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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Wednesday, 25 August 2004) . . Page.. 4197 ..

up as something that was of a high priority. I’m not saying it’s not a high priority; I just think my amendment changes the motion a little, to say “investigate the need” for this. By that, I mean consult with the sector; consult with young people; look at if this is something that needs to be done; and, if it is, to consider that proposal as part of the 2005-06 budget considerations.

I think the amendment is probably a sensible one. I think the motion is a commendable one. I think we need to always be looking at what we can do to support students to stay at school and provide them with skills for the world outside. With this amendment, if it’s supported, the government is very happy to support Ms Dundas’s motion.

MS TUCKER (6.20): Ms Dundas’s motion highlights issues that were actually raised in the 2001 report of the Standing Committee on Education, Community Services and Recreation Adolescents and young adults at risk of not achieving satisfactory education and training options. I commend her for raising the issue tonight, because I think it is one that certainly is worth debate and could well warrant further government action. I think it’s a useful debate. I note the amendment that Ms Gallagher has put, and I’m happy to support that, as I understand Ms Dundas is too.

I just remind members that, in the course of preparing our report in 2001, the committee identified a range of alternative vocational programs operating both in the ACT and interstate. I remember well the visit to the island program, which was a program in North Fitzroy in Victoria. It was a more comprehensive program than the type that Ros Dundas is suggesting tonight because it offered both vocational training and broader life skills and community-based support over a number of months; it was for young people who had dropped out of the school system.

It was a really interesting program in terms of seeing what the needs of this group of young people are, how broad they are and how it’s a lot more than just the actual vocational training. As Ms Dundas said, there are a lot of other aspects to it in terms of independence. It’s not independent living skills exactly but in a way it is; it’s about living skills, social skills. That is probably a better way of putting it. What was really interesting in the island was in fact that basic living skills, independent living skills, came out to be a major area of need in quite a number of the young people who participated in that program.

It was interesting to note, for example, in the island, they had—I’ve got the program here—a workshop-based activity which included building, construction, carpentry, woodwork, automotive, cooking, catering, literacy, numeracy, design studio and art. The students took the opportunity to experience all the workshops, with a time emphasis on their key interest areas. All students were expected to take one unit each in cooking and catering, even though they may not have thought that was their interest. The units lasted nine days.

There was one really interesting example of a young man there who had come to the island thinking he might like to work with cars and who basically found that he really loved cooking. He came back to the island the day we were there, a very proud, apprentice chef. It was a really inspiring story in lots of ways. This young kid had turned around totally because of the experience offered by island.

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