Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My electorate of Hume is full of bright young sparks. Last year, I presented my second annual STEM awards to recognise the amazing work of local students studying science, technology, engineering and maths. This is a personal way for me to encourage young people to engage with STEM and to expand their critical thinking and problem-solving skills—skills that will be absolutely essential for Australia's future success.

The 13 winners were of various ages and studied a range of disciplines. Some wanted to pursue careers in computer science, others in engineering and another was keen to become an app developer. What is especially pleasing is that they were all outstanding STEM mentors to their peers, a point made at the presentations by their teachers. Congratulations to: Ethan Wupper of Macarthur Anglican School, Lachlan Webster of Picton High, Travis Chin of Elizabeth Macarthur High, Tristan Klower of Goulburn High, Ellie Robinson of Crookwell High, Cameron Biggs of Mount Annan High, Brandyn Lee of Goulburn MET School, Ronin Allcock of Trinity Catholic College, Noah Sarkis of Wollondilly Anglican College, Mitchell Lyons of Mulwaree High, Rhys Smith of Boorowa Central School, David McGregor of Camden High School and Zaidyn Melrose of Elderslie High School.

These clever young people are a credit to themselves, their families and their schools. Their outstanding contributions to STEM also speak of the commitment and encouragement of their educators. Several Hume high-school students also recently attended an advanced technology boot camp in Sydney. They included Tiffany Ezzy from Goulburn High and David O'Brien from Camden High. They were at Macquarie University in January for the first DigIT cohort—a program that takes students' STEM to the next level.

If I may, I would like to address the base political pointscoring by the member for Chifley in this chamber yesterday. Unlike the member, I do understand how to drive organisational change because, unlike him—he has been a union official and a government relations hack for the duration of his career—I have spent my career building organisations and reforming organisations. My agency is delivering real changes that I know will help my constituents and the people of Australia.

The goal I announced recently of redirecting 10 per cent of ICT spending to innovative smaller companies—that is over $500 million per annum—is progressing well. The Digital Marketplace and important real changes will allow Australians from anywhere to sell their ideas to government. We continue to deliver important reform to key government services like myGov. The streamlining of the login process has delivered excellent results, including a 50 per cent uplift in usage in a month. On STEM support and on digital transformation more broadly, this government is delivering.