Page 3570 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 15 November 2006
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industry to identity needs and then develop innovative courses and flexible delivery methods to fill those needs. TRAHCS conducts courses in family day care, aged care, disability services, workplace training and assessment, health services, drug and alcohol services, community meditation and youth work, to mention only some. This year TRAHCS has increased the scope of its courses even further to include certificate III and IV in telephone counselling, certificate IV in lifestyle and leisure, certificate IV in business and diploma of business.
I pay tribute to Sharon Carter Figueiredo and her outstanding team of trainers and the committed TRAHCS board of governance for their work as they continue to develop and deliver these innovative programs and also for the supportive role they have played in assisting the graduates in reaching such significant milestones in their careers.
Whilst it is important to recognise the wonderful contribution of the TRAHCS team, the reason for last night’s celebration was to celebrate the achievements of those graduating. Those graduating would not necessarily have had the luxury of being able to spend the majority of their time learning at an institution like a university or a CIT. They would have been working full time in paid positions while also studying at the same time, in many cases filling roles as family carers. English is not the first language of all those graduating and for some their previous experience of formal learning had been many years ago and perhaps very limited.
I would also like to thank the family members who assisted the graduates during their studies. As we all know, trying to balance a busy life of work and family responsibilities, overlaid by study, is a big ask and having the support of one’s family does ease the burden just a little.
Mr Speaker, the largest growing sector of our work force is that of personal care and, with our ageing population, the need for such services will only increase. It is estimated that one in every three people over the age of 65 will receive a personal service, and for those over 75 the number is two out of three. It is only through innovative work of organisations such as TRAHCS that we will have the trained staff necessary to provide these services into the future and all of us in this place certainly have a vested interest in ensuring such staff are available to us.
Korea Day celebrations
MR STEFANIAK (Ginninderra—Leader of the Opposition) (5.51): Mr Speaker, I want to pay tribute to our local Korean community, which had the annual Korea Day celebrations in Glebe Park on Saturday a week ago. Quite a few people also came up from Sydney. Mr Hargreaves attended, as did Senator Humphries, Mr Smyth and I. I think that was probably it from the local Assembly, but it was a very good ceremony and a very good day was had by all.
Australia and Korea have friendly relations which go back, effectively, to the Korean war, when 77 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force was the first allied unit to encounter the invading North Koreans. Having been in Seoul last year for the wedding of my stepdaughter and son-in-law—my son-in-law, Hwan Saung Lee, is actually Korean—I had the pleasure of going through a number of places. Including
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