Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Friday, I attended the annual Rotary Club of Berri Riverland and Mallee Vocational Awards night. How we work and the jobs we do are significantly changing, and it's vitally important that we have the ability to rapidly adapt to the disruption and provide skills when needed. Vocational education and training will play a crucial role as Australia's economy undergoes rapid change and as technology alters the way we work. Apprenticeships and traineeships are a highly effective way to skill Australians to be part of the modern, rapidly changing workplace.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives

Sitting suspended from 16:16 to 16:39

The Riverland and Mallee Vocational Awards are the largest of their kind in regional Australia, underscoring not only the hard work of the apprentices, trainees and students but also the dedication of the Rotary Club at Berri and the quality of the training experience offered by employers in the region. Congratulations to all the nominees in all the award categories. They are excellent examples of the dedication and hard work those apprentices and trainees give to their chosen professions. They represent tomorrow's leaders of industry.

Today I want to pay particular tribute to the winners announced on Friday evening: Apprentice of the Year, Chloe Rudd, from Print DNA; Trainee of the Year, Nicholas Svetec, from SMGT Big River Toyota; School Based Apprentice of the Year, Blake Guppy, from SMGT GJ Gardner Homes; School Based Trainee of the Year, Kelsey Wade, from Berri Plaza Newsagent and Photographics; and, finally, VET Student of the Year, Zack Wagenknecht, from Loxton High School. I wish you all the very best for your careers.

Those in this place on both sides of the chamber will be sick of me banging on about the Penola bypass. But I'm going to do it anyway. The Penola bypass is known as a half-finished road to nowhere. It is an absolute embarrassment for the state Labor government of South Australia, who have refused to accept federal government funding to complete this vital piece of infrastructure. The federal government has committed $9 million and put it on the table, but the state Labor government simply won't touch it. That is $9 million of federal government funding that the state will not accept because of apparent GST implications, GST implications that apply to other infrastructure projects in the state—indeed, all state road infrastructure. For example, $95 million of federal money at Oaklands Crossing in Adelaide suffers the same GST implications.

It is clear that the state Labor government only cares about marginal seats in the city. Penola bypass is not worth completing because it won't win them any votes out where I live. Shame on the state Labor government. Shame! I congratulate the state Liberal Party for their interest in this. Not only did opposition leader Steve Marshall come to the Penola bypass and look at it for himself, but he committed to completing it. And well done to Nick McBride—a passionate community advocate who has ensured this road to nowhere will have a happy ending.