Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

Getting vocational education right is critically important because it can change lives. I want to acknowledge some of the young people who through vocational education are doing outstanding things, and they are being recognised locally. Then what I want to do is talk about an area where sadly, if we don't see an investment in vocational education, we are going to see medical services across Australia—in particular, in south-west Victoria—suffer.

But, first, let's have a look at the positive. Kasey Smith, an electrotechnology apprentice, was named the Apprentice of the Year at South West TAFE's annual trade awards night on 24 October. Well done, Kasey. More than 260 people attended the awards night to acknowledge the outstanding achievements of students across automotive, carpentry, cabinet-making, electrical, engineering and plumbing trades. As I said, Kasey was the overall winner, employed by Bega Group in Koroit, one of our large dairy manufacturers. South West TAFE chief executive officer Mark Fidge said that it was very important to recognise the skills of these students in the region. 'Awards like these highlight the amazing things our trade students and their employers are doing in our own communities,' he said.

Other major award winners included the Automotive Apprentice of the Year, Dominic Knuckey Holswich, so well done to Dominic. The Carpentry Apprentice of the Year went to Lachlan King. Well done to Lachlan. It was fantastic to see that Fabrication Engineering Apprentice of the Year went to Barry Powell. Jakeb Jones got the Mechanical Engineering Apprentice of the Year, and the Plumbing Apprentice of the Year went to Brad Williams from South West Roofing in Warrnambool. So, to all those award winners, a huge thank you.

That brings me to the next issue, and that is an issue which I have created a petition on. I will be sending this petition to the petitions office. What it does is recognise that if we don't see further vocational funding for dermatology services in regional and rural Australia then, sadly, we're going to see services in those areas begin to diminish. WPRS Dermatology in my electorate is one of only two accredited dermatology training places in a regional setting. However, the high costs associated with establishing, employing and supporting trainees means that they can no longer privately fund these positions unless there is additional funding provided. The provision of STP funding, which is used to do this, has already improved dermatology services in south-west Victoria. What WPRS is urging the minister for health to do is to formally request the department direct the Australasian College of Dermatologists to redistribute STP funding to support regional positions in 2025 and beyond, because, without this funding, our regional training positions will be at risk, leading to even longer wait times for patients and jeopardising the overall sustainability of the services that WPRS offers due to burnout and fatigue experienced by our consultant specialists.

I ask the government to look seriously at this issue, and this petition—which I'll be giving to the petition office—is signed by 76 doctors and has a total of 609 signatures on it. So there is full recognition that this is an incredibly important issue in particular by the medical specialists themselves. I ask the government and I ask the minister for health to, please, look at this issue, and in particular, say to the Australasian College of Dermatologists: 'You have to redistribute this STP funding in a way that also supports regional positions.' We cannot have all our dermatology services in our capital cities. We've got to make sure that they're accessible right across our nation and particularly in south-west Victoria.

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