Governor-General Sam Mostyn visits Bonython Primary School

The Canberra Times

It was her first visit to a school as G-G and there were hugs, high-fives and selfies all 'round

Transcript

00:00Good morning, Your Excellency.

00:03Oh, good morning. That was so beautiful.

00:05Thank you for that gorgeous welcome.

00:07Quickly, but well.

00:09You have to all give in.

00:11I'm not sure if I can do it.

00:13Most of you are in. That's good. Here we go.

00:15This way. Here we go.

00:19That's great. Are we in?

00:21Are we in?

00:25I'm being a big hugger today.

00:27Thank you very much, ma'am.

00:29Thank you very much.

00:33Oh, Spider-Man.

00:39I've never watched him in a day.

00:41I've never watched him in a day.

00:43Fabulous.

00:45I've never watched him in a day.

00:47I've never watched him in a day.

00:49My first visit to a school in my first week of being Governor-General and what a great

01:07school to come to.

01:08The kids here, their teachers, it's about values and leadership and care for one another.

01:13The kids were all excited to see me, they've had fantastic civics training so they regularly

01:18visit the Museum of Democracy, they enter the Parliament, they were so wise and smart

01:23but great fun and I've never been hugged or high-fived more so a perfect visit for a first

01:28time Governor-General in the first week.

01:30And like you sort of mentioned you're the chief hugger and you weren't afraid to give

01:34a few high-fives and all that sort of thing, is that what we can expect from your tenure?

01:38I think you just get me and I'm a mum and I have plenty of nieces and nephews and I

01:44love hanging around young people and if hugging is the thing that's needed I'll be the chief

01:47hugger, I'll wear that, but I also love the high-fives and I'm always up for a selfie

01:51with these kids because I like to do what my daughter says and not be too much of a

01:56boomer and make sure that we're all talking the same way and learning from one another

02:00so I'm loving that part of the job.

02:03And just what's it like, I'm just interested in terms of your living arrangements, do you

02:07just move into, do you keep your old house or do you move into Government House and what

02:11happens?

02:12So it is kind of weird because the transfer happens basically overnight, Sunday night

02:16to Monday last week, my husband and I won't always be in the house at Government House

02:21because he's working in Sydney, my daughter will be living in Sydney with him before she

02:25moves off and does other things and when the Prime Minister appointed me he said he wanted

02:29a contemporary family and we're pretty contemporary in that sense that we've all got jobs to do

02:33so Simeon will come to Canberra a lot and be with me at Government House, we'll also

02:37use the property in Sydney that's for the Governor General in Kirribilli but we've kept

02:42our house in Annandale and I'm heading there this weekend to do some more packing so we'll

02:47move between those properties and really I'm just on the road a lot and I'll stay wherever

02:51I'm told really but home will be Canberra in that context and Government House is such

02:55a beautiful property and I'm acutely aware of that privilege and hope many people come

02:59to visit Government House and Admiralty House in the open days or through school groups

03:03so we'll see where I'm living.

03:05And good to be back in Canberra?

03:07Lovely to be back in Canberra, my dad's here and he's 90, almost 90 now and two of my sisters

03:12so I'll be a better sister and daughter than I've been for quite a long time and they're

03:16really proud that I've come back to Canberra having been born here.

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