It was a day of historic moments when Coolum State High year 10 student Jessica Thompson received a Queensland flag on behalf of her school from the inaugural Member for Ninderry, Dan Purdie, at Parliament House last week.

Jessica took a few hours out of her studies to accompany her grandfather and Coolum resident Lance Barret down to Parliament House to listen to the Ninderry MP’s maiden speech on Thursday, 8 March.  

“I was absolutely delighted, after my maiden speech, to be able to present Jessica with a Queensland flag to take back to her school,” Mr Purdie said.

“It was also Jessica’s first visit to Parliament House, so it was a special afternoon for both of us.”

Mr Purdie said he felt both honoured and privileged to have a group of local residents, family and close friends attend his maiden speech, which focussed on his motivation behind his decision to move from “catching law-breakers to join the lawmakers”.

In his speech, Mr Purdie said his decision to run for Parliament was not because of a lifelong dream to be a politician, but rather as a further step in his service to his community – “to remember what really matters and to devote my time and energy to defending and protecting that.” A copy of his speech is available on his Facebook page at Dan Purdie MP