Luncheon in support of Rhodes Scholarship

Rhodes Scholarship Selection Panel members and shortlisted candidates, good afternoon.

I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Brisbane, the Turrbul and Jagera people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

As Governor it has been my privilege for the past five years to Chair the committee that selects our state’s scholar each year.

Today, it is a great pleasure to welcome both my fellow committee members and the 2027 Scholarship finalists to this special celebratory luncheon.

It is important to me as Chair because it allows me to do two things — first, to congratulate each of the finalists on their selection and to wish them well for tomorrow’s final interviews, and second, to thank my fellow committee members for their commitment to ensuring that our selection process each year has been robust, transparent, objective — and a very pleasant experience.

Every year, I have been astonished anew by the exceptional quality of the finalists we see and while, ultimately, only one scholarship can be awarded, each of you here today can be proud to include ‘Queensland Rhodes Scholarship finalist’ in your CV, irrespective of the outcome.

My involvement with Rhodes Scholarship Queensland has shown me repeatedly just how valuable this program is, not just to the individuals involved but to our State, our nation and to the wider world.

In my first year in the Chair, the panel chose Josephine Auer as Queensland’s 2023 Scholar. Josephine is an economist and mathematician, but she is also a passionate climate campaigner and was determined to use her time at Oxford to build transformative climate change policies.

The following year it was Dr Jeremy Hunt. He was completing his medical degree and was already an elite-level long-distance athlete when we met him, but he had also founded a charity providing free preventative healthcare, including vaccination services, to disadvantaged groups.

His time at Oxford has enabled him to deepen his work at the intersection of health, policy and technology, with a particular focus on reducing health inequity.

That global outlook and the drive to serve the public good continued in 2025 with the selection of aspiring international human rights lawyer Matisse Reed, and last year, with Molly Swanson given the opportunity to examine the critical importance of AI transparency to human rights.

This year’s finalists share not only the outstanding academic excellence of those previous winners, but their commitment to creating a better world and I applaud them for that. Only one of you will be offered the opportunity — this time — to walk across those storied college quads in Oxford, but every one of you, as your careers unfold, has the power to make a difference, and, in doing so, to help restore our belief in the possible and our faith in big dreams.

I wish each of you every success now and into the future. Thank you.