Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very grateful to the member for Braddon for this motion. We desperately need more of our young people in vocational education. We need to fill the skills gaps in our economy, which in some trades are reaching crisis levels. I am grateful to him for laying out in his motion a great deal of the practical, targeted support that the Morrison government is providing those who want to take up a trade. The government should certainly be commended for their pragmatic approach and commitment to this pressing issue. Like the government, I want to do what I can in my electorate of Fisher to provide practical, real-world support for young people to help prepare them for the workforce. That is why I have developed and will shortly be launching my own new concept in Fisher: my Ready, Set, Go bursary program.

My Fisher Ready, Set, Go program will deliver a bursary up to $1,000 to one student in my electorate three times a year. I intend the make the bursary available to students living in my electorate who are in their final year of education and preparing to enter the world of work. That might be a school leaver in year 12, it might be a younger school student who is preparing to leave for an apprenticeship or it might be a university or TAFE student in their last year of study.

I will ask eligible students to make an application to me online, explaining why they need support to prepare for the workplace and what they would put the bursary toward. I believe that programs designed to support union jobseekers should be highly adaptable to individual needs, so I will not be providing a prescriptive list that lays out what these bursaries can and can't be used for. I am keen, however, to hear from students about what their needs are and what support would make the biggest difference for them in entering the workplace. From my discussions with students so far, I expect that I'll receive applications for bursaries for tools of trade; interview essentials, like a suit; training programs; support to attend a conference or an employment expo; and many other things. I've decided to run three rounds of the program—in April, August and November—and intend to open the very first round for applications as soon as my Fisher Community Awards are complete. Local students in Fisher who are interested in applying should contact my office for more details.

I intend to create, alongside my new Ready, Set, Go program, a vocational education, training and apprenticeships expo in Fisher. I look forward to setting the date very soon with the assistant minister, who has generously committed to coming along and opening it. The expo will bring together local Sunshine Coast employers offering trade roles and apprenticeships, training and vocational education providers, recruiters, employment service providers, Centrelink and others from the Sunshine Coast. It will provide a tremendous opportunity for local employers and recruiters to attract the coast's best talent while helping many of our jobseekers identify the right opportunities for them in our region.

I believe my new programs will be of significant practical benefit to employers and young jobseekers, but I believe they'll also serve a greater purpose in helping more of our region's young people to continue to live on the Sunshine Coast. I know that many of Fisher's young people love their beachside home and want to be close to their families, but too many feel they have to leave our community in order to fulfil their professional ambitions. With innovative, high-tech companies like HeliMods, Praesidium Global and Eniquest, financial service success stories like Youi and Huddle, and online and digital experts like IDCARE now operating in our region, the Sunshine Coast today can offer to ambitious young local people so much more than ever before. Fisher is fast becoming the place to be, not only for education and retirement but also for employment. I hope my new programs, combined with the terrific support from the Morrison government outlined by the member for Braddon, will show that in 2020 a person leaving education on the Sunshine Coast doesn't need to go anywhere else to build the career of their dreams or start a business that will take the world by storm. They can do it right on the Sunshine Coast, in the community that they call home. I know that their parents would rather they be close than move to the likes of Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane.

See this speech in context