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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 04 Hansard (Wednesday, 31 March 2004) . . Page.. 1395 ..

If we target all children, regardless of their demographic background, surely we will be picking up high school kids who are desperately short of funding and do need assistance. Let’s look at targeting that assistance so that the money is well spent and we reinforce success, as demonstrated by high school students who, while they may not be university material or they may not yet be ready for university, have at least demonstrated a willingness to learn and a desire to better themselves.

Gone are the days when governments of any persuasion, federal or state, can simply pay for any and all courses, tertiary or VET. I would like to see federal and state governments target their funding more closely to students undertaking meaningful education.

Mr Speaker, over the last two years we have cranked up the debate here on the importance of vocational education and training. It is very important and the ACT government needs to continue in the direction it has commenced with rebuilding vocational education and training as it still has a long way to go before it can feel comfortable that we have reached a satisfactory level of delivery in the vocational education and training system.

For years the federal ALP government did little to encourage vocational education and training. There was a mindless policy that we should encourage all children to go to university, regardless of their suitability to undertake tertiary training. As a result of that, vocational education and training capabilities died on the vine. I am pleased that this government is now doing something, following in the tracks of the previous Liberal government, to revitalise vocational education and training in the ACT.

I congratulate them on at least having gone down the track of recognising that not all students will be ready to undertake university training after year 12. Some need to go out into the work stream and pick up a vocational education and training qualification and then perhaps go back to university later when they have matured or settled down. Of course, we also have youths whom we know do not want to go to university and we must make sure that they stream through an appropriate college and undertake VET after year 10. I congratulate the government on at least going down that track and I encourage it to continue going down that track.

Mr Speaker, I want to refer briefly to youth at risk, an issue raised often in this place. We are very concerned about youth at risk who are in danger of not finishing education and we know that we have a significant minority of children in that category. It is a social problem as well as an education problem. Therefore, vocational education and training is very important in terms of dealing with the youth at risk issues. I am pleased to say that Brendan Nelson has often talked about that and demonstrated the federal government’s intention to rebuild VET across the country.

Unfortunately, I have to say that we need to do a lot more early in high school about looking at the curriculum for preparing the children who will have a tendency to go through the vocational education and training stream and catering for their needs in the early years in technical education subjects. I am not talking about VET subjects and I am not talking about certificate 1 or certificate 2; I am talking about trade and technically oriented subjects that pick up those kids who are falling out of the curriculum stream,

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