For many it's simply the document that marks the formal end of secondary school education. It's a rite of passage. The exams are part of a process that ends with that document, but the HSC itself is forgotten fairly quickly.

Some of Australia's most successful people have managed to achieve that success without completing their HSC. The rigours and rituals of school life is not for some, who only reach their fulfilment when they're free to make decisions and mistakes, and meet their potential.

For others, though, achieving excellent results in the HSC is a necessary step towards certain ambitions or dreams - like securing a spot at a particular university, or in a particular course.

Some students know they want to become a doctor, a lawyer, a veterinarian, a physicist, a concert musician, from their teens. They know the HSC marks they need to achieve their ambitions.

For many students achieving the highest HSC mark they can is a personal test of how far they can push themselves. For others who are bright, but who don't know what career they want to follow after school, achieving a high HSC mark ensures more options become available to them.

Each year we acknowledge the highest HSC achievers because we are a society that values education. We value excellence in education.

The students who committed to excellence and achieving the best they could are entitled to be recognised, just as we acknowledge excellence in our sporting achievers, our artists, creatives, explorers and entrepreneurs.

In recent times there have been serious questions about Australia's education system and whether the billions of dollars we spend on education is producing the kinds of results we're entitled to expect.

Those are questions for governments to consider and address, that require leadership to work through. We need an education system that will encourage and nurture each and every child to achieve their best.

This week students across the Hunter region achieved excellence and their smiles were the smiles of Australia's future. Congratulations to them, and good luck.

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