Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to congratulate the principal, staff and students of Newton Moore Senior High School in Bunbury, Western Australia. The reason I am doing that is because that school has been approved by the Western Australian Department of Education and Training to deliver an engineering specialist program to high school students. That is fantastic for a school in Bunbury, in my electorate. The engineering program is designed to attract budding engineers from around the south-west, to address the shortage of engineers that we see both in Western Australia and throughout the entire nation. And we know, with Western Australia's pipeline of mining projects, the importance of engineers in general.

However, I hope and I think we all would reasonably expect that increasing the number of engineering students who are actually taught in the south-west will have a significant impact on the number who actually remain in our part of the world as well. The approved engineering specialist program is for high-achieving students and provides a strong foundation for successful completion of upper school engineering, science and maths courses. Obviously, the ultimate aim of such a program is to enhance students' acceptance into university-level engineering courses. To enhance the program the Newton Moore Senior High School is seeking sponsors of academic scholarships and donations for equipment and consumables, as you would expect with an engineering course. Scholarships of $500 will assist not only in training the engineers of the future coming out of the south-west but also give those same south-west students the same or similar opportunities provided to metropolitan students, something that you, Mr Deputy Speaker, would well understand the importance of. Donations of $500 for equipment would also be very gratefully accepted by the school.

I am so pleased to see Newton Moore Senior High School achieve this. I really support what they have done in achieving this engineers program. I encourage the businesses in the south-west community to also support them in whatever way they can. It is a real feather in the cap of Newton Moore Senior High School, which is an independent public school in South Bunbury. I congratulate the principal, the school, the staff and the students ahead on, I hope, their great achievements.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! In accordance with standing order 193, the time for members’ statements has concluded.