Page 4161 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 18 November 2015
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This is one of the exciting initiatives that CIT is involved in, serving industry needs and giving our young people careers in emerging industries. The economic development of the Canberra region depends upon the quality education we can provide including, importantly, the quality of our vocational education and training at CIT.
MS FITZHARRIS (Molonglo) (4.15), in reply: I thank members for their support of this motion today. I was very pleased to hear the unanimous support for the government’s work to continue enhancing the VET sector, both through reform and collaboration, and the quite clear support for the work underway particularly through our large public provider, CIT.
I make a few comments about some of the comments that were made earlier in the debate. I thank Mr Doszpot for his acknowledgement of our work in the Standing Committee on Education, Training and Youth Affairs, particularly the ongoing committee inquiry into the VET sector in regard to youth employment and youth opportunities.
I also note that every speaker congratulated previous winners of the national training awards. I also note their best wishes for all the ACT students who will be considered at the awards tomorrow evening, and we look forward to hearing about their successes and to Minister Burch recounting some of the stories she hears while she is there representing the ACT government. I know many of the stories that come out of these awards. Last year Sally Moylan and Just Better Care Canberra won awards spread across the Canberra community. It is just another way of advocating the importance of the VET sector in Canberra both for skills-based training for students and also for industry.
I note also members’ support for the recent governance reforms at CIT and the reason for these reforms: to enable the CIT to be an agile competitor in an increasingly competitive marketplace for vocational education and training services. I also note members’ support for VET in schools as well, which is providing pathways for students. I am sure all of us went to school—certainly I did go to school many years ago now—with people who did not quite fit into the school system and could not see a path through for their education.
Reforms over many years, especially the reforms in the ACT over the past couple of years, really provide students who may not fit within a traditional schooling system with opportunities to excel at things that they are good at, things that they are interested in. Mr Rattenbury and Dr Bourke noted the real hands-on experience in training courses that can provide them a career pathway for life.
I note, as always, Mr Gentleman’s outstanding advocacy for the automotive trades. There is no-one quite like him in this place. He seeks every opportunity to advocate, and tell us all about, the contribution of this sector to our community more broadly, both to the economy and to the recreation sector as well. I congratulate him again for taking this opportunity. Mr Gentleman also mentioned how important it is, particularly for students taking this path, that they have choice and, more importantly
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