Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 12 Hansard (13 November) . . Page.. 3585 ..

MS DUNDAS (continuing):

All the students and colleges that participated in the Young Achievement Australia scheme are to be congratulated. The scheme helps students in their senior years with vocational training and real business experience, and Ms MacDonald has spoken about her own real business experience.

I understand that ACT young business person of the year was awarded to Jamila Rizvi, a student from Hawker College. We wish her well when she competes in the national finals to be judged in early December. As has been mentioned, the Now Ya Cookin gang of Katheryn Smith, Jessie Head-Gray and Lauren Ockwell were also winners. For these four young women, the awards night was one of success.

Not all young women will be business leaders and, while I think it is important that we do encourage and train young women for business roles, we also need to look at how young women are being successful in their everyday lives. We know now that many young women are getting involved with a high-level optimism, taking on life, embracing the challenges and looking to the future. Like the Now Ya Cookin group, they are achieving. So let us support these young women, celebrate their achievements and wish them well in the national awards and all who participate in the Young Achievement Australia scheme.

MR PRATT (8.21): Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I rise to support this motion. I quite enjoyed listening to Ms MacDonald's descriptions of not only the various young achiever activities that she has witnessed but also her own experiences as she flashed back to her youth.

Young Achievement Australia is clearly to be congratulated as an important vehicle for giving young people a framework for pursuing excellence in the business sector. Certainly, it is important that our youth be developed to enable them to be recruited into the business sector. Clearly, the ACT must have a healthy business sector and we need to encourage our young people to look for careers in that sector.

I would like to congratulate the young business person of the year and all of the other finalists of the Young Achievement awards. I would also congratulate the sponsors and the organisers for making this event more successful this year than apparently has been the case, and I hope that success grows.

There is not too much else I need to say, as a lot of good ground has been covered tonight by my colleagues. I will finish by simply congratulating Ms MacDonald for bringing this motion on. It is important to enshrine this event and to put it and the names of the achievers who have taken out the awards on the record.

MR CORBELL (Minister for Education, Youth and Family Services, Minister for Planning and Minister for Industrial Relations) (8.23): Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I would like to recognise the 250 students, from a broad geographic region covering the ACT and south-east New South Wales, who participated in the 2002 Young Achievement Australian program. I also recognise their commitment to the program and their individual companies.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .