Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Nick Xenophon Team) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, I was pleased to see that one of the eight additional P-TECH schools announced so far is in the St Patrick's Technical College in Edinburgh North, which is in South Australia. As you would be aware, the college is in an area that will suffer greatly once Holden closes its manufacturing plant. So introducing new pathways from school that are linked to industry partners is a positive step. Minister, how were the schools selected and what criteria was used? Of the remaining four P-TECH schools still to be announced, are there likely to be any in South Australia?

Minister, I would also like to ask questions in relation to Youth Week. Youth Week is not just a celebration of young people; it is also a week that brings much awareness to the wider community about the issues facing young people. As there is no longer a minister for youth representing the three million young people aged 15 to 24, it is vitally important. Can you please confirm that there will be no further federal funding for National Youth Week beyond 2017? I understand that the federal government previously provided funding to the states and territories for National Youth Week activities and then the states and territories would also contribute funding. I would like to ask how much funding was given to each state and territory, and how much do each state and territory contribute?

Minister, with what I believe is the defunding of Youth Week, I would like to ask whether there has been an evaluation of the National Youth Week program to determine its effectiveness. If there was not an evaluation to determine the program, what criteria or evidence was used by government to inform the decision to discontinue the funding? If an evaluation was conducted, what were the key findings of this evaluation?

I would just like to ask about young people who are disengaged from school. A program called Youth Connections was defunded in December 2014. It was a highly successful program. It cost $79 million a year. I would like to know what evaluation the department has done post the Youth Connections closure to address the levels of disengagement among young people and whether the department has seen a correlation between the defunding of that program and Partnership Brokers, another highly successful program that was defunded at that time, and our increasing youth unemployment rate. Thank you.

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