Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to incorporate a speech which we had arranged to incorporate in the second reading debate on the Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s Skills Needs) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2007, which was inadvertently omitted. The Labor Party have seen it and have approved it.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

A Bill for an Act to amend the Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s Skills Needs) Act 2005, and for related purposes

Empowerment, engagement and tangible educational outcomes are what the Australian Technical Colleges are delivering to the young people of Australia. Australian Technical Colleges are working to build a stronger Australia for all people through flexible education and training models.

Australian Technical Colleges are credit to the Australian Government and are actively remedying the skills shortage by providing an innovative education system tailored to the needs of students, industry and the community.

This Bill is a further commitment to the young people of Australia, giving them the best opportunity to undertake vocational education as well as a secondary Certificate in Education.

The Bill remedies the mistakes of the past (of closing dedicated technical high schools), by funding three more colleges across Australia. It meets the needs of industry in local areas and fulfils the dreams of our young people by allowing them to work toward a future they want.

Gone are the days of vocational education being ‘second best’. I have seen the students at the Australian Technical College North Queensland and they are a first rate group of people. They are intelligent and skilled young men and women, who are able to take control of their education and make their own career and life choices.

Students at Australian Technical Colleges have the opportunity to study a vast range of trades, including, building, engineering, electro-technology, wet trades and automotive which require discipline, dedication and a vast knowledge of maths and design.

If I may be able to be a little parochial, can I say that the Australian Technical College North Queensland is the best Australian Technical College in the country. It is brand new - brand new buildings, brand new workshops with cutting edge equipment that many workplaces do not have. And their trade teachers are fresh from industry. Their students are ahead of the game already, and that is due to the Australian Government, through the Australian Technical College initiative.

The Townsville college has students who come from as far away as Ayr and Bowen. These students have left their families and friends, by their own choice, to take advantage of the opportunities that the Australian Technical College has to offer.

The increase in funding of $74.7 million from 2008-2011 that the Bill provides, will allow 3 further Colleges to be built and resourced appropriately. These Colleges are not just state of the art buildings. They are places that are changing the face of education; providing alternatives and relevant curriculum which engages young people to learn and prosper. 2,000 students are already attending Australian Technical Colleges and by 2009, over 8,000 will be benefiting from this initiative. This is an amazing achievement considering that the initiative was only announced in 2004.

This Bill will provide Queensland with a fifth Australian Technical College in South Brisbane. The Australian Government is filling a gap in education that the State cannot match, which will be critical in closing skills gaps in Queensland. Queensland is growing everyday, and trade skills are desperately required, not only for the natural resource boom, but in the housing sector as well.

Now, I know that some people are confused as to what Australian Technical Colleges actually deliver. Some people think that they are just another TAFE College. This demonstrates a clear misunderstanding of the education system. Australian Technical Colleges are not competing with TAFE. Australian Technical Colleges provide education to students who wish to complete Secondary Certificate as well as a trade. It is not for post-secondary students.  Core subjects, English and Maths, are tailored to integrate with the trade area. Relevancy is the key to ensure our young people are engaged in their learning and the Australian Technical Colleges are proving to be relevant and engaging for students, which can be seen through outstanding enrolment levels and strong retention rates of students.

Australian Technical Colleges, unlike TAFE, are driven by the needs and requirements of industry in the immediate area via direct consultation.  By nurturing relationships with industry the colleges reflect the needs of industry and the community.

This Bill is providing our young people with a future that allows them to follow their own dreams, rather than trudge along traditional educational paths set by the State government, or worse, totally disengage from the education system altogether. It provides an avenue to meet the skills shortage and it is an investment in the future of Queensland, and of Australia. 

We are a fiscally responsible Government in practice, not just in rhetoric, and for that reason we cannot fund immediately all of the ATC’s that I would like to see established. But even in my area of influence in North and Western Queensland I know Australian Technical Colleges would be useful in places like Mount Isa, Cairns, Mackay, Rockhampton/Yeppoon, Gladstone, Emerald and Longreach—and into the future I will be strongly supporting the expansion of this Howard Government initiative to these localities.

I commend the Bill to the Senate