Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to inform the House about a successful initiative in my home city of the Gold Coast, directly related to my portfolio of vocational education and skills, that's providing new opportunities for young people and helping to build a skilled workforce to support the future growth of our local industries. For the second year running, the GC101 campaign set out to put 101 young people into apprenticeships in 60 days, coinciding with the end of the school year. I was proud to launch the campaign last November, which was coordinated by BUSY At Work, one of our Australian Apprenticeship Support Network providers, and I'm very pleased to say that it was again a success. With the terrific support of Gold Coast employers, we exceeded expectations by signing up 111 people to apprenticeships over a wide range of industries, including construction, automotive and, of course, on the Gold Coast, tourism. Thirty-one have just left school and the other 80 are young people who've all now been given a great opportunity to make their way into a great job and career through the skills training they're now undertaking. I was honoured to announce the results of the campaign at a Gold Coast city council depot with Anika Fritz-Shanks, who secured her apprenticeship as a fitter and turner through the first GC101 campaign. On top of the great result, we achieved a further 225 young students being signed up to a school based apprenticeship or traineeship. Latest figures show that over 90 per cent of those who complete a trade apprenticeship go into full-time employment, so it's great to see so many young students take the opportunity to get a good head start by the time they finish year 12.

After the first successful GC101, similar campaigns were held in Victoria and regional New South Wales, which I'm pleased to say also produced some great results. So I particularly congratulate the member for Dunkley, Chris Crewther, and the member for Gilmore, Ann Sudmalis, for their commitment to creating new apprenticeship and traineeship opportunities for young people in their electorates. I encourage my colleagues around Australia to consider holding similar campaigns, and my office is able to provide any assistance that's required.

These campaigns are in line with the reforms being delivered by the coalition government to build a stronger vocational education and training system that increases participation, provides great job and career opportunities, and boosts Australia's skilled workforce. One of our major policies is the $1.5 billion Skilling Australians Fund, which will create an extra 300,000 new apprenticeships and traineeships through a re-engineered partnership with states and territories. I again congratulate all those involved in the GC101 campaign, which shows how people working together locally can bring real benefits to our community.