ExCo, Celebrating STEM and a new Supreme Court Judge

ExCo

The Governor chaired a meeting of the Executive Council, attended by the Honourable William (Bill) Joseph Johnston MLA Minister for Mines and Petroleum; Energy; Corrective Services; Industrial Relations and the Honourable Reece Raymond Whitby MLA Minister for Environment; Climate Action.

Celebrating STEM

The Governor and Mrs Dawson hosted a special morning tea for the 2021 STEM Leadership Excellence Award winner today. Welcoming Year 6 students from Harrisdale Primary School to Government House.

Students from Harrisdale Primary School.

Harrisdale Primary School took out the Leadership Excellence Award in the primary school category for its whole-of-school, inquiry-based learning framework and the incorporation of technologies throughout their learning programs. The school also displayed outstanding levels of engagement with external providers, parents and the community.

A student representative thanks the Governor.

To the students, the Governor said;

“I understand you have been doing some great work in class looking at equality and sustainability this year – two incredibly important topics not just for now, but for well into the future.

As Year 6 students this is your last term at primary school and very soon you will be getting ready to start high school – and I hope that many of you will go on to continue enjoying your STEM subjects when you do. Because all the learning you do through STEM will help you right throughout your education and your career after that – it teaches you to ask questions, to research problems and find solutions, to think outside the box about how things work, what they do and why they matter.  It builds teamwork, and it also teaches you that maybe there’s more than one way of doing things and to always keep searching for new ways to be creative.

I congratulate you all.  I thank you and your teachers for your hard work, and your parents for supporting you.”

After morning tea, the students were given a tour of Government House.

Swearing-In

Mr Samuel Alexander Vandongen SC signs the oath.

The Governor today swore in Mr Samuel Alexander Vandongen SC to be a judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia.

Mr Vandongen was admitted to practice in WA 30 years ago andbecame a Crown Prosecutor for the WA Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) from 1996 to 2004 before moving interstate as a Crown Prosecutor until 2006. He has practiced as a Barrister in WA since 2008 and has extensive experience at trial in the areas of criminal law and commercial litigation. He was appointed a Senior Counsel in 2019 and participated in more than 170 appeals before the WA Court of Appeal and the High Court of Australia. In 2017, Mr Vandongen won an Attorney General’s Community Service Law Award for pro bono work that included appearing as lead counsel for a man wrongly convicted of manslaughter.

Mr Vandongen took the Affirmation of Office surrounded by family and colleagues.

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