Mark Baker (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak about the Australian Technical Colleges and the establishment of a campus at Burnie, on the north-west coast of Tasmania. Earlier this month I had the privilege of launching this campus. It was a significant step forward in delivering skills based training.

The establishment of the Cradle Coast campus, as it will be known, of the Australian Technical College Northern Tasmania really does make a mockery of the Leader of the Opposition’s criticism that the government is not doing enough with regard to skills based training. I am proud to say that we will be delivering new and unique training opportunities for our young people in north-west Tasmania, because this is all about taking industry to education, not education to industry. It is a unique step forward and one that this government is rightly proud of.

I fought for this campus in north-west Tasmania because the region is one of Tasmania’s major industry hubs. I would like to remind the House that we have great companies that deliver expertise all over Australia and internationally. Some are assemblers of underground mining equipment that supply the whole of the Australian mining industry and also South-East Asia. We have hydraulics engineering. We have building companies that fit out hotels and motels, not only in Tasmania but also in Victoria, New South Wales, Malaysia and South-East Asia.

Our region has a strong industry base, as I said, and our employers have been demanding more locally based training opportunities. The Australian technical college will provide another pathway for young people across Northern Tasmania to achieve trade training through school based new apprenticeships targeted to respond to the local skills needs. In addition to completing their years 11 and 12 school studies, students at the college will learn a trade. So it is a double success story, with higher education preparing them for tertiary education and at the same time preparing them for an industry career.

The college will initially focus on two industries—building and construction, and metals and engineering. It will expand to offer programs in the automotive, commercial cookery, electrotechnology and rural industry areas by 2008. Like its sister campus in Launceston, the Burnie campus will operate from an interim site during 2006 and 2007 pending the establishment of permanent facilities. A permanent purpose-built campus is to be established by 2008.

The establishment of such a college has been warmly welcomed by the local community, businesses and industry. The college is a fantastic opportunity for both the students involved and the local business community, whose involvement will also ensure that the skills based training is relevant to the region.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all those involved in the development of the Australian technical college in Northern Tasmania, especially the board members from my electorate, who are all industry based people. They are industry leaders in this state and leaders in years 11 and 12 education in Launceston. This is a great example of how we are bringing together education and industry in a situation where previously career advisers developed the philosophy that, unless you had a university or tertiary degree, you somehow failed your education.

This is a huge step forward, not only for the betterment of north-west Tasmania but for Australia in general. Those on this side of the House encapsulate what it is all about to produce the future generation of skills based industry training in the country, not like those on the other side, who seem to be caught in a time warp where they do not seem to be able to relate not only to education but also to the industry leaders of this great nation.