28/07/1999

The Minister for Education, the Honourable Dean Wells, distinguished guests, colleagues, teachers and students.

Welcome to the 1999 BP Education Grants for Schools Program awards evening.

There have been significant changes both locally and internationally within our organisation since last year.

Firstly, on the local side of things, this is my first awards evening since I arrived earlier this year to become Manager of the Bulwer Island Refinery Business Unit, and internationally, BP merged with Amoco to form the BP Amoco Group of companies.

However, despite these changes, the commitment to community programs is still deeply enshrined in the new organisation wherever we operate. This is best summed up by our Group Chief Executive, Sir John Browne who in the 1998 Environment and Social Report said, “ We must demonstrate that we can make a real contribution to the development of the communities in which we operate - encouraging the development and acquisition of skills and setting standards”.

Our view is that being involved with programs that promote education and learning is ultimately an investment in our future success.

It’s also a reflection of how we want to fulfil our role in society. We believe that a good business should be both competitively successful and a force for good. We want to be positively involved. If we are to be really successful in the way we want to be, we must be an integral part of the society in which we operate.

That is why education is an important focus area and one that demands our involvement.

Over many years BP has actively worked to develop links and provide assistance to education in our local communities. At Bulwer Island refinery, we have been involved over a long period with Pine Rivers school. In this programme, groups of students visit the refinery over several weeks to work on a suite of projects in our engineering and environment departments, and in our laboratory.

Other education activities we are involved include: the Science Across Asia Pacific program, which aims to raise awareness of the ways in which science and technology interact with society, industry and the environment in the Asian Pacific region, and our support for the new Bike Ed road safety program which was launched earlier this year in Brisbane in conjunction with Queensland Transport and will be available to Queensland primary schools progressively this year and early next year.

The BP Grants scheme is an example of a desire to promote a diversity of learning opportunities.

The scheme has 4 specific objectives:

• To foster links between BP and Education system in Queensland
  
• To provide support and the opportunity to extend the learning experiences of secondary students.
  
• To encourage increased participation between schools and industry.
  
• To involve participation by members of both school and the broader community in projects designed for mutual benefit and co-operation.

I’m delighted that BP’s funding will help to support the programs which have been described by the teachers and this in turn will really make a positive difference to the students. We’ll hear about what these projects are a little later in the evening. I have been hugely impressed in reading about the projects in the wide range of initiatives they cover, in the innovation and imagination they employ, in the talent they exhibit and most importantly, how practical they are. These are not just academic exercises - they actually make things happen to make a difference.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank members of the Awards Selection Panel consisting of:

• Cheree Page and Rohit Maharaj from BP,
• Del Colvin from Education Queensland,
• Dianne Reardon from Catholic Education and
• Robyn Lauren from the Association of Independent Schools.

Finally, I would like to salute the teachers, your commitment to your students is to be acclaimed. You are a credit to your schools.

Thank you.