Stuart Henry (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I rise to offer my congratulations and to commend the North East Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and its eight chamber members, including the Kalamunda and Districts Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Swan Chamber of Commerce. On Saturday, 11 February they conducted this wonderful employment expo, Jobs Galore. There were over 500 jobs available for those people who attended.

I am pleased to say that the patron for the event was the Hon. Kevin Andrews, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, and I had the great privilege to deputise for him. Major sponsors included the federal Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, along with Hanssen Pty Ltd, Midland Brick, Boral, Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council, Construct Contractor Solutions, Midland Redevelopment Authority, BCITF—Building Construction Industry Training Fund—BGC Blokpave, Jobs Australia and the Department of Education, Science and Training. These sponsoring organisations were supported by some 40 other exhibitors and included group training and skills organisations such as MPA Skills and the West Australian Group Training Scheme Inc.

It was a fantastic day. By 11 o’clock over 4,000 people had attended Midland railway workshops to talk to all of these employers who were offering employment to people in a range of areas, including the long-term unemployed, people with disabilities, mature age people looking for work, single mothers and of course school leavers. It was fantastic to see the exchange and the opportunity that these employers provided to these people who were looking for jobs. By the end of the day, some 8,000 people had attended. This is the sort of opportunity that the government supports and provides encouragement and sponsorship for to ensure that we maximise employment participation, employment and training opportunities in Australia.

This initiative of the North East Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce is fantastic and is a model for other community based organisations. I congratulate Alan Stirling, Chief Executive Officer of the North East Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and, in particular, Allison Oldfield-Hoisan who was the project manager organising this event. It was a huge success in anyone’s language. I also mention Gerry Hanssen of the Hanssen Project management who was a major sponsor and who made a huge contribution to this event.

We had an incredible response. One organisation who was in attendance, the West Australian Group Training Scheme Inc. received over 103 applications for employment on that one day—82 for building apprenticeships and 21 for hairdressing apprenticeships, which I think for one employer is a great opportunity. They saw this as an opportunity to increase business potential, increase their attraction as an employer of choice, provide greater exposure for available and potential job opportunities and to meet potential applicants face to face and demonstrate who and what they were and what opportunities they provided. In a letter to the organisers, the North East Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, the chief executive officer said:

In conclusion I can say well done to all the organizers and participants, this was the type of expo that was long over due, which brought the people who were looking for employment to the people who were offering employment.

As I say, it was a great initiative. This organisation must receive the highest commendation for the great work that it did in that community, harnessing those energies and resources to ensure that people who were seeking employment had the opportunity to see what employment was available and could achieve a positive outcome. I understand there will be another Jobs Galore expo in September-October this year. I am very much looking forward to it and wish them all the very best.