Peter Lindsay (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

But wait, there’s more—we reckon we can get 130 places starting early next year. What a great deal that is for North Queensland. I am sure the minister and the government will not object to the fact that industry is so supportive of this particular technical college that we will be able to fill 130 places.

I congratulate the board members of the ATCNQ: the chair of the board, John Bearne, who has been a true community leader in this project, Lawrie Martin, the deputy chair, Roslyn Baker, Shayne Blackman, Stephanie Giorcelli, Angela Hill, Bruce Lean, Barry May, Alan Morris and Lyn Russell. I thank the Townsville City Council for their help in securing and agreeing to the land arrangements for where the college is being built. I thank the Thuringowa City Council for their leadership in the early days when they recognised how important this would be. I thank you, Minister Hardgrave, for the work you have done on the technical colleges. The Thuringowa City Council were certainly leaders. They saw the vision and it has happened. I really appreciate the support of Les Tyrell and his councillors.

The North Queensland region is eagerly waiting the opening of the student applications for enrolment. Those applications will be opened on 17 July 2006 and my message to the mums and dads out there who would like to see their youngsters, both male and female, involved in technical training is that they should get in there and get involved in the inaugural intake. Positive word of mouth is going around our region and community support and involvement has exceeded expectations very significantly. Applications for places will close on 30 September 2006 and the opening of the college will be made possible by the passage of this bill through the parliament.

I am really sorry to see one of the points in the amendment that the Labor Party has moved. It is point (4) covering what the Labor Party alleges:

(4)

its incompetent handling of the Australian Technical Colleges initiative as evidenced by only four out of twenty five colleges being open for business ...

Mr Deputy Speaker, I can tell you we have had no more hardworking minister than Gary Hardgrave in pushing these 25 proposed colleges through to opening their doors. You cannot just start with a greenfield site and open immediately. It takes time. In the case of Townsville, we turned the first sod on 2 June—the minister was present as I was; there was very strong representation from the community—but we now have to spend of the order of $2 million a month to make sure that the college is open early next year and that is a significant ask. We are going to do it, it will happen, the college will open; but you cannot open colleges without a lot of hard work going on and a lot of effort through the community. I am disappointed to see that paragraph of the amendment that the ALP have moved and I reject it out of hand.

Another major factor in the widespread support in North Queensland is the direct and regular engagement by the ATCNQ of industry highlighted by the formation of four expert industry reference groups in the target trade areas of the construction, automotive, engineering and electrotechnology industries. There are representatives from each of those segments on the board and they work very hard. Approximately 40 regional industry leaders have volunteered their time, knowledge and resources to ensure the young persons that graduate through the ATCNQ program possess the necessary skills to immediately contribute to the workplace and the regional economy. The ERG model is a best practice example of industry and educators working in harmony to achieve a collective beneficial outcome. The role of the ATCNQ, in working with the broader community in projects that benefit the region, should not be underestimated in the generation of regional goodwill. The ATCNQ is providing its own expertise and resources to community based programs, such as the North Queensland Job Shop, the NQ Smart Trades Expo and a number of other community groups that work tirelessly for the benefit of young people.

This has been a terrific model. It is already a terrific success. When the college in North Queensland opens, it will be a double success. It will be a credit to the Minister for Vocational and Technical Education for his achievements in this particular area. I will close now with a good all-round set of congratulations to all of those involved in the Australian Technical College North Queensland and I would like to particularly thank Stach. Rudi Stachow has been extraordinarily good in clearing all the difficulties that arise in greenfield sites and I think that we are going to have to make sure that, when the college opens, he is there to help cut the ribbon.

See this speech in context