Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Only three short years ago, Girls Day Out in STEM was launched in Port Macquarie. I was there at Charles Sturt University with 250 10- to 14-year-olds and their mums and dads, and they were very excited to be involved in the science, technology, engineering and maths program that day. I'm pleased to say that for this year's Girls Day Out in STEM, from 14 to 22 August, there were a whopping 1,167 registrations all around Australia, bringing registrations over three years to 2,700.

Much of the credit for the success of Girls Day Out in STEM should go to Petriea Skitek. The engine, the driving force since 2019, Petriea is changing the lives of young girls across our nation by encouraging them into science, technology, engineering and maths careers for our future generations. I can say, as the Chair of the Standing Committee on Industry, Innovation, Science and Resources, that we will need these young people in those careers in years to come, and it's so important that we close the gender gap that currently exists between boys and girls and men and women all across those areas.

Thank you, Petriea, for all your hard work and leadership. You are a great role model and you're changing young lives along the way.