly adventurous place for all these beautiful little people.

It has been exquisitely and sensitively designed in collaboration also with STEM education experts and alongside First Nations people. Now the designers have worked on how to engage young people with science and the science of early learning. So everything in here is about active learning, not just play. It's sensory and immersive. When I sat in here painting the virtual fish, I could feel myself gently feeling calm. So I think I'm going to come back and actually have the immersive experience myself!

Curiosity and exploration come naturally to little kids. Here they can explore and take that big voyage on the InQuestigator to go from that old country to Australia’s sea country. What a wonderful thing to experience. I'm not going to talk for much longer, because I think the kids need to be let loose on a lot of equipment. All I'll say is that I have four Cs in my job: constitutional, ceremonial, Commander-in-Chief and community. But I've been adding curiosity and creativity. This is a place where curiosity can take off. So I want to thank everyone involved. Remember that this year's Young Australian of the Year is a remarkable Indigenous woman and scientist. And I met her, Dr Katrina Wruck, and she's a chemist who found her way to use mining by-products to break down the forever chemicals in our water supply.

And most recently, in our Honors list, there were three scientists who were awarded the highest civilian honor, the Companion of the Order of Australia. Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg and Professor Mark Howden and Professor Graeme Stephens. Each of the kids in here could one day be another laureate, an Australian hero, a science leader.  

So thank you for bringing me along. I am so delighted to be here in this space. I'll come back many times. I'll bring as many little people as I can.