Page 1114 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 5 April 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Today we again heard the Canberra Liberals talking our city down, and talking our city down for young people as well. This is an opportunity for the government to talk up the city and talk about ways in which we are continuing to involve and engage young people in a conversation as we grow our city now and into the future.
Canberra as a community celebrates the energy and achievements of our young people, supports those who experience challenges and looks to lay the foundations for them to succeed in school and then employment. Today I would like to talk about some of the ways that the ACT government is creating a community for our young people and making sure their voices are heard. I note the Chief Minister’s comments in recent times in standing up for the work that the Safe Schools Coalition has been doing in our schools in providing support for young people, and his passion in giving young people the chance to celebrate at the pop-up village. Ms Burch mentioned the better services grants in west Belconnen, where we are giving young people a chance to come forward and talk about what is important to them. Of course, we do not hear any of those kinds of initiatives coming from those opposite. They are continuing to talk our Canberra community down.
A good education and positive early work experiences set young people up for life. As a major provider of vocational and higher education in our community, CIT plays an important role in supporting young people. In 2015 CIT had 7,872 students aged 25 and under and trained 72 per cent of all apprentices in the ACT. Students come to CIT at different times in their youth. For some, CIT is the next step towards a vocational career in their post-school years. For others, like me as a young person, it is an opportunity to retrain or extend their skills to take on new challenges in their work life.
Most importantly, CIT offers many of Canberra’s young people a second chance to continue their education. We have heard today about the challenges that young Canberrans can face. CIT plays an important role in making sure that when life’s challenges get in the way of their education, young people have easy pathways back to training. That can be the chance to retake year 12 or year 10, to jump straight into a trade or to improve their literacy and numeracy and to make the transition to stable employment. The national 2014 student outcomes survey showed that the proportion of CIT students who achieved employment after training at the CIT was more than 22 per cent higher than the national average.
It is not just all work and no play for young people here in the ACT. Some good examples of how the ACT government supports fun are the seven major skate parks in Canberra. Skate parks are important social hubs for young people. Belconnen, in my part of town, has the largest skate park in the Southern Hemisphere and is now equipped with a service very important to young people—free wi-fi.
Skate parks are a great demonstration of how young people can contribute to building strong and supportive cultures on their own. I had the chance to chat with some young skaters and the President of the Canberra Skateboarding Association, Tony Caruana, earlier this year about the challenges that young people face, particularly around keeping those skate parks tidy. The skaters told me about the informal cleaning and
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video