Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was really delighted to be able to have the opportunity to be a part of this report and the inquiry that has informed it, and I commend it to the House. I'd like to thank the chair and deputy chair for their work. I'd like to thank all of the committee members, the secretariat and all the participants, who provided important evidence and were so generous with their submissions and sharing their experiences to ensure that we were able to get a really strong picture of the vocational education and training sector in Australia.

This is a piece of work that's very close to my heart. My work previous to entering the parliament was working through some ways that we could strengthen the vocational education and training system in Victoria, noting particularly the very low completion rates in my home state. Anything that we can work towards together as a parliament to improve the perception and status of vocational education and training is a very good thing indeed.

In particular, the recommendations that go to aligning vocational education and training in a better way across the country are quite significant. The emphasis on ensuring that students, at all levels of schooling, understand the VET system better and that their teachers and parents understand the VET system and the opportunities available through vocational education and training better is particularly important in terms of the recommendations. In light of the Universities Accord final report, lifelong learning as a critical part of vocational education and training is something I'm pleased to see come through in the recommendations, as well as the seamlessness between vocational education and training and other higher education providers, such as universities.

A lot of the evidence that we heard throughout this inquiry was echoed locally with me in my conversations with students, teachers and providers in the electorate of Chisholm. I was particularly interested recently to hear year 12 leaders in their schools talk about the importance of better embedding careers counselling and an understanding of how to navigate the various postsecondary education options while students are in the earlier years of their secondary education. I'm really pleased to see that come through strongly in the recommendations in this report. As I said, I was delighted to have the opportunity to participate in this inquiry. I commend the report to the House.

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