Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Technology and the Future of Work) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to make a contribution regarding science. It's with great pleasure today that I rise to talk to the parliament about an event that I was able to attend in January in my electorate. The Engage, Engineer conference was a two-day event at Monash University, Clayton, that was run completely by university students. The point of this conference was to help high school students try out science, technology, engineering and maths. The conference was co-hosted by Robogals Monash and Female Engineers at Monash, two incredible organisations that place women at the centre of their mission. During the event, 150 high school students participated in workshops that were run by these amazing student-led organisations that are active at Monash's Clayton campus—organisations like Monash Motorsport, which boasts the No. 1 student combustion team anywhere in the world; and Monash Human Power, which produces aerodynamic bikes that reach speeds of up to 140 kilometres per hour. These kids are doing such extraordinary things. Seeing the work they're doing made me so excited for the future of our economy and our country.

It's very well known to everyone in this parliament that the nature of work is changing, and we need to make sure that we get young people in this country really actively engaged in thinking about what the jobs of the future are going to be so they can get themselves trained up in those roles. One of the statistics that's commented upon is that 75 per cent of the fastest-growing professions around the world require some kind of science, technology, engineering and maths background. We know this; we've actually known this for quite a long time. But there are some really concerning trends that we see in Australia when we look at how young people are getting themselves trained up. One of the most difficult things we're going to have to confront is that there are just not enough young Australian students who are going into STEM subjects. We're seeing that decline. We're also seeing our performance in STEM subjects decline, and the result of this is already being felt in the broader economy. We talk all the time to tech firms who want to employ young people who have STEM skills, and they can't find them. We know that there are young people flooding into universities and TAFEs and getting trained in areas where they think that jobs might exist but actually don't. There's a big public policy problem here, and unfortunately, after seven years under a coalition government, we're actually going backwards in all of the metrics I've mentioned.

One of the biggest problems, which I know a lot of people in this parliament share my concern about, is the need to lift the engagement of women in STEM. It's important because we want our best and brightest minds on these problems that we face as a society. But it's also important because we know that most of the highest-paid occupations that are being created are being filled by men because they're being STEM educated. One of the most brilliant things about this conference was that the majority of participants by far were young women. They were out there, they were engaging, and I felt very thrilled and excited about the future they're building for our country.