Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week, I had the privilege of spending the morning with year 9 students at St Augustine's College in Cairns to participate in their STEM classes and activities. It absolutely amazes me what our young men and women can do these days. There's certainly no limit for this generation. The things young Australians are achieving on a daily basis in this space are staggering. I have absolutely no doubt that STEM will become the building block for learning, driving innovation and creating new opportunities across aspects of society and the economy. STEM is and will continue to be a powerful economic driver.

A recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers has estimated that a change of just one per cent of Australia's workforce into STEM-related roles could add some $57 billion to our GDP over the next two decades. STEM is all around us and relevant in everything that we do. Hopefully our young Australians will be curious and adventurous in discovering how these critical skills will enrich and impact their lives into the future. Finally, I'd like to thank St Augustine's College's head of science, Kastelle Gane, and the principal, Brother Darren Burge, for inviting me to participate in this class. It was great to be afforded the opportunity to engage with young minds in my electorate. Congratulations to that entire year 9 class there. They were absolutely outstanding.