Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Developing the skills and opportunities of our young people and looking after the local Ryan environment is very important to me as the federal member for Ryan, the representative of the people of the western suburbs of Brisbane. That is why I decided that I would like to sponsor two young participants in one of the local community’s Green Corps projects to come to Canberra and meet with ministers and parliamentary secretaries who have a great interest in the Green Corps program—something that the Howard government can be very proud of. I am pleased to speak in the parliament today to thank the relevant ministers and parliamentary secretaries whom my two young participants had the opportunity to meet when they were here last month.

I want to thank the Minister for Workforce Participation, the Hon. Dr Sharman Stone, and the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, the Hon. Senator Ian Campbell, as well as the two parliamentary secretaries who gave their time to meet my two participants—Greg Hunt, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, and Pat Farmer, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education, Science and Training. I also thank the Speaker of the House of Representatives, whom my two participants had the great privilege of meeting.

In sponsoring these two young students from the Ryan Green Corps project, I had the great pleasure of meeting them and learning about their interests and career aspirations. I was pleased to pay for their air fares and their overnight accommodation here in Canberra. I am sure they would have felt that their time in Canberra spent meeting members of the executive as well as coming to question time was very special for them.

Green Corps is all about skills development. Green Corps is all about character formation. The Green Corps program is all about confidence and self-esteem. It is about acquiring skills in teamwork and self-discipline. It is also about forming friendships in the program. The Green Corps program does make a difference in the lives of young Australians, and I would certainly commend it to my colleagues in the parliament.

Green Corps is the Australian government’s development and environmental training program for young Australians aged 17 to 20. Each Green Corps project involves some 10 young Australians taking part in a range of activities and experiences over half a year. Since the program began, more than 11,000 young Australians have joined Green Corps projects across Australia and more than 11 million trees have been planted, some 4,700 kilometres of fencing have been built, 36,000 hectares of weeds have been removed, 7,700 kilograms of native seeds have been collected and more than 4,000 kilometres of walking track have been constructed or maintained. The Green Corps project really does give young people a sense of worth and opportunity and exposes them to people who can help them with their career aspirations. It gives them new and additional skills to develop their careers and their character.

The Ryan electorate was very fortunate to have a Green Corps project located at Chapel Hill. From July to December last year two young Australians whom I sponsored to come to Canberra, Ms Lindsay Johns and Mr Adrian Evans, took full advantage of the program. They participated in the Cubberla-Witton biodiversity enhancement project, which involved the revegetation of several creeks in the Chapel Hill local area as well as the collection of samples of local plant and weed species. Overall, the project collected 10 kilograms of seeds, planted 6,000 trees, propagated 800 seedlings, constructed 20 metres of boardwalk and removed 8,200 square metres of weeds.

This is very valuable to the Ryan community. Both these young Australians, Ms Lindsay Johns and Mr Adrian Evans, took great pride in their participation in the program. They completed a significant amount of accredited training over the 26 weeks and one has already gone on to use this training and practical experience to secure a job in the field of environmental study. Young Adrian Evans noted in his report how much he enjoyed it and how much difference it made to his self-esteem. Indeed, he lost 35 kilograms and even got his drivers licence as a result of the program. It really stimulated his confidence and self-belief.

In conclusion, Ms Lindsay Johns noted in her report: ‘I have made life-long friendships which I wouldn’t have formed without this experience. Green Corps was a great experience that helped me to see that there were more possibilities to life. The positive atmosphere helped me to refocus my goals and gave me ideas about what clear paths I could choose.’ (Time expired)