South Australian Training Awards

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:21): Last night was the South Australian Training Awards, an important opportunity to recognise excellence in the training sector. Skilled vocational and technical qualifications are critically important as we seek to deliver—for South Australia's economy, our workforce and, indeed, the young people who are looking for careers—the best possible, most optimal outcomes for our future.

We have great opportunities in South Australia to deliver economic advantages for children and young people, for future generations, if we can grasp them. But one of the greatest risks that we find for businesses, industries and our whole state in grasping those opportunities is the lack of skilled workforce to deliver on them. Whether it is AUKUS, other defence projects, innovation projects related to IT and cybersecurity, our construction industry, our agriculture industry, our agtech industry, our personal care sector or, indeed, education where there are significant workforce shortages, we have opportunities—particularly in the VET sector—to create great careers for young people moving forward. The South Australian Training Awards are a key part of highlighting excellence in these areas.

It is far too long that too many families, too many young people, have had a perception that a training pathway, a VET pathway, is a second option to universities. There is a level of unanimity in our political discourse about how we can change that perception. The key thing is to get results and encourage young people to strive for excellence in training, to help them be the ones who can also convince their peers that there are great careers going forward.

Congratulations particularly to those who won awards last night: Imogen Smith in the Voters' Choice Award category, from Cardijn College's Marcellin Campus; Zander Lee in the Vocational Student of the Year category, working at the Festival Theatre through TAFE SA; Lisa Brazzalotto in the Trainee of the Year category, from Clinpath Laboratories and trained by the Australian Institute of Management; Bianca Taylor in the Apprentice of the Year category, employed at Taylor Made Heritage Restoration and trained by FCTA—Building Careers, and we will come to them again shortly; Stephanie Hernandez in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student of the Year category, doing a Diploma of Nursing with the ANMF Education Centre, one of last year's winners, and employed by Flinders Medical Centre through SALHN; Lara Wilson in the School-based Apprentice or Trainee of the Year category, a student at Underdale High School, employed through MEGT and trained by MADEC; and Dee Slade in the VET Teacher/Training of the Year category, employed by Complete Hospitality Training Skills.

Jo Denley, as the minister acknowledged earlier during question time, was acknowledged for her lifetime achievement. Jo Denley was someone who was appointed as chair of the TAFE Board by Liberal and Labor governments and whose contribution to TAFE over the last 13 years has been important, particularly through the period after the quality catastrophe of 2017, when we were seeking to rebuild TAFE's reputation and its capacity to deliver quality training.

Without reflecting on anyone else, the record will reflect that Jo Denley was the only board member identified for reappointment, certainly at the encouragement of the reviews into TAFE after 2017. Her corporate knowledge and capacity has been immeasurably important to TAFE, as they were to Bridgestone, where she did incredibly important work through VET. As she said last night, just because she has won a lifetime achievement award she still has a lot to give, and I look forward to seeing that take place.

Congratulations to the other winners, the organisations. CJM Electrical Services won Small Employer of the Year, and Flexible Construction Training and Assessment—Building Careers at Hope Valley won the Small Training Provider of the Year. They do terrific and important work in stonemasonry and other heritage areas like that. They are a family business and a repeat winner from a number of years ago and a previous generation.

A particular congratulations to Kapunda High School, to all the staff involved as well as the principal, on winning the VET Innovation for Schools award, and to Morella Community Centre for the Excellence in Diversity award. Congratulations to the Roads to Redemption program through Carey Training, Workskil Australia and the Department for Correctional Services, and congratulations to David Brown and the team.

Congratulations to Datacom, the Large Employer of the Year, and I note that TAFE SA once again won the Large Training Provider of the Year. They are sort of in a class of their own, with the scale and being a public provider, but congratulations to them, and to all of those who were acknowledged for their work in the training sector last night.